Painting Magnolia over Grey Walls

alienuk

Shocked by my local painter's quote of 3000£ for painting my 2 BHK flat, I gathered courage to paint the flat by myself. 
I am trying to paint Magnolia over Grey paint. I have done two coats , unfortunately, the grey background is still visible on several places. 
Because this is the first time I am involved in DIY painting, it is tiring and depressing as after several hours of hardwork i am unable to see the results and the job is not perfect. 
Can someone on this forum advise where am I going wrong, I understand undercoat primer is a solution which i read on google, but I thought I will post this so expert fellow DIYers will provide their views. 
Thanks and sorry for the rant. 

McKneff

Is it good quality paint you are using. Mmy hubby says you aren't doing anything wrong apart from the quality of the paint and you should use a good quality fluffy mohair roller. Don't skimp. 
A retired decorator, 40 years in the trade. 
He says 3 coats but as you are now, probably 4.

Me.. I would have put some lining paper on first,  but I am no decorator. Good luck

Norman_Castle

alienuk said:

 after several hours of hardwork i am unable to see the results and the job is not perfect. 

Let the paint dry properly between coats, normally 4 hours, read the tin. It will look patchy until its dry.

grumbler

How dark is grey?

When repainting dark to light it's often worth repainting into 'one-coat' white first.

Also, have you mixed your magnolia paint really well?

alienuk

@McKneff - I am using this https://www.homebase.co.uk/crown-magnolia-matt-emulsion-paint-10l/12815374.html 
I am using a high quality roller , I will check if it is mohair. 3 coats is the norm? I thought 2 coats , I think I will try 3 coats and see how this goes. Thanks for your time. 

@Norman_Castle - This is something I am planning to try , perhaps leave it overnight with windows open and then repaint 2 or 3rd coat in the morning? So I get to see where the paint did not go well? 

@grumbler - I mix the paint however, I don't mix it with a machine mixer.  I have bought https://www.homebase.co.uk/crown-pure-brilliant-white-matt-emulsion-paint-10l/12815375.html as well.. Perhaps , I will give a try on one side of the wall tomorrow with one coat of this and then apply magnolia over it. 

Thanks everyone for your time to reply. 

grumbler

alienuk said:

@grumbler - I mix the paint however, I don't mix it with a machine mixer.  I have bought https://www.homebase.co.uk/crown-pure-brilliant-white-matt-emulsion-paint-10l/12815375.html as well.. Perhaps , I will give a try on one side of the wall tomorrow with one coat of this and then apply magnolia over it.

If it's not 'one-coat'  and is about the same price as your magnolia, it is likely to work no better than an extra coat of the latter.

flashg67

Last time I tried covering purple with magnolia it took 5 coats!

casper_gutman

One person's "two coats" isn't the same as another's. As well as the quality of the paint it depends on any number of other things. How much paint is loaded onto the roller? How far are you trying to stretch each roller-full of paint? How well are you rolling it out to make sure you have a good solid block of colour on the area you're painting?

Doozergirl

grumbler said:

How dark is grey?

When repainting dark to light it's often worth repainting into 'one-coat' white first.

Also, have you mixed your magnolia paint really well?

Trying to paint over white is equally
as bad, but on the other end of the scale.
Paint in the colour you want, otherwise you end up painting over white.  

I've painted over Fired Earth's Caragheen with F& B Peignoir in two coats, but i agree that different people have different ideas
of what a coat looks like. 

alienuk

casper_gutman said:

One person's "two coats" isn't the same as another's. As well as the quality of the paint it depends on any number of other things. How much paint is loaded onto the roller? How far are you trying to stretch each roller-full of paint? How well are you rolling it out to make sure you have a good solid block of colour on the area you're painting?

Good point. I've to agree that my attempts are far from ideal with respect to painting.. Although I can see myself improving with every passing stroke.. the YouTube painting videos as explained by pro's are visiblY simple but hard to execute.  Let me give the answers

How much paint is loaded onto the roller?

It is definitely not full, I make sure to load it so there won't be too much spills


How far are you trying to stretch each roller-full of paint?

Usually  full length of the wall

 How well are you rolling it out to make sure you have a good solid block of colour on the area you're painting

It diminishes with every stroke (right to left) then I return (left to right) to where I start to taper out.

NSG666

If you are not already using a paint scuttle such as in the link below then get one. Those paint trays are useless. It might be a bit basic for you but Painting and Decorating on YouTube do a video I think called how to load your roller.

I must admit that I didn't know to run the roller under the tap to wet it then spin out the excess water prior to starting until a couple of years ago.