re: First paint

BIN is shellac based sealer/primer. 123 is a good latex primer. Both by zinsser. Jeez you’d think im getting paid to talk about them. LOL but never went wrong with them.

Here is the difference between BIN and 123:

That’s a close up on a bit of door casing I made using common pine. I must have been in a rush (or drinking) because I primed with 123 (I have a 5 gal bucket leftover from painting my house). Anyway, that’s a knot. That’s the difference. Shellac based BIN seals knots completely and there is no staining. This was not sealed with BIN. The stain showed up after maybe 6 months.

Were you using a foam roller when you got the dots? All rollers leave behind a texture. Better paint helps to settle that down. I never liked the foam ones. They don’t hold as much paint and they tend to build up a bead of paint at the ends, then you end up with streaks. And worse yet, they’re no cheaper when they should be 1/3 the price. I usually buy the home depot brand of 4" roller. They are surprisingly good.