First Coat DONE & What I Learned

Anyone who's ever painted a very dark room knows the first coat is brutal, but the second coat is not too bad. This is definitely the case with black paint!

I finished the first coat yesterday and I am in love. I'm sorry if you are sick of my black room updates by now. To make this post worth while, I'm going to share what I learned when painting a room black. But first, some pictures!







What I learned (aka what I wish I knew) when painting a room black:

• Use BEHR Premium Plus ULTRA. No, they are not endorsing me to say this, but this job would have been 1,000x more brutal if I hadn't gotten this paint. It's the paint with the primer in it. At first I was skeptical but after getting the sample I was sold. I'm almost ashamed writing this considering I've been a Valspar fan for so long. In fact the only reason I walked into Home Depot was to see Martha's new colors, which they didn't have yet.
  
• If you are going black, go with "Onyx" by Benjamin Moore, colormixed by BEHR. This color is absolutely perfection. Velvety, warm, just perfect. I first learned about it from Autum at design*dump. Then I picked it out on my own, after forgetting the name, at BM. It was fate. And to make things even easier for you, here is the color breakdown from my can in case you want to get it mixed at your local Home Depot:
  

• If you are doing dark (or black) walls, go with a flat finish. It won't leave ugly streaks. Black is already a reflective color by nature, so even with flat you'll still get somewhat of a natural sheen.
• Roller Lite Tiny Touch-It-Up Kit was a godsend. It's a cute tiny little roller and tray that is about the size of half a piece of paper. I got it at Home Depot. It was perfect for edges and corners along with a paint brush and painters tape.
  
• Use Frog Tape painters tape... black paint WILL leak through the blue kind. And with a color as dark/bold as black, use painters tape.
  
• Use Shur-line Rollers with Teflon. I tried three different kinds, and wish I had started with this one first. It really did make the process faster, like it claims.

And that's pretty much it! Using high quality products really makes a difference, so if you are going with a color like black, don't skimp because it will just end up costing you more time and more money in the end. And my last tip is, if you want to go black (or any other color that is a bit daring), don't be afraid! Even though it look more effort than I thought, and even though we are just renting, I'm still so glad I did it. It already feels more like "home".

I can't wait for the "after", but our furniture won't be arriving for another two weeks. So I'll be waiting with bated breath along with you! Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll be sure to answer in the comments section.