Twelve years ago we painted our living room, entry, and dining room with Ralph Lauren's River Rock paint. It has a very fine granules which give the walls a fine sandpaper texture that is really wonderful. I have found the surface easy to clean with a magic eraser (sponge) and when necessary I've done the occasional small touch-up with a jar of the leftover paints that I store under my bathroom sink. I did a quick check online to see if these paints are still available and discovered they are, but also found a lot of threads with folks complaining how difficult it was to use this paint. I do recall it looked blotchy with the first coat, but looked fine after the second coat, so we really didn't have any problems. (We used a very deep taupe for the living room and a soft dove for the entry and dining room and both worked equally well for us.) I wouldn't recommend Ralph Lauren Suede, which is similar in texture. We tried that for our den and later discovered every time we brushed against the walls it left a white mark and any attempt at touch-ups simply wouldn't blend in properly. For some reason the River Rock doesn't have this problem. (We ended up repainting that room six months later with an ICI Dulux paint that was fabulous - nice, thick and rich in pigment - could almost get away with just one coat even in their deepest colors, including red and navy!)

One of our bedrooms has been painted with a sand-textured paint. I know that modifications were done to the room in the 1960s, and the textured paint is at least that old. We are preparing to paint the room and I would like to minimize or eliminate this texture. We do not want to skim-coat the walls. I saw on another forum that an expert recommended using two coats of Glidden Ultra-Hide Gripper Primer (heavy bodied) and then two coats of paint. We usually use BM products, so I would prefer to use something in their line, but since it's primer it's not necessary. Is there a better product for this problem? Different solutions? -- TIA Tina

My thoughts on the order of attack are: 1. Use putty knife to get in behind it to the plaster in a small inconspicuous area just to get a better grip on what I'm working with. 2. Water/Fabric Softener out of a pump sprayer. If it soaks in, let it sit for a while and see if it comes off with a putty knife or scraper. 3. Try this product from Amazon (link at bottom) - EcoSolve Home Strip X-Tex Textured Coatings Remover 4. I'm going to be renting a steamer for all of the wallpaper in the home and will maybe give that a go as well. 5. If none of the above works, I will try to sand. If this works, I will likely rent a power sander/vacuum combo. 6. If all else fails, I will skim coat with joint compound. Does this sound reasonable? Here is a link that might be useful: EcoSolve Home Strip X-Tex Textured Coatings Remover

With the correct prep work you will not have a problem with peeling. Wash the wall then either use a bonding primer before the top coat or use a water based deglosser before the top coat. Sanding a textured wall is not a realistic option.