My Favourite Go-To Portray Merchandise For DIYers (Up to date 2023)

Favourite Common Use Paint — Behr Premium Plus

That is my basic go-to paint for nearly all the pieces. I’ll use it for furnishings, partitions, trim, and cupboards. You’ll discover that it’s the mid-range paint from Behr, and never the highest vary, most costly paint that Behr makes.

I’ve tried these different paints which can be supposedly greater high quality, and I’ve all the time come again to this one. I’ve personally by no means discovered an incredible distinction that justifies the elevated value. I simply actually like and like this one.

For portray partitions, I virtually all the time use an eggshell end, and for portray trim (baseboards, crown molding), I take advantage of a satin end. That’s not commonplace, as most individuals use a semi-gloss for trim, however I’m not a fan of tremendous shiny paint finishes. I want a satin end for my trim. Don’t be afraid to step exterior of the “guidelines” in your own residence. In the event you’re like me, and also you don’t like shiny trim (or shiny the rest as a basic rule), don’t suppose it’s important to comply with some rule about utilizing semi-gloss or shiny paint in your trim.

After I use this product to color cupboards or furnishings or bookcases/bookshelves, I all the time use my favourite topcoat not less than on the tops and cabinets of the furnishings items that may get used and the place I’d place objects on the with my favourite clear coat, which you’ll discover beneath. So, for instance, the entire surfaces in our music room are painted with Behr Premium Plus — the trim, wainscoting, higher partitions, ceiling, doorways, and bookcases. However on the precise bookshelves the place I needed to put ornamental objects, I used a transparent topcoat for added safety.

Favourite Ceiling Paint — Behr Inside Ceiling Flat

It’s uncommon for me to color a ceiling a colour aside from white. I actually like how a white ceiling retains the room wanting open and brilliant, so I solely use colour on a ceiling in very uncommon conditions.

I keep in mind the primary time I painted the ceiling in the lounge of our present home, and I assumed it might be an important concept to hold the trim colour (Behr Polar Bear) proper from the crown molding onto the ceiling. It was terrible. For some purpose, the Polar Bear on the ceiling had very noticeable crimson undertones that have been by no means noticeable on the trim. So at a sure time each single day, it regarded like I had painted the ceiling pink. I really like pink, however not on my ceilings! Polar Bear has been my go-to trim colour since our apartment days (so over a decade), and I’ve by no means seen any crimson undertones in it. But it surely certain turned pink on my front room ceiling.

So ever since then, I simply use pure white tremendous flat Behr ceiling paint proper out of the can, and I really like that tremendous flat end on the ceiling that may disguise imperfections not like the next sheen paint.

Favourite Paint For Darkish Coloration Flat Partitions — Benjamin Moore Aura Matte End

For many of my life, I prevented matte end paints simply because they’re so finicky, particularly in darker colours. I imply, you simply brush your hand throughout them, and it’ll depart gentle streaks which can be then nearly not possible to take away.

However then I found Benjamin Moore’s Aura paint, and it’s wonderful. After I need a matte end on a wall (typically to cover imperfections that may present with the next sheen paint), Aura is my go-to for an attractive, washer-friendly matte end wall. It’s not low-cost, however once I completely need a matte end, it’s the one one I’ll use. That is the paint I used for the flat end darkish teal wall in our entryway.

Favourite Kitchen Cupboard Paint — Benjamin Moore Advance

Benjamin Moore Advance paint is an exceptional paint for kitchen cupboards. It goes on superbly, dries to a sturdy end, and is straightforward to wash.

My one complain about this paint is that the bottom sheen out there is satin, and to my eye (not less than when utilized in darker colours) it appears extra like a semi-gloss. And with solely uncommon exceptions, I don’t like shiny paint finishes. So for me personally, Benjamin Moore Advance is a paint that I might select provided that I have been portray cupboards in a light-weight colour. In the event you’re portray your cupboards white, that is an incredible paint for that. In the event you’re portray your cupboards in a darker, richer colour, it’s nonetheless an incredible alternative so long as you want a end that’s someplace between satin and semi-gloss.

