Pure Performance is a great choice - some of the best features are: Awesome hiding abilities. Viscosity is creamy and full-bodied for a midline paint, no splatter, no run. It paints like a far more expensive can than it is - super value. Low VOC and low odor - will be 0 VOC by 10/2011 - as I understand it. Has mold/mildew resistant stuff built-in so you don't have to add it. The eggshell is comparable to several matte finishes in other brands. The container/can is plastic and that can be problematic but I hear they are changing back to a metal can sometime this spring. Can rival BenM's midline grades any day of the week. The price-point is pretty consistent starting at $17.99 to $21.99 and it comes in an ultra deep base and even in the more expensive ultra base, the price-point is around $23.99 max. PPG products are one of many on the list of sleeper brands and grades that don't get nearly enough spin and attention. I think this Pittsburgh Paints coupon code is still good: CO018450 (CO are letters, the rest are numbers) should take 20% off paint and 10% off sundries at any store that deals PPG.

We just did the ultimate paint-off in our house testing a bunch of low/no VOC paints and unfortunately, Harmony came in at the very bottom of the our pack. The paint was very, very runny, drips everywhere and the coverage was not very good and we were painting over light cream walls. Pittsburgh Pure Performance was a little better, C2 was better than that but I could still smell it. We are going to with farrow and Ball because it had NO smell and went on like buddah. i wish BM Aura was available in Canada because it is suppose to be fab too. Try getting a bit of the paint and see if you had the same problems we did. HTH, Christie

Gmnolan, Sorry to cause a bit of discussion re: color and effects upon behaviors. You asked for some ideas and I just wanted to give you some information that I learned through the years from my profession. You never said where you are or what age range you work with unless I missed that somewhere. Just also keep in mind that if your classroom is hot (which many are in our school..radiators that overheat) colors will just add to the overal feel of the environment. Blue will make it feel coolor. We don't have air conditioning. If our room were yellow, I think I would feel even more warm in the summer months. But visa versa. If your room is cooler or you live in a cold climate, yellow may be good for you. I just wanted to give you the heads up that while your children may be typical in terms of development, you never know if they do indeed have issues and using a calming color, may serve the general population better than a bright yellow, red or orange. You could pick a few colors you like, paint a few very large poster boards and have your children vote secretly on their favorite color. It would be interesting to see which they prefer. If they are old enough, you could ask them to tell you why. If I had to repaint, I might choose a soothing green this time around or Ellen Kenwood's Oasis. Just some more info...yellow writing paper is visually better for kids to write on. They see the lines easies. Studies have shown that purple writing on computer screens with green backgrounds are better for learning disabled children. And keep the amount of things you hang up to a minimum. Children with ADHD, or ADD can't filter out extraneous info, so they focus on everything. It's not that some children can't attend, they attend to too much, so less is better. Let us know what color you choose.

Okay, I’m going to put in my 2 cents here, mostly to educate the DIY’ers out there About paint. I worked in the paint department of both Home Depot & Lowes for a combined 6 yrs up until 2016. I’ve taken ALL the available paint classes. I’m going to tell you guys a secret... the reason it takes a MINIMIUM of 2 coats, is due to several influencing factors. #1) your wall texture. The more porous, or heavily textured your wall is, the more likely you will get less “coverage” out of your paint, because it is either being sucked up by the texture, (usually unprimed) or it is a bumpy texture which has more surface area to cover per brush/roller stroke. #2) your roller. The texture of your roller must match the texture of the wall. Smooth walls require a shorter napp. Heavier textures require a longer napp. When these things don’t “match” so to speak, you’ll get what are called “hollidays” in the painting world. It’s those little spots where the “under Color” shows through, as if the new paint took a “Holliday” in that spot. This happens all the time when using rollers, regardless, but it’s worse when your napp is too short for the texture. #3) the amount of titanium white your paint brand started out with Before tinting. Titanium white is GENERALLY what are Considered “solids” in the paint, although I’m sure there are others I’m forgetting. #4) the COLOR of the new paint. each color has a “depth” which requires a particular amount of tint. Whites, off whites, pastels, and generally lighter colors are tinted using a WHITE tinting base. These cans are the purest whites that company offers, and can be used right off the shelf. They are usually 3/4 or more full of Titanium white. Medium dark colors are tinted into a “medium” tint base. These cans CANNOT be sold directly off the shelf and must be tinted. They have less overall volume inside the can to begin with, (in order to leave room for tint.) & they are around 1/2 titanium white. Dark or deep colors are mixed into a ”DEEP” tint base. These cans have the least overall volume to begin with, and there’s about 1/4 or less of titanium white in each can. Here’s the secret.. titanium white is what provides the coverage! Tint, by itself, doesn’t cover, it’s somewhat like a gel, and is VERY sticky on its own. It is essentially pure pigment, mixed with an additive to make it viscous. when you take a color, let’s say RED, which by itself has a very translucent property, and you dump a whole boatload of it into a can which (in order to achieve that deep rich he’d you’re looking for) has virtually no titanium white in it, you’re going to get a see through paint, no matter the brand. now, have you ever been offered a tinted (usually grey) primer to put on under that red paint? Did you choose against it, thinking it would be unnecessary? Think again! That neutral grey, gives that red paint a dark neutral base to start from! It richens the color on the first coat! You can sometimes have the primer tinted pink, but grey primer or a grey paint base coat works best. (Don’t believe me? Do a sample board painted 1/2 white, 1/2 medium grey, then paint red across the whole thing.... see? 😉) also, don’t expect your deeper colors to dry as quickly. they don’t. Tint, by itself, never stud.. or “cures” because there are zero gardeners in it. All that tint needed for that deep color, created a very sticky situation inside that can. The other secret I’m going to tell you deals with the other additives in your can besides the titanium white. They are the clear liquids. The chemical mixture and amount of each of these, determines the dry time, viscosity, elasticity, yellowing propensity, durability, hardness and water soluabLilith of the paint. They are basically the GLUE holding it all together, and keeping it on your wall. Each company has a different proprietary blend, making its paint unique. Ive found, that for the most part, how well it turns out with YOUR can of paint, is based on the project, the knowledge of the painter, and the teaching/advising capabilities of the sales clerk. Other than that, MOST paints are created FAIRLY equally. Do your research people. There! Now that’s a thing you know. 😉👍