When a homeowner plans to paint their home, they have to think about more than just choosing the right color. Another significant thing that enhances the paint's final look and transforms a home's appearance is the paint sheen or paint finish. It refers to the gloss or shine in the color, and the amount of light the paint reflects from its surface meaning, higher gloss paints will reflect more light.

Sheen

Paints are available in different types of sheens. The higher the sheen, the higher the shine and the durability. Here is a small guide to help decide the right finish for a home painting project:

Flat or matte

The names rhyme and what else about flat and matte paint is the same? Neither reflects light very well, although a matte sheen offers a slightly better reflective ability than flat. It also cleans up slightly better, although there are some flat varieties now which boast cleaning resistance. This type of finish is the least expensive and offers a smooth, uniform look. It is ideal for new construction, drywall, and low-traffic areas like the living room, bedrooms, and ceilings. It requires fewer coats and hides imperfections such as nail holes, patches, and dents.

Eggshell

It is one of the most popular types of paint finishes, and much like a real eggshell has a low-sheen and a soft, smooth finish. It is more reflective and much easier to clean than the flat finish. It works well in low to mid-traffic areas like bathrooms, kitchen, foyers, laundry room, living room, family rooms, and entryways.

Satin

This is a versatile and durable paint finish that is commonly used for both interior and exterior surfaces. It offers a velvety feel and is best for application in areas such as the playroom, children's room, and dining room. Its resistance to moisture makes it suitable for high humidity areas like kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. Painters use its distinctive luster to highlight trim, shutters, windows, and interior doors. It effortlessly resists mildew, dust, chipping, and peeling and is easier to clean than the low-gloss finishes.

Semi-gloss

It offers a shiny appearance and highlights the architectural details of a home. It is best suited for trim, windows, chair rails, doors, cabinets, fireplace mantels, kitchen, and bathroom. It is most often used in high-moisture and high-traffic areas easily cleaned with a light scrubbing or wiping as compared to other finishes. The downside to this type of finish is that it highlights existing imperfections on the wall more easily. Therefore, it's applied to walls that have no blemishes.

Gloss

This paint sheen is the most durable and the easiest to clean of all. It offers high-shine, the highest level of reflection, and a mirror-like finish. This eye-catching paint finish is popular for doors, trims, cabinets, molding, shutters, and window casings. They often require more coats and should be used on surfaces with no prior imperfections. Gloss sheen is tough to work with, and the walls need to be sanded and primed before its application.

Selecting the best paint sheen can be overwhelming. The type of sheen chosen will impact the look of the paint shade, ease of cleaning, and ability to hide the imperfections on the wall. A painting professional can offer more information on the different paint finishes available and advise on the best sheen for a home.

M & B Painting, a Father-Son family-run business, has a proven record of Service Excellence in residential and commercial interior and exterior paint projects. Call us at 623-289-3366 for all of your painting needs!

Types of Paint Sheen