Interior Paint Choices (revisited), Color Place paint review

[Michael L.]

Hello all,

I have gotten so much use out of the BP forums that I figured I should contribute some feedback for future investors. In giving my latest investment property a facelift, I searched high-and-low for advice on paint colors, brands, and sheens.  I found the most useful thing was an article written by Brandon Turner for BP, originally seen here:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/01/30...

Following his advice, I used Color Place brand Country White for my walls. I chose flat (hoping for easy touch up in the future). With two coats, the coverage is great and I'm very pleased with the results. Semi-gloss white for the trim really helped bring out the color in the paint as well. I used flat white for ceilings.

Two coats really did cover as well as any other paint I have used, and it rang in at the crazy low cost of $10.94 per gallon (or $53 for a 5-gallon bucket)!

I generally hate dealing with Walmart and avoid it, but the savings here were huge. Also, having paint premixed at the factory should give nice uniformity between coats. I plan to standardize this approach now for my rental units.

Hope this helps someone!

[Michael L.]

Hey Ray,

In hindsight, I have two observations:

1. Go with flat

2. Pay for a better paint.

In terms of the flat, I really love how easy it is to touch up. I had tenants living in the unit for 2 years, and they had 2 cats and 2 dogs. Needless to say, the walls looked "lived in" - nothing abnormal, just typical wear and tear. I picked up a gallon of the paint, got out my roller, and was able to "erase" all marks on the wall in the whole unit (2 bedroom) in under an hour. It literally looked like the day it got painted again. It's so nice to be able to present the unit that way without having to actually paint everything again.  A gallon was plenty to roll over all of the walls in high traffic areas.

The reason I would get a better paint is because your time is money, and the color place just does not have great coverage.  It needs more than 2 coats if the base is dark.  I would *definitely* stick with the pre-fab colors though, so that you have the option of doing what I did above. You need perfectly matched paint for that.  I think HD and Lowes sell 5 gallon buckets of standard colors and I would probably go with something like that for better coverage and easier application.

Hope this helps!