The Best Paint for Every Room - A Complete Guide

Introduction

There are a lot of different paint types - but choosing the right one for each room doesn’t have to be hard. This guide will get you on the right track to choosing a paint finish that looks great and holds up well to whatever life might throw at it.

1. Understanding Types of Interior Paint

There are 5 main types of paint finishes that you can use, from least to most shiny:

• matte/flat

• eggshell

• satin

• semi-gloss

• gloss

They each have slightly different attributes that make them suited to different use cases.

If you don’t want to read a whole article and want to skip straight to the answer, here’s a cheat sheet:

Living room, bedrooms, hallway - use eggshell to help hide scuffs and other imperfections without being too shiny.

bathroom, laundry room, kitchen, and children's rooms use satin or semi-gloss to resist mold, mildew, wear and tear, and stains along with being easy to clean.

2. Living Room: Striking the Balance Between Style and Durability

The most common paint choice for a living room is eggshell.

Eggshell has a finish that has just a touch of gloss - but barely any. It strikes a great balance between matte, which shows scuffs prominently, and satin, which has more gloss to it.

It’s great for almost all use cases, in most rooms - with just a couple exceptions we’ll look at shortly. This is the paint that you’ll want to use for almost your entire house in many cases.

However, if you have children or pets that might mark up the walls and get them scuffed and dirty, then a satin may be a better choice for easier cleaning.

3. Bedroom

Bedrooms tend to get less wear and tear than most rooms, but the same general guidelines apply:

Eggshell for most use cases, satin or semi-gloss in cases where there is going to be durability and cleaning concerns (kids rooms, rooms pets frequent, etc.)

4. Kitchen

The kitchen is one of the few rooms where we deviate from eggshell being the standard.

The reason for this is how easy the paint is to clean.

For kitchens, we recommend a satin or semi gloss. Either one of those paints will hold up well to frequent cleaning, wiping down, and moisture.

Satin is great if you need to be able to clean something, but don’t want to have the shiny finish of a semi-gloss. This is what we would suggest in most cases.

5. Bathroom: Fighting Moisture and Mold

The bathroom is another room where satin or semi-gloss excel.

You’ll have frequent moisture in the bathroom, from showers most commonly.

This can be hard on the finish of a paint, and can lead to issues like mold which is no good.

The reason you wouldn’t want to use eggshell in a bathroom is that with the low level of gloss, it tends to soak up moisture. That leads to the mold issue mentioned above, which is a huge pain to resolve and typically involves cleaning the mold, priming to cover stains, and then repainting again.

6. Nursery or Kids' Room: Safe and Fun

In a nursery or kid’s room, satin or semi-gloss is a great choice for easy cleanup.

It’s also worth considering looking at a low or zero VOC paint to avoid harsh chemicals. Most major paint manufacturers either have a low or no VOC paint in all their lines or have specific models that carry that feature.

Conclusion

Painting is an investment - one that you want to last for years to come. Choosing the right kind of paint for each application ensures that your investment lasts and continues to look great!