I am assuming that your bathroom wall is "smooth wall" that is, not
'textured'. (If your bathroom wall is textured, you need to apply
texture to smooth patches to match and blend with exiting texture) If
your wall is smooth the patches will appear to be smoother since, as
you point out, over several coats of paint some minor texture will
naturally appear from roller nap. The only way to resolve that problem
is to treat the paint textured area as textured - you may have to
literally spray some very light (and wet) texture on and around your
patches to get them to blend in. This is tricky stuff best left to
someone who has the artist's touch - because that's what it takes for a
flawless job where the patch disappears completely. Another option that
YOU can do is lightly texture the entire bathroom (sounds like a much
bigger job than it really is) prime/seal (with PVA sealer) then paint.
Done right, your bathroom walls will then look like new. You could also
wallpaper to hide the patches.

Repaint as much as you want with different nap rollers and you will
always see the patches because as you paint over the patches, you're
also painting the original wall, building up additional 'texture'
there. It'll show.

If your walls are even lightly textured (like an orange peel, for
instance) you can get some canned texture from the hardware store that
will work pretty good if you take your time and experiement a little
first so you get the desired effect. If you spray it on and it doesn't
look just right, realize that as it dries it shrinks considerably and
it may blend in after it dries. If it looks WAY wrong, thenjust get a
damp cloth and wipe it off, start over.

Just be sure to prime with PVA sealer after any new wallboard or
texture, otherwise the paint will soak in almost forever and you'll
always see a "dry spot" where your patches are.

-Jeff


albee wrote:
A couple questions, if I could:

-Just primed our bathroom walls, which included some areas where I
patched the drywall. In those places, the primer went on very smooth,
with no noticeable texture, as one normally sees (simply resulting
from the roller nap after painting). Is that because our rollers are
smoother than normal, or does primer go on thinner and hence create
less texture? So, should I re-prime with a "coarser" nap roller, or
when I do the paint will it likely match the rest?

-Can one "spot-prime" areas without a problem. The primer can cautions
against it, saying that it will create uneven colors. Is that just a
sales ploy, or does it depend on the darkness of the eventual color
(primer is white)? The bathroom we ended up priming the whole thing,
but in the future any thought on if it's necessary?

Thanks!