Favourite Entrance Door Paint — Benjamin Moore Aura Grand Entrance

That is my go-to paint for exterior doorways. All of my exterior doorways are metallic, and I’ve all the time had a tough time getting a extremely fairly streak-free paint end on metallic doorways till I discovered Grand Entrance.

This paint is very easy to brush on, and it leaves a stunning end. I’ve discovered that it’s additionally very simple to wash, which is vital for exterior doorways. It’s not low-cost, however I discover that the fee is definitely worth the ease-of-use, the sturdiness, and the cleanability.

Favourite Home Exterior Paint — Sherwin Williams Period

In relation to portray issues, I’ve the least quantity of expertise with portray home exteriors. However after doing a little analysis on the outside paints which can be out there, I went with Period from Sherwin Williams for our home, and I’ve been very happy with it. I might select it once more with none hesitation. I used it on the pre-primed Hardiplank siding, the railings, trim, and columns on the entrance porch, and the shutters. Our home was painted in January 2018, and it has held up superbly via the recent Texas summers, and nonetheless appears nice virtually 5.5 years later.

What has impressed me essentially the most is how properly it’s held up on my PVC shutters. I used to be warned by many individuals that I can’t paint PVC boards in a darkish colour, particularly not with our sizzling summers, and with a few of the shutters being in direct daylight throughout a lot of the day. However they’ve held up completely. I used to be noticing simply the opposite day how the colour hasn’t light, chipped, or peeled one single bit on these PVC shutters. It nonetheless appears nice!

Favourite Water-Based mostly Clear Topcoat — Common Finishes Excessive Efficiency Topcoat

That is the magic proper right here, y’all. That is it. That is my absolute favourite, always-have-on-hand, water-based topcoat. I’ve used this on furnishings, cupboards, doorways, frames and different small DIY tasks. I might coat all the pieces in my life on this if I might. I buy it right here on Amazon.

I merely can not overstate how a lot I really like this product. I attempted different water-based polyurethanes for years, and at last gave up on them. Irrespective of how I attempted making use of the end — spray, brush, curler — I used to be by no means glad. I wound up with streaks or bubbles or cloudy areas.

Then somebody (and sadly, I can’t keep in mind who) advised me about Common Finishes Excessive Efficiency Topcoat, and I’ve by no means regarded again. I might merely by no means think about using one other clear topcoat. If I’m out of this product, and my selections are to attend just a few days for an Amazon order of Common Finishes, or go to House Depot and choose up no matter they’ve readily available, I’ll wait the few days. And that’s saying lots for somebody like me who virtually all the time chooses fast gratification.

After I painted the toilet door within the studio lavatory black, each time I touched it, it might depart marks behind simply from my fingers. So I topcoated it with the GF topcoat, and that stopped taking place. It fully adjustments the texture of the paint, and makes it really easy to wash.

I painted my kitchen cupboards teal (they have been beforehand inexperienced) in 2017, and nonetheless, the end is sort of good on them. I’m very tough on surfaces, however after six years, these cupboards solely have two tiny chips within the paint, and considered one of them is on the cupboard door that’s opened and closed a number of instances a day (the one underneath the sink). I’ve by no means touched up the paint on these cupboards, and aside from these two tiny chips (in regards to the dimension of a grain of rice), the end continues to be lovely.

This topcoat is so amazingly sturdy that I really feel fully snug portray kitchen cupboards with Behr Premium Plus, after which topcoating them with Common Finishes, and understanding that the end goes to final. If I have been to decide on one paint/end product that I couldn’t reside with out, this may be it.

Favourite Primer For Furnishings And Naked Wooden — Zinsser Oil-Based mostly Cowl Stain Primer

That is my go-to primer for all the pieces besides unprimed drywall. Because the title suggests, it covers stains amazingly properly, and it’s a should for me when portray uncooked wooden. I virtually all the time brush it on, let it dry for just a few hours (or in a single day, relying on the climate and how briskly it dries), after which it sands superbly with 220-grit sandpaper. It’s simply so good for getting an important floor for an attractive painted end.

