Pro Tips for Painting Over a Dark or Light Wall

A fresh coat of paint can go a long way in changing the look and feel of your space, and the last thing you want after meticulously selecting your perfect shade of white is for the old, unattractive color to seep through! One of our favorite neutrals is KILZ^® Tribute^® paint in Alaskan Mist and it was the perfect color to lighten up this living room.

Taking the heavy olive-green walls to a bright white could have posed a challenge, including a need for excess coats of paint which we definitely wanted to avoid. It was time to prime! We chose KILZ 3™ Premium primer for its thicker, high hiding formula. This water-based primer hides surface imperfections and reduces the need for multiple coats of paint to allow a truer, richer color from the topcoat. A coat of KILZ 3™ Premium primer on the unpleasant green walls followed by paint in Alaskan Mist, and the color change was complete!

If dark paint colors are what you’re after, we have professional primer tips for a light to dark color change as well. It might seem like a dark color like BEHR^® paint in Nocturne Blue can easily cover a lighter one in this bedroom refresh, so why prime? However, if you want that deep gray with dark blue undertones to look just right, we would suggest priming first with KILZ 2^® All-Purpose primer. This water-based primer offers enhanced hiding, making it ideal for changing colors and helping to lessen the number of coats of paint required.

When painting to hide a previous color, KILZ^® Primer reduces the need for multiple coats of paint to allow truer, richer color from your topcoat.