Dear Fellow Hosts, I need your expertise, please.
After buying my apartment I didn’t paint it so the apartment still reflects the previous owner’s taste - the bathroom has chocolate brown walls, the bedroom has teal walls, and the living room has orange walls.
I’m a simple person and I prefer white or light gray walls but at the time I didn’t have the luxury of time or the extra cash to repaint the apartment. However, it’s time to get some of the walls painted because of damage caused by guests (e.g. holding on to the towel rack with such force to enter the shower that it has come out of the wall and had to be reinstalled a few inches higher, leaving holes in the wall where the screws originally held the towel rack; opening the front door with such force that it left a hole the size of a plum on the drywall, etc).
Question: should I paint the walls my preferred white, or would changing the color of the walls from chocolate brown, teal and orange to white would require several coats of paint so that it would make the painting more expensive? Your valuable feedback is truly appreciated, thank you.
In your rentals I’d go with white for ease of repair, touch up, etc. Color can be brought in (and changed) with furniture, textiles, artwork, etc. Yes, the painting might cost more but I don’t like brown a warm weather tropical setting anyway.
My advice would be to find the off-white colored paint that home-builders in your area use. Builders use it because it’s not far off from the color of drywall mud (therefore, mistakes don’t show easily). Big-name stores will have it in stock all the time. I think it’s called “Swiss Coffee” at Home Depot. It was called “Navajo White” 25 years ago at Dunn Edwards.
Having said that, my wife chose a very light beige like oatmeal for our listing. 
The chance that you get color showing through with one coat is really high, even with high-quality paint. I’d do either
A) 1 coat of a generic white primer followed by 1 coat of your chosen color mixed with a high-quality paint-and-primer-in-one base.
-OR-
B) 2 coats of your chosen color mixed with a high-quality paint-and-primer-in-one base.
@Brian_R170, @KKC thank you for your valuable feedback; how long do you think I need to wait before booking the apartment once the painting is completed? I don’t want guests to complain about the paint fumes, etc…
There is the thought of keeping neutral is the best way to go…light walls…no color. I am the opposite I like to keep it trendy with colored walls (we actually have chocolate brown with white trim and accents in the bathroom. With a neutral light buff color with darker trim in the bedrooms and living room area. In our other location with have light walls with an accent wall in each bedroom with the bathrooms having a dark trim (blue) with light walls. We have gotten many compliments regarding how warm and cozy and homey it is. The 2nd home is more trendy with modern art and furniture and certain people just love it. So… it really just a personal decision what fits with your home. A 1900’s home will probably not be “trendy” and a newer home will not be decorated like the 1900’s. So go with what fits with the home and not with what people are suggesting.
A week is more than enough for pure latex, but I would ask at whatever paint store you go to just in case there’s something different about their paint. Oil-based paints take longer, and who knows what proprietary stuff paint companies use in their paints.
You can always use charcoal, baking soda, lemons, etc. to make it go away faster.
Covering anything with white is going to take several coats – especially chocolate brown. Ask at the paint store for color-blocking paints, designed to reduce the number of coats needed to block previous colors…
Light colors make rooms appear larger, and you can use lots of color accents.
There are lots of new paints with low VOC. I have a chemical and fragrance allergy and I bought a Benjamin More paint and was able to be in the room the same day as it was painted.
Oh and definitely go with an off white or a tan color.
My walls are a great greige color. I like to change my accessories seasonally … curtains need to get washed it works well. It’s easier to change throw pillows and tablecloths than a wall color. And since I use the same color in every room I always have some on hand for any touch-ups that are needed. I find that going White shows every little speckle which is not something I want to deal with
put a primer first and then you can put whatever color you wish. even better, nowadays there are paints with primer in them. go to home depot or lowes and you get a few gallons of whatever color you need. the pint comes in white so you have to take the color card to the counter and they will prepare the paint for you while you wait.
I’d stay out of white, unless your place is very small and you need to make it appear bigger. White, to me, is like hospital. but it depends on your furniture the size of the rooms etc.
Also there are paints with 0 voc. I recommend those made by PPG, but I’m biased cuz I used to work for them
You can buy a paint that also has primer in it. We purchased Behr at Home Depot and it provided great coverage. It was expensive but well worth it.