Certainly, one of the more asked questions that I receive when I am having conversations about painting, whether interior or exterior, is what sheen of paint should be used when painting the surfaces that are being coated.
While at the end of the day, the decision really is situational depending on who is viewing the freshly painted surface, both right afterward and in the future, there are certain common themes that should be considered when figuring out what sheen makes the most sense for you individually.
Terminology can vary from one paint manufacturer to another, but as a general rule of thumb, here would be a list of paint sheen terms, listed from lowest to highest sheen, that you may run into most often:
– Flat
– Matte
– Low Lustre
– Satin
– Semi (or Soft) Gloss
– Gloss
– High Gloss
There are some universally accepted truths that should be considered while evaluating which sheen to choose for your project:
– The higher the sheen, the easier the surface will be to clean.
– The higher the sheen, the easier any defects in the surface that is painted will be able to be seen.
– In terms of the exterior, the higher the sheen, the more natural resistance against the Sun’s Ultra-Violet rays, and therefore the more fade resistance
Some sheens are looked to as the ‘go-to’ sheens for specific surfaces, almost regardless of the situation.
Take ceilings as an example, North of 97% of the ceilings we paint are done in a ‘Flat’ sheen.
The few exceptions I have seen to this are in cases in which someone has a historic home where the ceiling has a super high sheen to it and the owners are working to keep this theme going.
This is generally because many times ‘back in the day’ the mindset was a bit opposite of what it is today, and it was much more commonplace to see a higher sheened ceiling.
The one other exception I have run into was in instances where someone was aiming for a specific type of decorative look to their ceiling, either to mimic that of one of these historic ceilings or because it is their personal preference for a higher sheened ceiling.
On the opposite end of the spectrum would be the exterior-facing side of entry doors – particularly front ones!
In these cases, a higher sheen is often preferred, more so for aesthetic purposes than anything else (these higher glosses also tend to be SUPER easy to clean!).
While it is not always necessarily a ‘High Gloss’ (though in many cases a ‘High Gloss’ is definitely desired!!), doors in general are painted a “HIGHER” gloss than one might utilize on other areas of their exterior.
Keep in mind that whether it is the rare instance of it being used on a ceiling, in the application of the exterior side of an entry door, or any other substrate that the finish may be being applied to, the higher the gloss, the trickier the finish will be to work with and the less forgiving any stray brush or application marks will be.
Regardless of the surface that is being painted, ease of application may be a short-term idea that you balance with the benefit of your utopic finish for the surface that you are applying the paint to.
Whether you naturally lean toward liking higher sheens, lower sheens, or somewhere in between, doing a small sample test before you paint is the best way to truly get an idea of what the sheen will ultimately look like when used on a larger scale vs. painting the entire side of your home with a satin finish, when you really would have liked a low lustre finish much better.
Who knows?
You may even surprise yourself and by testing in this manner, you might discover that a sheen which you thought you would like, you do not actually like, and instead be led down a path where you find a sheen that you like much better than you may have ever thought of if you never tried testing!
