covering bold colours

[howy1]

Hi all , i am looking to emulsion a bedroom with white + hint of pink but i have to cover a strong orange , can you tell me whats best to use as a base coat rather than coat after coat of the white. Is there something more heavy duty . cheers

 

[misterhelpful]

You could use one of the various basecoat products which are available (Polycell, etc) but they are expensive and not the nicest product to use.
The cheapest alternative is oil based undercoat (slightly thinned) but it will be very strong smelling when used on large areas and needs good ventilation during application and drying.
My personal method is to use a good quality white trade emulsion which can often cover dark colours in one coat, or a maximum of two. It has higher pigment content than standard retail emulsions and therefore has much better hiding power. It is also thicker and can be watered down slightly for ease of application, if necessary. The downside is that it is a fair bit more expensive than retail paint but you do save time on the labour.