Choosing Paint

When choosing paint for the house, you have many choices available that can bewilder the paint novice. However, just because you feel confused is not sufficient reason to grab the first can of paint that satisfies your desired colors!

Fortunately, there are tips in proper paint selection that even the most naïve of novices can understand. When you go to the paint store, you will be facilitating the process of picking the right kind of paint. And it is not just about color!

Indoors or Outdoors

You have to determine where you will be using the paint in. If it is for indoor rooms, then either latex or oil-based paints will be excellent. If it is for outdoor use, then acrylic latex paints will be best because of their better adhesive, blocking and anti-blistering and anti-cracking properties.

Regardless of whether it is to be used indoors or outdoors, choosing paint for your home is very serious business. You will be spending more money and more time than you bargained for when the paint selection you chose was not up to par!

Indoor Painting

Aside from color, gloss is the most important consideration in selecting paint finishes for the interior rooms. Furthermore, gloss affects the appearance of colors; generally speaking, the glossier the paint, the brighter the colors while the flatter the paint, the darker the colors appear to the naked eye. There is also the consideration that high-gloss paints are more durable than their semi-gloss and flat counterparts, which necessitates further evaluation before arriving at your final paint selection. Also, the room itself will have significant impact on the paints’ gloss levels. For example, the kitchen, bathrooms and kids’ bedrooms will benefit from semi-gloss paints because of their ease of washing without undue color fading. Indeed, in areas more prone to dirt, moisture and grease, semi-gloss paints are best.

For the master’s bedroom, hallways, dining room and living room, satin gloss paints can be applied. You will appreciate the ease of washing, the minimal dirt pick-up and the rich look of these paints, which are as satiny as the name suggests.

For the ceiling and the garage, flat paints can also be used. You will notice that the lack of light refraction allows for minimal visibility of surface imperfections. You can, however, opt for semi-gloss for the garage of you foresee oil and grease being a problem.

Outdoor Painting

In painting the exterior of the house, factors like texture, stability and surface type determine the gloss of the paint selection. Generally speaking, you have to apply an inverse relationship between the surface’s texture and the paint’s gloss – the more pronounced the texture, the lesser the gloss. For example, choosing paint for wood trims and metal trims will differ; the former can be painted with satin, velvet and flat gloss paints depending on the texture while the latter looks best with satin gloss.

Ultimately, when choosing paint from many a paint selection, the most important thing to consider is the purpose to which it will be applied on. Doing otherwise might find you with cans of paint that do not complement the room interiors and the general architecture of the house. It’s a waste of money, admittedly.

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