It’s oil-based, so it does stink. I attempt to use it exterior, or if that’s not attainable, I’ll use it inside with a fan on and the window open. But it surely’s the primary go-to primer that I take advantage of, until I’m needing to prime new drywall or I would like a specialty primer for a particular use.

Favourite Primer For New Drywall — Zinsser Bullseye 123

And talking of latest, unpainted drywall, that is what I take advantage of to get it prepared for its first coat of paint. New, unpainted drywall is actually the one factor I ever use water-based primer on. For all the pieces else (besides flooring and different very particular makes use of), I take advantage of oil-based Zinsser Cowl Stain.

However let me stress that I solely use this on new, unpainted drywall. If I had a state of affairs the place I had a beforehand painted wall that had one thing on it that is perhaps troublesome to cowl (like my music room partitions which have a design drawn with black Sharpie markers), I might use the oil-based Zinsser Cowl Stain to cowl it. This water-based product wouldn’t stand as much as Sharpie marker. So once more, this water-based primer is one which I’ll solely use with model new, unpainted drywall.

Favourite Primer For Flooring — Zinsser B-I-N Shellac-Based mostly Primer

This can be a new addition to my checklist for 2023. I first used this primer to seal the knots within the entrance porch ceiling earlier than repainting it earlier this yr. It took a bit for me to get used to the product. It’s a lot thinner in consistency than the oil-based primer I used to be used to utilizing. However after getting used to it, I actually appreciated it, and it coated these knots (that had beforehand bled via the painted ceiling) very properly. I haven’t seen any of these knots reappear via the brand new paint.

So whereas I used to be happy with the way it labored on these knots on the porch ceiling, what actually bought me on this primer was how properly it labored on my studio ground. After sanding the unique end to offer it some “tooth”, I primed the ground with this primer earlier than portray it. These things is so extremely sturdy that it even stood as much as my very hyper 100-pound canine who all the time has lengthy claws as a result of he received’t let me (or anybody else) contact his ft. After I noticed that, I used to be bought! I don’t paint wooden flooring typically, however any time I do any more, I received’t use any primer however this one.

Favourite Flooring Paint — Behr Low-Lustre Porch & Patio Flooring Paint

That is one other addition to my checklist for 2023. I did a lot analysis on varied paints and merchandise for portray flooring earlier than I began on my studio ground, and let me let you know, the extra analysis I did, the extra confused and annoyed I turned. So lastly, primarily based on buyer opinions, I made a decision to offer this Behr Porch & Patio Flooring Paint a go. I used to be actually involved as a result of I had determined to not use a topcoat on the ground since I needed touchups to be quite simple. So I might simply have the painted end with no clear protecting coating.

I do know it’s solely been a short time since I painted the primary half of the room, however I’ve been so unbelievably impressed with this paint. It’s not costly, so to be sincere, I wasn’t anticipating a lot. Nicely, it’s wonderful paint! Not less than, that’s been my expertise.

Two days after I completed portray the primary half of the room, my canine was within the studio, and he was in his regular hyper type. He was operating and twirling and leaping on that ground, and I used to be very nervous that he was going to scratch or chip or peel the paint along with his claws. He didn’t! After I lastly wrangled him out of the room, the paint was nonetheless good! I couldn’t consider it. Most paint takes 30 days to completely remedy, and this was simply two days after I completed portray. That impressed the heck out of me.

I really like how briskly this paint dries, too. I had to make use of painters tape to tape off the design, and I might solely do half of the design at a time, paint it, let it dry, after which paint off the opposite half of the design. I didn’t even wait 24 hours between these. After I was portray the again entry, I taped the second half of the design the identical day, and the painters tape didn’t peel up any of the paint in any respect. It’s wonderful stuff!!

So these are my fundamental go-to merchandise, however I’m certain I’m leaving one thing out. You probably have any explicit questions on portray (partitions, furnishings, cupboards…something), I’d love that can assist you out! Over my 30+ years of DIYing, I’ve tried portray absolutely anything that may stand nonetheless, so I’ve realized fairly a bit about what works and what doesn’t work.

And if I’ve left something off of this “go-to merchandise” checklist, I’ll add them as they arrive to thoughts, or as your questions deliver issues to thoughts.