Eggshell paint is a good choice for living rooms, hallways and bedrooms.
We recommend matte paints for bedrooms and as living room paint finishes where the walls are exposed to less moisture, choosing a glossier eggshell finish for kitchens and as a paint finish for bathrooms, which are more prone to moisture, as well as children's rooms, which might need more regular cleaning.
Flat paint can also be used on walls in low-traffic areas, such as formal living and dining rooms. It could also be a good choice for a home office space, depending on how much wear and tear it gets. You may even get away with using it in infrequently used guest rooms.
Eggshell paint offers luster, rather than shine, making it a stellar option for your living room. To achieve a clean finish, eggshell and satin finishes are the standout choices. With just enough luster or shine, your paint colors will look crisp and fresh.
If your space has huge windows and lots of natural light, a flat paint finish can work well. If you want something more shiny and reflective, choose satin or semi-gloss. If you don't want your walls totally lustrous, you can paint trim or crown molding with a semi-gloss sheen.
From the perspective of a Color Designer/Consultant, I typically specify eggshell on walls for multiple reasons that benefit the people who are dwelling in the home. Eggshell paint cleans easier, covers better, wears better, and lasts longer than flat paint.
You should be using flat paint on walls and areas that have a lot of bumps, scratches, or holes. Since it can conceal these blemishes easily, it'll be the one paint finish you'll want to be using. It's best for low-traffic rooms that have a ton of light like offices and more formal rooms, like dining rooms.
We advice that when painting the living room, you use eggshell and satin sheens. While flat paint is best for hiding surface imperfections and is easy to touch up, satin sheens offer a nice gloss and are easier to clean. Eggshell is more durable than flat paint, but not as shiny as satin paint.
Light colors have an inherent reflectivity, which is why they can make a room feel bigger. Another way to achieve this—or to boost the already enlarging effects of a light color—is to go with an eggshell, satin, or semi-gloss sheen instead of a matte. Don't pair dark colors with a light trim.
Best Paint For Living Room
Living rooms and bedrooms are similar, in that their interior paint doesn't need to be the most robust kind. So, unless you have small children and need to frequently wipe down the living room walls, flat, or eggshell work fine. If you do have kids, use satin paint.
If your wall has imperfections like uneven texture, patches or joints, flat paint will absorb light and make them less noticeable. However, flat finishes are not very durable and need to be carefully cleaned. Scrubbing flat paint could wear down the finish and cause sheen to appear in patchy spots.
It offers what you may expect - it's shinier than flat (but not as glossy as satin), and it's easier to clean than flat (but not as easy to clean as satin). Eggshell paint is a good choice for living rooms, hallways and bedrooms.
In many such situations, the builder, seller, or low-cost painter used a low-grade flat paint for three reasons: the first is that it is inexpensive; the second is that it is easy to touch up; the third is that it hides imperfections in the drywall walls.
Flat has a chalky appearance in finish, absorbs light, and can make a color look slightly lighter. Semi-gloss/gloss will make a color look darker. The sheen will reflect the light, causing the color to be darker. Matte or eggshell usually the most true to color when considering finish.
Are Matte Paint Good For Walls? Matt finish paint is great for walls because it makes them look smooth and elegant. The material absorbs light instead of reflecting it so it can be used in high-traffic areas like kitchens and hallways. Matte or Matt paint is ideal for guest bedrooms, living rooms, and dining rooms.
It's no secret that light colors make a room look larger, especially if the space is bathed in natural light. Eggshell or satin finishes will help reflect the light, creating the appearance of even more space.
Eggshell is always an interior designer's preferred paint finish, which is why our founder, Nicole, an interior designer, chose this as our ultimate finish for walls. The name eggshell stems from the fact the finish appears mostly flat with just a touch of luster... similar to a chicken egg!
Satin finishes are the most commonly used paint for interior walls. They are easier to clean than flat and eggshell paints, which makes them a great choice for high-traffic areas like kitchens, bathrooms, family rooms, and playrooms.
It seems that latex paints have won over even the most finicky painters. “Though we still use oil-based paints for restoration work, latex paints are fine for interior walls and new trim,” says Toto, “as long as you don't go cheap on the paint.”
Flat and Matte finish paints are ideal for covering walls that have flaws or blemishes. Even larger imperfections, such as extensive scuffs and nail pops can get covered and camouflaged since Flat Paints are effective at absorbing light, in essence, “hiding” the bumps and lines that exist on every wall.
Painting in a flat, matte or satin finishes will soak up light, while semi-gloss, high-gloss and lacquer finishes tend to reflect light, which make a darker room feel brighter and lighter, said Edith Gregson, partner at DJ Ireland Interior Architecture & Design, an interior design firm in Washington DC.
Eggshell paint sheen is popular for many good reasons. It is an attractive, one-size-fits-all paint sheen that draws out the best in a paint's color. At the same time, eggshell is cleanable and somewhat resistant to wear and tear.