Whether you're painting a single feature wall or redecorating a whole house, the same handful of questions come up again and again: how much paint will I actually need, how many coats should I plan for, how long before I can recoat or move furniture back, and do I need a primer first? These are the practical, planning-stage details that decide whether a decorating job goes smoothly over a weekend or drags into a second week with patchy walls and paint left over you didn't need. Below we've pulled together straight answers using the official coverage, coats and drying data for the Dulux Egyptian Cotton range, plus a couple of honest answers to two questions that don't relate to what we stock. If you've been searching for Dulux paint FAQs in one place, this is it.
For a quick visual overview of how Dulux finishes differ, watch the official Dulux guide below before diving into the specifics.
How much coverage do I get per litre?
Coverage varies by finish, and it's the single biggest factor in working out how much paint to buy. Here's how the Dulux Egyptian Cotton range breaks down:
- Dulux Matt: up to 14m² per litre
- Dulux Silk: up to 14m² per litre (same coverage profile as Matt, with a subtle sheen finish)
- Dulux Easycare (Washable & Tough Matt, Kitchen Matt, Bathroom Soft Sheen): approximately 8-10m² per litre
- Dulux Quick Dry Satinwood: up to 12m² per litre
The Easycare range covers slightly less per litre than standard Matt or Silk. That's a direct trade-off for the extra performance built into the formula: the washable, stain-repellent additives that make these paints "20x tougher" simply require a slightly denser film. If you're painting a kitchen, bathroom, hallway or children's room where the walls need to survive daily wear, the reduced coverage per litre is easily worth it. For a standard bedroom or living room wall in Dulux Matt 2.5L in Egyptian Cotton, you can expect roughly 35m² of coverage per tin over two coats, enough for a good-sized room wall or two.
How many coats do I need?
Coat count is fairly consistent across the range, with two exceptions worth planning for:
- Dulux Matt and Silk: 2 coats for full, even coverage
- Dulux Easycare range: 2-3 coats, depending on the colour you're painting over and how porous the existing surface is
- Dulux Quick Dry Satinwood: 2 coats, though an undercoat is recommended first if you're working on bare wood or making a strong colour change
Egyptian Cotton is a warm, soft neutral beige (colour code 40YY 65/061, LRV 66%), so if you're painting over a similarly light, neutral colour you'll likely find two coats is plenty across every finish. If you're covering a much darker or more saturated colour, budget for the third coat on the Easycare range, and don't skip the undercoat step on Satinwood: it makes a genuine difference to the final coat count needed.
A small but useful trick: buy a 30ml Egyptian Cotton tester pot before you commit to a full tin. Painting a patch on your actual wall and letting it dry fully will tell you exactly how many coats your specific surface needs before you're stood on a ladder mid-project working it out the hard way.
How long does Dulux paint take to dry?
Drying and recoat times differ noticeably by finish, and getting this wrong is one of the most common causes of a patchy or streaky finish:
- Dulux Matt and Silk: recoat after 2-4 hours
- Dulux Easycare range: touch dry within 60 minutes at 23°C, recoat after 4 hours at 23°C (allow longer in colder or more humid conditions; this range is also low odour, so it's a comfortable choice for occupied rooms)
- Dulux Quick Dry Satinwood: recoat after 4-6 hours, and it's self-undercoating, wipeable and non-yellowing once fully cured
Those quoted times all assume a standard 23°C room. If you're painting in winter with the heating off, or in a steamy bathroom, add extra time before recoating: applying a second coat too early is what causes lifting, dragging or an uneven sheen. It's always worth opening a window or door to keep air moving, particularly with the higher-coverage Matt and Silk finishes, which hold more moisture in the film while curing. If you're working across a whole house in a single weekend, plan your room order around this: start with an Easycare kitchen or bathroom in the morning since it's touch dry within the hour, and leave Satinwood woodwork for later in the day so the longer 4-6 hour recoat window doesn't hold up your schedule.
Do I need a primer or undercoat?
For most jobs with this range, no. Dulux Matt, Silk and the Easycare emulsions are formulated to go straight onto sound, previously painted walls and ceilings without a separate primer, and that's part of why the coat counts above are so low. Where a primer or undercoat does matter is with Quick Dry Satinwood on woodwork: if you're painting bare, unpainted wood, or moving from a dark or strong existing colour to a lighter one like Egyptian Cotton, an undercoat first will save you extra topcoats and give a truer, more even final colour. On previously painted, sound woodwork in a similar tone, Satinwood's self-undercoating property means you can usually skip the separate step.
What colour is Dulux Timeless?
This comes up a lot alongside Egyptian Cotton, since both are popular neutral choices. The key figure to know is LRV (Light Reflectance Value), which measures how much light a colour bounces back into a room, on a scale where 0 is black and 100 is pure white. Dulux Timeless has an LRV of 87, considerably higher than Egyptian Cotton's LRV of 66. In practical terms, that makes Timeless a notably lighter, brighter, more luminous neutral, while Egyptian Cotton reads as a warmer, softer, slightly deeper beige with more visual weight on the wall. If you're choosing between the two, Timeless will open up a smaller or darker room more dramatically, while Egyptian Cotton brings a cosier, more grounded neutral tone that still reflects a good amount of light thanks to its own reasonably high 66% LRV.
Is Dulux Weathershield breathable?
We get asked this fairly often, and the honest answer is that we can't give you a reliable technical answer here. Weathershield isn't part of the range we currently stock at Essentials Fix: our confirmed, verified Dulux range is the Egyptian Cotton collection covered throughout this guide, across Matt, Silk, Easycare and Quick Dry Satinwood finishes. For breathability specifications on Weathershield specifically, the most reliable route is to check the current product listing or technical data sheet directly, or to contact Dulux or your retailer for that product. We'd rather point you in the right direction than guess.
Is Dulux Barley White discontinued?
Same honest answer applies here. Barley White isn't a colour we stock, and we don't have verified, current information on its production status to share with confidence. Dulux colour ranges do get updated and refreshed periodically, so the most accurate way to confirm whether a specific shade like Barley White is still in production is to check current listings with your retailer or contact Dulux directly. What we can tell you with certainty is what's in front of you on this page: the full Egyptian Cotton range is in stock and available now.
Where can I see the full Egyptian Cotton range?
Every finish mentioned in this guide is available in Egyptian Cotton at Essentials Fix: Matt, Silk, Easycare Kitchen Matt, Easycare Bathroom Soft Sheen, Easycare Matt (Washable & Tough), and Quick Dry Satinwood, plus a 30ml tester pot if you want to check the colour against your own walls and lighting before committing to a full tin. You can browse the whole line-up on the Dulux Egyptian Cotton collection page, or go straight to Dulux Matt 2.5L in Egyptian Cotton for walls and ceilings, or Dulux Quick Dry Satinwood 750ml in Egyptian Cotton for woodwork, skirting and trim.
In summary
Coverage, coats and drying times all shift depending on which finish you're using: Matt and Silk go furthest per litre and dry fastest, Easycare trades a little coverage for serious durability in kitchens and bathrooms, and Quick Dry Satinwood needs a bit more planning around undercoats on bare wood. Get those basics right, pick the correct finish for the room, and Egyptian Cotton's warm, soft neutral tone will do the rest. And if a question falls outside what we stock (like Weathershield's breathability or whether Barley White is still available), it's always worth going straight to the manufacturer or checking current listings rather than relying on a guess.
