What is/are the best paint brand for one coat coverage?
Eggshell over semi should be no problem. I highly recommend Benjamin Moore Regal for one-coat coverage of reasonable color differences. That was the choice I made last summer when I moved into my new apartment and they offered to paint the place according to my specs if I bought the paint. It turned out well and they have a huge selection of colors, too. Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint also reportedly covers well. I’d link to my previous AskMeFi question on the topic, except I’m on my PocketPC, which would make that a pain.
Well, I was going to suggest Devine Color, but you say you already tried them. Yes, it is expensive. Yes, it is absolutely worth it. They don’t have every shade but they do have almost any shade you would want, and the stuff goes on nicely without splatter or stink. We painted our living room and entry with that stuff — deep bright colors over white — and I am now sold on Devine. Nice paint. With the deep red over white primer on bare plaster in our entry room, we almost got one coat coverage — which is pretty amazing. It covers very well. But I was perfectionist about it so I added a second coat. If the two colors aren’t as far apart, Devine should definitely work for one coat. But I do understand that it could be expensive. One thing I noticed, though, is that their paint seems to go far. We thought we would need two gallon cans for our small living room, because it took two gallons of primer. (Of course, the primer being over bare plaster —
