How to Choose the Right Paint Finish for Every Room in Your House

Discover how to choose the perfect paint finish for every room—whether it's matte, satin, or gloss, get the right look and durability for your space.

When it comes to painting their house, many people spend all their time on choosing the right color for their home, going through color sample cards and fan decks.

However, one crucial aspect that’s often overlooked is the finish of the paint.

The finish of the paint refers to the texture of the paint, or to be more exact, how shiny it is.

This actually matters more than most people think. Yes, it doesn’t change the color in any way, which is why people often think that it doesn’t really matter.

Nevertheless, the finish can dramatically affect the vibe that your space gives off with the same color. For example, just note the difference between a matte black sports car and one with the same black, but with a glossy finish.

The matte black sports car looks much sleeker, while the glossy finish one is louder and more attention-catching.

The color of your paint will be the main determining factor and will set the tone for your space’s overall aesthetics, eg rustic, modern, or more cozy, but the finish decides the character and how refined or relaxed your space feels.

Different finishes also have varying levels of durability, so the finish you choose can also be a strategic decision to enhance the lifespan of your elements.

Alright, enough teasing. Let’s get right into the meat of the article.

Understanding Paint Finishes

First off, let’s go over the various paint finishes so that you won’t be lost when we refer to them throughout the article, and you’ll understand why we recommend the finish for the room.

Here are the various paint finishes, from least shiny to most shiny:

• Matte: Matte is the smoothest finish. Just imagine the most unshiny texture you can think of; that’s matte.

• Eggshell: Next up is eggshell, which is actually what you see on most walls. You’ll notice that most walls aren’t exactly super dull or smooth like matte, but they're not shiny either. Instead, they reflect light like normal materials, which is to say, slightly shiny. This shine is so slight that it can't even be considered shiny, and that's what eggshell is.

• Satin: Satin is basically slightly shinier than eggshell. You can see a sort of slight glow to it.

• Semi-gloss: Semi-gloss is where the shine starts to be really obvious.

• Gloss: Finally, gloss is the shiniest and most reflective finish.

The more glossy or shiny a finish is, the more durable it is and the easier it is to clean. This is because glossier finishes have more resins, which make the paint harder and more resistant to moisture, stains, and dirt.

As a result, glossier paints are tougher and slicker, so they can last longer, withstand more traffic and abuse, and it's easier to clean stains and dirt off them.

However, since glossy finishes reflect more light, any dirt and stains are also much more obvious and noticeable.

So while matte and less glossy finishes are harder to clean and less durable, they're much better at hiding imperfections.

Now that you have a better understanding of the different paint finishes, here are the best paint finishes for each room of your house.

1. Living Room

For your living room, the best finish is going to be eggshell.

Since it's the living room, where you'll be spending lots of time, watching TV, hosting guests, and having your meals, even a finish with just a bit more gloss like satin can quickly tire your eyes out.

You don't want an overwhelming finish, so the best choice is going to be a neutral, relaxing eggshell finish.

There's no practical need for tougher, glossier finishes either, as living room walls won't be exposed often to elements like moisture or cleaning chemicals, and they may be high-traffic, but they aren't high-touch like bathroom walls are.

As for matte, it's a viable option, but practically speaking, it's harder to clean and less durable. Eggshell will already give you a soft enough mood, so it's just a more practical choice.

2. Bedrooms

Next, for bedrooms, like with the living room, you’re going to be spending a lot of time here, so it’s usually best to stay away from glossier finishes.

You’ll be sleeping here, so you’ll want cozier textures, which means either matte or eggshell. Bedrooms are considered an area that gets less traffic, so it’s perfectly fine to go with matte for a softer, more cozy mood.

The only time when you should be getting anything glossier is if it’s a kids’ bedroom. Gloss can still be too much, but satin will be fine to get that extra bit of durability and ease of cleaning.

With kids’ bedrooms, spills, fingerprints, and even drawing on the walls can happen often, so the ease of cleaning that satin gives you can come in very handy.

3. Kitchen

Your kitchen, on top of being high-traffic, is also exposed to elements like grease, water, dishwashing detergent, and smoke.

That’s why for practical purposes, you’ll want something glossier. Generally, those elements will only get onto your kitchen walls during mealtime when you’re cooking or cleaning up, so it’s still not that bad.

As such, satin will do, and for walls nearer to stoves or sinks, go for semi-gloss. If you want to be extra safe, you can even opt for glossy finishes, but that’s usually not required since your kitchen walls won’t be constantly exposed to those elements; it’s usually only during meal times.

4. Bathroom

The bathroom is the area in your home that’s exposed to the most moisture and cleaning chemicals, so its walls need to be able to take the most abuse.

Whether you’re showering, washing your hands, or just cleaning your bathroom, your walls will be constantly exposed to moisture, including the steam from your showers.

As such, opt for gloss or at least semi-gloss to resist moisture and other harsh chemicals.

While ideally, you would use gloss, since that’s the most durable, most homeowners still choose semi-gloss, as gloss can be too overwhelming. So if you’re worried about that, semi-gloss will still suffice.

5. Hallways

Finally, your hallways are pretty high-traffic areas. They’re usually more narrow too, so people often come into contact with them when they’re passing through.

As such, you’ll want to use more durable finishes, i.e. satin or semi-gloss. Again, if you’re worried about the gloss being too overwhelming, you can opt for satin. Just make sure to opt for more durable ones.

Conclusion

The finish is more important than most people think, so don’t neglect it.

You may have noticed that gloss is rarely used. That’s because it can be too shiny and wear your eyes out quickly, so it’s rarely used for walls.

That said, it is the most durable finish, so it’s usually used for trim, doors, window frames, and so on, where you actually want them to stand out to contrast your walls, and you also need them to be extra durable since they’re very high-traffic and high-touch elements.

Now that you know the right finish to use, all that’s left to do is purchase it and start painting your house.

Painting can be quite tiring work though, and it requires practice to get the techniques right. If you’re too lazy to practise the techniques and paint your entire house yourself, consider engaging the services of a painting company.

Instead of doing a shoddy job on your own, working with a solid painting company like Renewed Walls Painting will ensure your home is painted beautifully.

As long as you’ve done your research beforehand and verified that the painting company or contractor can be trusted, your investment in professional painting services will pay off in quality and peace of mind.

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