Paint recommendations for a kids' nursery?

[d000hg]

Newly skimmed wall needs painting in room likely to be full of young kids... Expected to be at risk of fingers that have been playing in the garden, eating, helping prepare food, handling play dough, painting, drawing, etc.

Any tips on brand/product best able to deal with this... Wipable at very least?

 

[opps]

You could use diluted matt emulsion followed by 2or3 coats of water based eggshell.

 

[MisterBoy]

You could use diluted matt emulsion followed by 2or3 coats of water based eggshell.

I assume the diluted emulsion is just to prime/whitewash the bare plaster - we normally just use cheap white for that?

What's your thinking behind eggshell, and any particular products you'd recommend? Or maybe it's all the same stuff.

 

[JP_]

Just use Delux silk, I have that in my kitchen and can wipe splashes off it OK.
You'll be painting it all again in no time so I'd just stick with normal paint for walls.

 

[MisterBoy]

I was wondering about that too - general wear and tear might be high so frequent re-painting might be better than trying to find ultra-tough paint.

 

[JP_]

Don't put a border on unless you get a wallpaper stripper!

I snapped a picture of ours when decorating my son's room a few years ago. Was a nightmare to remove, but I didn't own a wallpaper stripper a the time!

 

[EddieM]

Newly skimmed wall needs painting in room likely to be full of young kids... Expected to be at risk of fingers that have been playing in the garden, eating, helping prepare food, handling play dough, painting, drawing, etc.

Any tips on brand/product best able to deal with this... Wipable at very least?

Whatever is easiest for you, young kids have no idea what they're bedrooms are decorated with

 

[opps]

I assume the diluted emulsion is just to prime/whitewash the bare plaster - we normally just use cheap white for that?

What's your thinking behind eggshell, and any particular products you'd recommend? Or maybe it's all the same stuff.

Eggshell is typically used on wood work but it is also suitable for walls. Admittedly oil based eggshell is far more durable but it will stink for ages. I used oil based on my kitchen walls over primed lining paper. It was so tough that I could use a green scouring pad and meths to remove hardened oil splashes.

Water based eggshell, whilst not so tough and can't be wiped with meths (which softens waterbased paints) but will be up to 10x more stain resistant than vinyl silk paint (see page 12/32).

My recommendation would be Dulux Trade Diamond eggshell. Not the cheapest though.

The ultra tough matt emulsions are fine but if you need to wipe them aggressively you are left with a shiny patch, in spite of what the link above says.

Apropos a border, I agree with with Jonbey. Even with a steam stripper they can be a mare to remove because they often glued using a PVA type glue rather than a starch based one.

Another unmentioned alternative would be something like Zinsser BIN. It is a shellac paint suspended in alcohol. It dries very fast and is far tougher than any of the paints mentioned in this thread but it is expensive. It can be tinted by a decent decorators' merchant but becasue it is only available in a white base the colour match might be slightly off. It stinks of alcohol for an hour or two but it cures faster than any 1K waterbased paints.

 

[MisterBoy]

Interesting, thanks @opps. It's a new space so we could go oil-based if we can find it without killing people with the fumes... any suggestions?

Can you paint water-based over oil-based and vice versa or once you pick one is that it for life? We want to get the watered down white-wash on ASAP, can that just be water-based emulsion without restricting our options later?

I should've said this wall also has kitchen on it, kind of an open-plan space. I was wondering if any paint is tough enough to act as a cleanable kitchen surface without installing a splashback, if so it can probably protect against toddlers

 

[MisterBoy]

I had a quick look and was surprised at the options available: https://www.decoratingwarehouse.co.uk/eggshell-paint

As well as Dulux Diamond (which these guys don't stock for whatever reason) I was wondering about:

• Johnstones Eggshell Lustre (Oil Based)
• Johnstones Acrylic Durable Eggshell (Water Based)

I never heard of water-based acrylic paints, both these seem quite pricey options but if it's worth it for a space that will be heavily used?
It's approx 11m long wall, 2.4m high. Brand new skimmed plasterboard.

After we treat it with watered down paint, what am I looking at, a 5L can? Or more?