WARNING! Painting with RED!

Hi Tina....sounds like you had a heck of a time.  It takes experience to know how to work with painting in the deeper colors to avoid mistakes.  Something went wrong if you had to paint the red color 5 coats worth (and on top of the TWO COATS of tinted primer no less!!??!!).  There is one expensive name-brand paint which I know to be 'thinner' and very difficult to work with.  I am guessing that this brand may have been the culprit. 

For my taste, I do not care for the look of darker walls with a sheen in the finish.  Too many wall flaws stand out and it becomes more of an unflattering addition to a room's look, rather than a congruent flow.

Next time, I would suggest you trying out the brand new AURA line from Benjamin Moore. The composition of the paint is a whole different animal than the traditional make-up of paint and it's colorants.  It is a water-based paint, it handles deep-tinting very well and you can often get away with only ONE COAT of paint on top of the tinted primer!! Usually, I choose to do two coats anyway.  I use it in 'flat' and it has a very tiny bit of sheen....barely visible.  This AURA line is scrubbable...which is soooo important with the deeper paint colors.  Too many times I have wiped off smudges only to find that I had apparently removed a 'color' layer....oops!  Then you end up with a smudged wall with an area which has the color diluted!!  AArrghhh....

The problem you had with the chair sticking to the wall had more to do with the multiple layers of paint being painted on too closely timed together.   Glossy paint can need more time to 'cure' but chairs should not be sticking to it several days later.   Adding in a drying agent such as Japan Drier to the paint is also helpful in speeding the drying process but I usually only use this in oil-based paints.

So sorry for your unfortunate adventure....this is not typical when painting with darker colors I assure you!  Hope you had a lot of cold beer to drink during your breaks....BTW-The Red looks great!!  : )

Regards-Kathleen G

Hi Tina...well, no doubt you thought that you were purchasing 'premium' paint!!  RL is not bottom of the barrel in price!! 

As soon as I read about the trouble you experienced, RL popped straight in my mind.  I worked with a client many years ago on a silver-ized bathroom using the RL metallic line.  It was a mess.  The Benjamin Moore rooms were delicious but the bath project using the RL paint was frustrating.  We used it one other time and had the same results and I simply decided that I would never support that paint brand again.

There must be a tactful way to let others know this truth.  So many clients LOVE the colors available in the RL line...and I always recommend color-matching it to a Benjamin Moore color.  The difference in paint quality is huge.  RL will not let HDepot color-match with their other brands and that is fine.  I am not a huge fan of Behr anymore.  Contractors grade available at the finer paint stores is often better quality paint than the home improvement stores' brands.

Your project should not have taken the effort and expense that you had to give.  My heart really went out to you!!  Regards-Kathleen G