Choosing a paint finish doesn’t have to be daunting. Here’s how to evaluate your choices.

Have you ever touched up the paint in your home only to find that the color looks completely different? If so, you’re not alone. Even if the paint color seems to match the room perfectly, the finish may be completely off. Paint comes in a variety of finishes that give your walls a different look depending on the amount of sheen mixed into the paint. When choosing a paint finish, it’s important first to consider the area or room that you’re about to paint.

If you thought choosing a color was a challenge, wait until you come to deciding on a finish! Fortunately, there are a lot of fewer options. To make the right choice for your home, the professional painters offer useful tips below.

Your Choices

Paint finish comes in four general categories:

• Flat Finish

If you’re looking for a well-saturated wall that has rich results, you’ll want to go with a flat finish. Flat paint is the most forgiving finish with the best color payout. This finish works great for covering up imperfections, patching, and making dings less noticeable. A flat finish has no sheen to it and must be cleaned carefully.

Best places to use flat paint: ceilings, low-traffic areas, bedrooms.

• Washable Finish

Washable flats come only as Premium Flats. While they offer all the great attributes of a flat paint, like hiding imperfections and having a high color saturation, a washable flat allows for easy touchups, is washable, and is burnish-resistant!

Best places to use a washable finish paint: General living spaces.

• Eggshell/Satin/Low-Luster Finish

This finish is one of the best around! It offers a subtle sheen that gives your room a great coloring, but it is faint enough to still hide imperfections. The sheen reflects the light so that there is no caulky appearance. It is incredibly resistant to mildew, stains, dirt and is a good finish where washing walls are necessary.

Best places to use a satin paint: Living areas, kitchen, entryways, mudrooms, laundry rooms, bathrooms, children’s rooms, high traffic areas – the possibilities are endless!

• Semi-glass, Gloss Finish

A semi-gloss finish has a higher sheen, typically 40 to 70 percent more than other types of paint finishes. Semi-gloss finish is known to reflect light beautifully – without being too shiny! It holds up well in humid environments and is very easy to clean.

Best places to use Semi-Gloss paint: Wood trim, kitchen cabinets, and doors.

Are you ready to leave the timely task of painting to the professionals? For a quality finish on your home, contact one of an expert Calabasas painter directly at Precision Painting! We serve Thousand Oaks, Calabasas, Ventura, and neighboring cities in California.