Choosing Paint and Design Choices for Your Interior Painting Project
Category: Interior Painting
If you’ve ever been in a paint section at a local home improvement store, you’ve noticed how many paint cans there are. At first look, it seems that the choices are similar from brand to brand, so you tell yourself that you just need to pick the right brand and you’ll be alright. But unfortunately, you soon find out that brand isn’t the only choice you’ll need to make.
When you’re a homeowner planning to paint the interior of your home, your head can literally swim with all the painting products that are available for you on the market. But before you even get into what colors you want, you’ll need to figure out other things about your interior painting choices.
What type of paint you need for the area you are wanting to paint will be one of the first decisions you need to make. Different surfaces and areas of your home can need different types of paint and your finish can be different depending on what material it will cover. You’ll also want to know what special techniques you are wanting on the walls.
Don’t let all those cans at the paint store fool you or make you feel overwhelmed. Not only do you have our expert painters on call at any time you want great service, but you’ll also have someone who can sit down with you to design and implement your painting project.
When you break all the choices down to the basics, there are only two types of paint; oil or water based.
Oil based paints are solvent based, which means that they need to be thinned with lacquer thinner instead of water and clean up of painting equipment has to be done with a solvent instead of soap and water.
Oil based paints are durable and provide good protection for surface materials. They are best used on areas receiving tough wear, such as wood and metal surfaces. Cabinetry, shelving, door frames and the like do best with an oil based paint.
Varnish is normally applied over a stained surface. It is a clear finish used for protecting paint and stains. You can get varnish in a matte finish (low gloss), satin finish (medium gloss), or a high gloss finish.
Water based paints can be applied anywhere on the interior of your home and are what you would use to achieve flat finishes, whereas oil based paints would be glazed looking, low gloss finished or even high gloss.
Generally, you can choose to use water based paints anywhere you like. You’ll also have choices of low gloss, medium gloss, or high gloss finishes, but also with water based paint you’ll have a choice of flat or no gloss paint.
Flat paint looks great on textured walls or non textured walls or ceilings, but generally people tend to put some type of texture over the drywall. You can have a very smooth looking texture with a flat paint applied that looks nearly completely smooth but isn’t. The texture and paint work together to help protect the drywall from moisture.
But in high moisture areas like the bathroom, kitchen, or laundry areas, you’ll probably want something that will better withstand the moisture. If texture isn’t protected by a good finish, it can easily absorb moisture and begin to peel away. Once that happens, the texture will need to be repaired, replaced, and refinished.
The interior of your home makes a statement to your design and how you feel about your living space. The right paint applied in the right places can create elements in your design that reflect your tastes. For instance with certain colors in certain areas, you can achieve a comfortable, homey feel or go the complete opposite and create a sophisticated, elegant design for your space.
It’s really all going to be up to you when it comes to choosing your design style and paint types. With our professional painting team at Better House Painters, we can give you all the advice you need for your interior painting project. Just give us a call and we can sit down with you and go over your plans and options.
