Valspar® Signature Colors® Review

Valspar® Signature Colors® with Hi-Def Advanced Color System™ Technology

We recently remodeled our previous guest room into a beautiful new room for our daughter who’s turning 3 and leaving behind the nursery and crib. As part of the remodel we needed to paint over a very dark purplish color with a much lighter shade of green.

Just the mere thought of the painting aspect sent shivers down my spine thinking about trying to cover that difficult purple color. So we decided to put the new Valspar® Signature Colors® with Hi-Def Advanced Color System™ technology to the test.

Valspar® Signature Colors® Features

According to Valspar:

Howard Heckes, Valspar’s senior vice president, Consumer Division, said, “People tell us that what they want most in a paint is a product that hides the old color quickly and easily, and matches the color on the chip.  Valspar Hi-DEF Advanced Color System™ delivers that and much more. It not only maximizes coverage, but also glides on effortlessly, giving a smooth, silky finish. The wide array of color options allow for easy, unlimited decorating opportunities with true, lasting colors.”

Patti Price, senior vice president of merchandising for Lowe’s, commented, “The new Hi-DEF Advanced Color System™ is a breakthrough in paint technology that delivers a superior paint product, which our customers continue to look for when selecting colors to decorate their homes. With Hi-DEF Advanced Color System, customers can cover their old color faster and easier than before with paint that maintains its color longer, saving both time and money.”

Our Thoughts and Results Using Valspar Signature Colors

So all the marketing and hype sound good but how does this paint perform on a tough task like covering up purple with light green? Read on to see how it worked for us.

Purple Room Before the Bedroom Makeover

As you can see above the previous guest room was painted a lovely shade of purple (I’m sure there’s a more accurate description of that color but you get the idea). For our daughters new room we wanted to go with a very light shade of green to offset all the bright pink curtains and bedding.

So we went into Lowe’s and asked the folks in the paint department what they recommended for our project. I asked whether I should grab a gallon of the good old standby Kilz Primer (always works!) and enough colored paint for two coats. The woman quickly suggested that I might like to try the new Valspar® Signature Colors® with Hi-Def Advanced Color System™. She went on to say that the products improved hiding formula should allow us to skip the primer coat and just apply two coats of the finish paint.

I’m pretty skeptical of such claims so I decided sure, let’s give it a shot and see how good this paint really is. As you can see below we have finally finished the little girl’s new bedroom and the paint looks wonderful.

Final Number of Coats for Coverage

So…the big drum role please….did two coats cover the Purple? Well….it depends on who you ask! There was some debate in our house on whether two coats really did cover the purple.

I myself think it did cover and a late night, dark room, was to blame for the vote for a 3rd coat of paint. So….I think it did a fine job and certainly covered up a very dark difficult color where standard paint would have struggled at even 3 coats in my opinion.

Regardless of the tie vote on a 3rd coat I was very happy with the coverage. We used an eggshell finish and it dried with very few roller lines or brush marks.

Final Thoughts

Valspar® Signature Colors® with Hi-Def Advanced Color System™ is a great paint for DIY’ers looking to solve the old problem of poor coverage when using contrasting colors. I was very impressed with the coverage and hiding ability of this paint. I would recommend it for anyone painting over old paint that has lots of contrast.

Priced at $32 per gallon it’s not the cheapest paint but when you consider not buying a quality primer then it’s a good value.