Have you used Ralph Lauren paint?

My parents swear by Sears paint - their entire house is painted w/Sears paint and it covered in just one coat. I will probably use Sears paint for some of my house, just to get some neutral paint on the walls. When I decide on colors and decor, then I'll probably either go with Benj Moore or Sherwin Williams.

Edited to add - the 'primer' coat that is necessary to use Benj Moore is frustrating at this point for us. We have a big house that has not been painted in 13 years, so the ceilings are taking two coats and so are the walls. If I had to do 3 coats, I'd probably have to commit myself! LOL!
But, once we have some new paint on the walls, it may make using Benj Moore easier. I like their colors, they are just harder to pick b/c the chip don't match the wall color. JMO.

By the way.... you can select any color and have it made up in the brand paint you want. So if you like the RL color, you can have that color made in Benjamin Moore Paint. I used RL for my bedroom and I thought it was fine.

Claud..the livingroom looks amazing!! Beautiful

Suzanne, no...I didn't post any pics. I have started to take 'before' and 'after' photos at the house, but I haven't developed any yet. We used a silly disposable camera b/c we forgot the digital at my Mom's. I promise I'll post when I get it developed.

I think the pics were Jenny's.

Thanks claud i would love to see pics!!!
Did you start painting as soon as you moved in? or did you wait a while?

Suzanne - LOL! We have moved in YET! We closed on January 22nd, and we've been working to get the house ready to move since then. This winter's horrible weather has made it difficult!

So far, we've painted all ceilings and finished one full coat on two whole rooms - the baby's room and our den. Then we can get the muralist to paint Paul's mural and we have to have a wall closed up in our bedroom before we can paint our room, but that's next. The entire house needs a new coat of paint, but we might do the LR/DR after we move in b/c this is taking so long.
But, we're also replacing the kitchen cabinets and putting in a new tile floor, so it's a lot of work.

Ohhh.. I thought you had already moved in...
I dont think that I will get the option to do anything before we move in (if in fact we get this house) because I would never be able to afford the house and the apartment.

On the good side, this particular house has a brand new Kitchen and doesnt need much work..But i did want to paint the dining room living room and bedroom..

Support Sherwin Williams! DH is an accounting manager for them!

Claud,
You don't need a primer to use BM paints, but a primer is usually recommended with ALL paints, especially when the walls/ceilings haven't been painted in a number of years (for us, the house hasn't been touched in over 20 yrs.)

We found that a tinted primer reduces the number of coats needed when working with colored paints. It also gives a nice smooth finish. The primer dries in an hour too! We've been using primer on everything: ceilings, moldings, trim, and walls. All it should take is 1 coat primer and 1 coat paint. (The dining room took 3 because we didn't use a tinted primer, but a standard white primer.)

We've only used Behr paint from Home Depot in our house. And everything has always come out the color indicated on the chip. I'll post some pictures if I can find them.

Everyone told us that we should only use Benjamin Moore, but we decided to ty Behr and it worked out for us.

Friends have used RL and heard that they had to use a couple of coats.

I needed this thread ... I'm trying to pick out colors for our room and I was going to post and ask everyone what color they painted their bedrooms?

Jenny5150 ... you're rooms are gorgeous. What color was that first room .. your dining room? I would love to know! Thanks!!!

Thanks Cira!

The dining room is Benjamin Moore's Raisin Torte - Regal AquaVelvet Eggshell.

The ceiling is BM's White Dove (flat)
Trim & molding are White Dove (semi-gloss)

We recently moved and painted our new apartment with Benjamin Moore paint and Pratt and Lambert. Both are great and were very close to their paint samples. I live in the city and went to a local paint store that has been in business forever and they are so helpful. I told exactly what I wanted and they took care of everything else. They suggested we never use RL paint b/c it is not only not true to color but it doesn't apply evenly onto the walls.

Stef - I think you are in Brooklyn and if you are willing to travel to the upper eastside I can give you the name of the paint store.

We swear by Benjamin Moore. We've painted many of our rooms and their paints last the longest and are truest to color of any I've used. We've also used behr and other brands in a pinch and haven't been happy.

Try Benjamin Moore - they have tons of colors and I'm sure you can find a similar color to that from RL that you liked. A word of advice - if you're painting a deep color, do not use flat paint, go with eggshell.

Edited to say - you have to go to a paint/hardware store to get BM but it's worth it. I can recommend a couple in Brooklyn or Queens if you like.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info Jenny!!!

In defense of RL paint there is nothing wrong with it, just getting it ready to go on your walls was the hard part . I worked for HD for over four years, and the guys that say that it is c*ap are the guys that don't know how to apply it (I guess they didn't attend their product knowledge classes ). It is a different texture of paint, even the flat and satins. You have to prep the walls to make sure they are completely smooth and evenly primed. The problem is that you need to do atleast two coats, and it is so expensive that it will cost you a fortune. The textured paints were a little tricky, but the employees were supposed to be trained in teaching a customer how to apply it. I have had the paint on my walls since 1996 (suede) and my FH has had it since 1998 (River Rock) . It has not faded much at all and it still has a good texture. Believe me, if the color is a bit off, 99% of the time it was our~the employees~fault. 2mm of paint changes the color entirely. Its really not a bad quality of paint, it does last a long time, however if you find a nice color, I found BEHR to be just as good, and any color of paint can be mixed with any brand...