YBC Building Supply Blog

Paint: What type of finish should I use?

A common question that we hear is “What type of paint should I use in my home?”  There are a lot of different factors to determine which paint finish is best for your home.  Sometimes it is personal preference over another and sometimes it is about functionality and ease of care.

Some things to consider when choosing the right finish of paint are:

• Flat Finish – This type of finish is a more sophisticated finish and works well on interior wall and ceilings.  This finish doesn’t clean well and wouldn’t be best for a kitchen, bathroom or a children’s bedroom.  Remember if you love the flat finish and go with it anyway, you will probably need to re-paint the wall to “clean” it if it gets really marked up.  Scrubbing a flat finish will damage the paint.

• Satin Finish – This is a popular paint finish for bedrooms, dining rooms, hallways and doors.  It works well on wood trim.  This finish has a bit more sheen than the flat finish.  Satin finish is cleanable, just not able to be scrubbed.  So if you choose this finish, it would be best to keep it away from a child’s bedroom, play room, etc.

• Eggshell Finish – This finish is often used for decorative finishes because it proved a low luster sheen.  You can clean this finish, but not by scrubbing.  This may be good for a living room, family room or hallways.

• Semi-gloss Finish – This finish can be use in areas of your home where you have high moisture like kitchens and bathrooms.  You can use on trim, moldings and doors along with cabinetry and woodwork.  Semi-gloss can be scrubbed without damage and it is more stain resistant and washable than the above finishes.

• High-gloss Finish – This finish has a polished look.  It is stain resistant and you can scrub it.  If you are looking for a finish that will stand up to splatters, children’s drawings, etc., this is the way for you to go.  This finish will reflect light throughout the room with its shiny appearance.  One thing to keep in mind about high-gloss finish:  It will show the imperfections in walls, so make sure you prep your walls and get them extra smooth prior to painting.  This finish is typically used on furniture, but if you love it…. Go for it!

Most of these finished are either latex or oil-based paints.  Be sure to check out the differences of the two to determine which is right for your application.  Pratt & Lambert offers different options and your color choice is endless with the color match system.