How to Choose the Right Paint Finish for Your Home Project

Painting can be the cheapest and easiest way to spruce up a home. Just about everyone agrees that the hardest part of this project is choosing which paint to use. We talked to Villar and his colleague Erika Woelfel at Behr Paint about what tips we can use to select a finish. For walls that have cracks and finishes we typically want to pick a flat or matte paint that won't draw attention to the deficits. For places that need to be cleaned often we will use reflective glossy paint so that they can be wiped down easier.

Key Takeaways:

Picking a paint can be hard because their are hundreds of permutations available in every hue.
Most paints are comprised of three ingredients, specifically a pigment, a resin and a solvent.
Having this small array of ingredients in differing ratios is what creates the distinct finishes of different paints.

“The most common sheens include flat, matte, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, and high-gloss or glossy, though some paint companies include finishes beyond these.”