Sherwin Williams often has sales on its paint. Sign up for e-mails and watch for the sales and then stock up. As a preferred customer (i.e., I gave them my e-mail address) I received notice of a 25% off sale on paint March 19-22.

It depends on what you want from your paint. If you do not care about washability and you want to paint with flat, then you can very easily stay in the under $25 per gallon range. For washable paints, that would be tough, unless you really purchase low quality paints. I don't like Kilz2 for any type of application. Anything would be an upgrade from that.

It depends on what you want from your paint. If you do not care about washability and you want to paint with flat, then you can very easily stay in the under $25 per gallon range. For washable paints, that would be tough, unless you really purchase low quality paints. I don't like Kilz2 for any type of application. Anything would be an upgrade from that.

I will second that

When we first moved into our 3 BR builder's white house we set about painting. I grew up in a Benjamin Moore paint household.

We were young and very, very poor, BM was out of the question. A neighbor put us onto this store in the nearest city with a discount paint and carpet place. You could get paint there for $5/gallon. Okay, this was 1980, but $5 was still a great discount.

About 6 months after painting the living room a flat taupe one of the kids spilled something on the wall behind the couch.I wiped the spill and the paint came right off with the sponge.

Paintguy is right. Buy good paint for the areas you may need to clean and save the bargain paint for other places.

My father was very pleased when our finances eventually allowed us to repaint with BM paints. BM paint is washable, I know from experience!

Can I get quality paint for $15-$25 range? If so, what brands/lines should I look for?

In this price range in the flat and matte sheen, Consumer Reports likes:

Behr Premium Plus Enamel Flat at HD $17 (Premium Plus Ultra is more expensive)
Olympic Premium Flat at Lowes $16
Glidden Premium Flat at HD $15

I know CR is not a favored source of info on this and many other paint forums...but I have had good results (both in application and durability) with the Kilz paint from Walmart. (rated well by CR). I just picked up a gallon and they matched a SW color perfectly. I would definitely choose that over Behr. It's 22.40 gallon. I'm not a pro, but a decent DIY painter who is very picky and one of my pet peeves is cheap paint!

I just purchased a gallon of BM semi gloss paint for $27, color was Linen White, they consider the paint I got a mid grade paint, this particular store does not carry the more expensive lines, as they dont sell much of it. This paint is next to their best paint. A gallon of semi gloss Valspar is about the same price at Lowes. I think it's been said that the BM paint has better ingredients so then logially it should be better paint. The verdict is still out on my end of the paintbrush.

Kilz Casual Colors Paint for the home is a different discussion from the the Kilz primer.

In a pinch, short-term, and if you have to buy your paint from Walmart, Kilz Casual Colors is the better choice.

When I was a landlord, Glidden High-Hide white (used as a tint base) was my favorite paint. It makes a good primer for pastels, too.

A careful job, done with almost any mass-market paint, can look really good.

Take your time, prep the walls well, feather the edges and don't try to paint an entire wall with one roller-full of paint.

There are quite a few 100% Acrylic paints in the price range you are looking at. I live in Canada and I like to use the paint from our Home Hardware stores (I believe our equivalent of your Ace Hardware chain). Store staff is usually experienced and knowledgeable. Not sure if it is true with Ace but HH manufactures its' own paint.

Not many flat paints can be scrubbed (a good flat won't wipe off but it will burnish - it usually looks fine head on but from certain angles you will see the marks) but they hide better than semi-gloss and repair more seamlessly. Prep is key in an older home - screen sanding and making sure you are filling the holes properly (you must make sure anywhere you are filling holes that they are indented before applying your filler). Buy your paint somewhere that they have the ability to offer you some guidance.Good luck.

Can I get quality paint for $15-$25 range? If so, what brands/lines should I look for?
In this price range in the flat and matte sheen, Consumer Reports likes:

Behr Premium Plus Enamel Flat at HD $17 (Premium Plus Ultra is more expensive)
Olympic Premium Flat at Lowes $16
Glidden Premium Flat at HD $15

The fourth word in the OP post is quality, that would take all 4 of the listed brands out of the possible picks

Mind the gap. $15-$25 is a bit low in our market you would need to shop the $30-$40 to get a 100% acrylic paint and in my opinion it is worth it and you are still well below the $50-$60+ range of premium brands. Paint can often be purchased on sale with a bit of research and planning.

After 30 years of lots and lots of DIY painting - inside, outside, walls, ceilings, furniture.

My gut ansuwer is "No you can not get quality paint in that price range."

But as in all things, if you have never actually used a quality paint, you'll probably find the lower quality meets your needs. Kind of like if you never ride in a luxury car and have only riding in something like a Chevette, you are going to think an Impala is pure heaven.

Cathy

I assume you are painting yourself, since you are on a budget. I would stretch a little bit to at least get into $40 or $50 per gallon range. I really like Muralo, which I can get in the lower part of that range.

When I look at the time I take to prep and paint, I really don't care how much the paint costs. It still works out to be very cheap when divided by my hours spent on a project. I look at the paint as part of paying myself for a quality project.

If your budget is that tight, I would just save up until you can afford to do one room at a time. I do this all the time with projects at home. It is annoying to have to wait to get things done, but I would rather not take shortcuts I regret later.

Also, I would get quality brushes and rollers. When I compare my ill-informed painting in years past when I just grabbed a gallon of Behr and a Purdy nylon brush (no offense to the Purdy fans) to how nice things look now when I use Muralo and a Corona Chinex brush, it is truly night and day. With technique, one can get a glass smooth finish - there are some great products out there.

Pete

I'm a DIYer on a budget like the OP, and I've been having really good experiences with Valspar. It's at Lowe's and the interior satin cost $27/gal. I came here to make a post about it actually. From my experience, I'd recommend it.