I match texture by dabbing spackle on with a sponge, letting it almost dry, then lightly scraping it off with a spatula or drywall knife. Then I prime and paint.

The trick is to texture a large area, not just the patch, and fade out the dabs as you get away from the patch.

Yes, you can paint over gloss ... I've did what we called the "Dr. Seuss" house that had all walls like that (gaudy gloss primary colors), and one house that had deep grey gloss enamel paint all over walls and ceiling of the LR and DR.

We used a "high hide white" primer coat or two coats to get to a clean white wall, then painted the desired color. Don't bother with the "primer included" paints - they can't handle this stuff.

Thanks LG. Way back when we tried to paint over a pastel pink wall and it bled through for coat after coat. Two coats of primer is a good idea. Do you have a favorite primer?

There is no reason what so ever for more than one coat of quality primer, none.

The shellac primer should do the trick for addressing the nicotine stains (make sure to use a good respirator and provide adequate ventilation, it's stinky stuff). But before that step, I would recommend getting a good pole sander to scuff all the walls and then tack cloth off the dust to ensure good adhesion of the primer coat.

The paint will not cover the knife cuts, so you'll need to patch those areas also. I like lazy_gardens advice for matching the texture but if you have trouble with that product, you could try joint compound as it's a little easier to work with and dries firmer. Another option, depending on how much texture there is on the walls, is to get a thicker roller nap (maybe 3/4 inch) and spot-finish the patched areas a couple times with the thick nap to build a paint film to match the existing walls.

Nicotine is a tough obstacle and even completely redoing the room may not entirely eliminate the odor unfortunately, but it's worth trying before ripping out all the drywall. Good luck.

More than one coat of primer always baffled me too.

Actually priming to cover an old color never made sense to me because priming is about prepping the wall to support the new color. If a paint color has inherently good opacity/coverage, then it does not need the support of a white or tinted primer. Just do two finish coats and be done with it.

Same with using Dirtex interior. I first read the directions for Dirtex here on this forum. Someone posted them to point out that it says it must be flood rinsed. And flood rinsing is not something you can do interior. If it's not rinsed correctly, Dirtex can cause more problems than it was intended to fix.

I use two coats of high-build primer (enamel undercoater) on new woodwork where there is a lot of brad holes or a lot of end grain, so the roughness gets filled in before finish coats. Prime, fill nail holes/caulk, prime (or at least spot-prime.) Really important to seal and fill end grain if using oil topcoat, because if not completely filled it will just soak in.

High-opacity primer also essential to mask spots on the wall where the homeowner painted lots of color swatches. Maybe two coats if the first coat didn't cover the tomato-red swatch.

Casey

Yikes - I wonder if the anger issues came before or after the kid painted the room! Conceivably there could be blues/reds that relate well to each other, but those 2 aren't it. Look like very harsh, cold electric colors on my monitor.

Anyway I had good luck with BIN in sealing in smoke odors... that was afterthoroughly washing the walls. Put plastic down on floor, tape to baseboard all around - and then I laid old carpet and old towels under where I was washing to catch the rivers of nicotine brown water that came streaming down -yuck!!! Well have fun OP - it will be a dramatic transformation and those are always fun!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm taking notes.

I was only going to use the BIN in the two rooms where the smoker lived. For the glossy painted rooms I was hoping to use something less aromatic. Is there a water based primer that will work on the glossy paint?

Several years ago we had a fire in the kitchen. The people who came in to clean the house used "special chemicals" to clean the walls and everything. As it turns out the special chemicals they used were the Totally Awesome brand available at Dollar Tree. It's like concentrated 409. They washed every inch of the house two times with that stuff. I'm wondering if that took the place of the Dirtex?? Afterward it was primed with Kilz and painted. A LOT of other stuff was done, but after it was over you cannot tell there was a fire in the house.

@Paintguy22 - yes, thanks for catching that!

Here's a thread about Dirtex & TSP that others might find useful. I have it saved as a favorite because it's GREAT info. http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2475642/dirtex-same-as-tsp-powdered-vs-spray-dirtex