Repainting over a dark colour?

Question

The bottom half of my kitchen wall is a deep dark purple, separated by a grape border, and then the top a soft yellow. I now want to paint the soft yellow over the dark purple. How do I stop the purple from bleeding thru? When it comes to these things, I'm not the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

Answer 1

Hi. I am a professional painter and can help you.

First of all, do you know what kind of paint you are dealing with (latex or oil)? Without knowing, the best thing to do is to prime it before you paint it the lighter color. Some people think that knocking the paint down a little will sandpaper helps to smooth the wall a little, and if it is oil paint, you will probably want to do this.

My suggestion would be to use a Sherwin Williams priming product. You can get cheaper products at Lowe's or Menards's, but if you don't know what the undercoat of paint is, you're better off with a good bonding primer (and you can sometimes get product that is a barrier primer such as BIN).

Once you prime the wall, you should be able to give it a couple of coats, since yellow is a difficult color to cover in one coat anyway.

WARNING: If this is old, old paint, there is a good chance it is lead based. In that case, DO NOT sand the wall. You will put lead into the air and it is not healthy. Instead, just prime it and paint.

Good luck,

Answer 2

If you put on a couple coats of white primer over the dark purple, it should cover it without it bleeding through. Since its such a dark color though, and since you are painting over with the yellow, you might want to look into the beige color of primer (if you can find it, i don't even know if i've ever seen it anywhere)

Answer 3

You need to use a primer over the dark purple. This is a white paint designed specifically to cover darker colors so that the wall can then be painted a lighter color.

Answer 4

You need to do a coat of primer before you start with the yellow, then two coats of yellow. Ask at the paint store. Sometimes the primer used is white, and sometimes gray.

Answer 5

You will need a basic primer. Yellow is one of the hardest colors to get even and will need 2 coats.
Just go to the paint department and ask for a primer. You shouldn't need the stronger primer like Kilz.

Answer 6

Go to Home Depot or Lowes. There is a product that you can paint over the dark paint to keep it from bleeding through. On top of that, you will put the new color.

Answer 7

No offense at all, but WHEW!!!! Isn't that enough to cause headaches?

Go back to your primer Q, and use KILZ. It may take two coats of the primer, but should do the trick, then apply 2 coats of the final color choice.

Rev. Steven

BTW,,, I've always enjoyed Color being spelled Colour

Answer 8

all you need is a good strong primer and a thick coat of paint, or two and that should do the trick. if you have a yellow paint though, i do suggest using a white or even a beige primer.

Answer 9

Paint it with 2 to 4 coats of yellow. that should work.

Answer 10

you might have to go over the purple with a white primer first, so the yellow will look right.