I contacted the Plaid Enterprise office in Norcross, Georgia today (09/29/15) and was informed that the Petal Porcelain Setting Agent was discontinued. The Consumer Service person informed me that the Martha Stewart Fabric Stiffener product can be purchased on the www.plaidonline.com website and it was recommended as a superior product compared to the original Petal Porcelain! This directly from someone at Plaid. I checked the website and it is priced at $6.99/6 0z, bottle. This product can also be purchased at Joanne's Fabrics and also at Michaels Craft Stores. I hope this helps. It sure made my day!!!!

Unless a color is mixed full spectrum and no black, all brands are equal on the quality of color front. With that said, however, Farrow & Ball and C2 both do have a little something extra in the complexity of color department. Not full spectrum but a tick up from the average can of color for sure. Colors mixed in Aura with Gennex colorants aren't anything special. The Gennex colorants offer an advantage when it comes to VOCs and opacity/opaqueness but the colors per se are average. Muralo ceramic doesn't do the orange-peel texture thing. Slight as it may be with other brands. Muralo's ceramic does deliver a closer to ceramic-like final finish but it's not plastic-y or anything. It's just smooth. Aura matte notoriously touches up well because it's matte. The flatter finishes in Muralo touch up just as well. It's not so much about the brand as it is the gloss level that determines how well touch ups will go. As far as open time, I dunno. Open time for all brands seem to keep getting shorter and shorter. Muralo is one of those sleeper brands that doesn't get the same level of marketing like BenM. Diamond Vogel and Dunn-Edwards are two others that are every bit as good if not better than what's offered from BenM. Muralo and Diamond Vogel are color palette challenged -- that's their downfall. Dunn-Edwards' The Perfect Palette is stunning and rivals BenM there as well.

Thank you all for you opinions! OK, if I go with semi the SW rep told me to use the "Metal Latex" over the dark primer. Is that good stuff? The BM impervo doesn't come in Semi right? So in order to get the impervo's smooth oil-like finish I have to go with satin sheen or choose another trim paint? Does anyone just use the type of paint they used on the wall, but in a higher sheen? I'm using SW Duration Home in satin on the walls...so could I just use that in the semi gloss on the trim? Or will it REALY not smooth out enough? For Turkish Coffee the painter said 3 coats, not the normal 2. Is he talking 3 on top of the primer then if everyone primes first??? He didn't clarify, but some of the cheaper estimators said 2 coats. (I made the dumb assumption primers were a given and weren't counted when they were talking about how many coats)

Ctlane - How long did you wait until you took the tape off? I had to use a utility knife (I did use frog tape) and it wasnâÂÂt as easy as I imagined. Still going to need to do some touch ups. I did post on the paint forum when I hit a month and it was suggested to call SW. It seemed to get a little better so I just figured IâÂÂd wait it out. Thankfully itâÂÂs only faintly tacky now compared to after I first did it. Our basement is below. Door at the bottom of the steps. We have a dehumidifier running in the basement. It was warm/humid here this summer but not in the house or basement. I donâÂÂt remember it being too bad around Labor Day, which was when I did this. The house temp. was set around 72-74 degrees during the process. ItâÂÂs been about 70 over the past few weeks. I did have a box fan at the steps at first and maybe IâÂÂll dig it back out. With three cats, when I had the big light and fan near the steps they were very nosey and wanted to walk on the area. Put them in a room during the primer and painting processes, put everything away and prayed theyâÂÂd leave the steps along. Thankfully since everything looked normal they werenâÂÂt interested. The can of paint says you can recoat in 4 hours. I was originally going to wait a day. About three days later it was still tacky and I was really getting impatient so I did the second coat while crossing my fingers. I shouldâÂÂve known if the first coat was still tackyâ¦.. I guess maybe it just needs more time. I probably should leave the tape for a while yet. I canâÂÂt believe I wore my sneakers last night while doing that. Stupid. One more question, can or should I put a coat of poly over the treads? If so, oil or water? (probably should wait until theyâÂÂre no longer tacky) Would it add extra protection or do you think itâÂÂs not necessary? Possibly covering up the scuff marks? Someone told me it would make them slippery.