Dead Tools

Glidden Ceiling Paint

Easy-to-see, color-changing white paint

Ceilings are notoriously tough to paint evenly – it’s difficult to get every last little bit covered and easy to miss spots because you can only see it when the light catches it just right. This paint insures you get it right the first time: it goes on pink, but dries white. As long as the ceiling’s solid pink when you’re done, you know you’ve done a great job!

We had an old, dirty ceiling, which my wife attempted to paint using a mini-roller. It didn’t look right, and I figured it was messed up anyway, so I tried to touch it up and even out the texture. I was left with a ceiling that was technically white, but looked like military camouflage when morning light would hit it at an angle. So, with numerous assurances from the Home Depot paint guy, I bought a gallon of Glidden’s paint for our 180 square foot ceiling.

Though my dining room ceiling initially looked like it was soaked in Pepto-Bismol, it dried a glorious, flat, even white overnight. It goes on like any paint (I was using a very deep-nap roller, as I had to go over that heavy texture) and it covers nice, just like regular latex paint. The most difficult aspect of using this paint is overcoming the feeling in the back of your mind that the folks at the Glidden factory have duped you into painting your home pink.

-- Doug Barnard 05/22/07

(I contacted Glidden to find out how the paint's "EZ Track™ Technology" works. Here's their response: "It is a temporary dye. Unfortunately, we are not allowed legally to discuss specific technology." Many readers suggested the color-changing "magic" may be due to a similar mechanism as these disappearing colored bubbles. -- SL — editors)

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