Best for: Family rooms, living rooms, bedrooms, and hallways. Satin, which is a little more hard-wearing than eggshell, works well in those rooms and also in kitchens, dining areas, children's bedrooms, and bathrooms. Many satin finishes are tough enough to use on trim as well.
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.
In the living room and dining room, opt for an eggshell or satin finish.
Find the Perfect Paint Finish
Flat, eggshell and satin paint are best for interior walls, whereas semi-gloss and gloss paint are best for trim and woodwork. An eggshell finish has a subtler shine to it, so it's a great choice if you're not ready for satin.
Its balanced look makes it highly durable without being too reflective. If you were to ask an interior designer or painting professional, they'd likely tell you that satin is the glossiest sheen you should use on interior walls.
Pros: A satin finish reflects more light than matte and stands up well to washing. Use in high-traffic areas such as bathrooms, the kitchen and a kid's room as well as on trim and molding throughout the house. Cons: This finish does not hide imperfections in surface or application; any touch-ups will stand out.
Satin. Satin finish paint has a smooth, velvety look with a bit more gloss than eggshell. It is most often used for windows, doors, trim, or ceilings, but it can also be used as wall paint. This is particularly suitable for kids' rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and other areas that get a lot of traffic.
Satin Paint/Eggshell
They are the most popular choice for wall paint in homes because they are durable but also don't show as many imperfections in the wall as gloss sheens do. Satin and eggshell sheens are ideal for bedrooms, living areas, hallways, dining rooms, and even vinyl siding.
Semi-gloss paints are fine for living room trim and window frames, but not the walls. Semi-gloss provide the greatest washability, but the shine enhances wall imperfections like bumps, patches, or unevenness in drywall.
It depends on the surface you are painting. For interior walls in high-traffic spaces like a mudroom, satin or eggshell finishes work best. Flat or matte finishes work best for most ceilings and semi-gloss is recommended for interior trim and doors.
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.
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!
Matte Paint
Regal® Select Interior Matte (N548) is a professional painter favorite for its ease of application and smooth feel after drying. Matte finish paint also withstands frequent washing, even when applied in busier areas like hallways and family rooms.
Best for: Family rooms, living rooms, bedrooms, and hallways. Satin, which is a little more hard-wearing than eggshell, works well in those rooms and also in kitchens, dining areas, children's bedrooms, and bathrooms. Many satin finishes are tough enough to use on trim as well.
Satin finish paint tends to have a velvety quality. This finish needs to be applied very carefully because it can reveal flaws and brushstrokes, making touchups a challenge. Satin finish is also very easy to clean, though, which makes it a popular choice for children's rooms, foyers, and high-traffic hallways.
Flat paint works best in low-traffic areas, such as the master bedroom, a study, or a formal living room.
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.
Eggshell has a lower duller sheen than satin and is close to a matt or flat finish that you find in a lot of emulsions. It is reminiscent of the shell of an egg — hence its name. Satin has a glossier finish than eggshell and reflects more light, so is more likely to show up any imperfections.
Satin: Satin finishes are the most common interior paint finish. They have a velvety sheen and are easier to clean than flat and eggshell paints, which makes them a great choice for high-traffic areas like kitchens, playrooms, family rooms, bathrooms, and laundry rooms.
Satin, eggshell and flat/matte are typically best for interior painting of walls. Gloss and semi-gloss paint are best for doors, baseboards, trim, cabinets, and woodwork.
A washable finish is a necessity for high-traffic rooms, so flat or matte paint finishes are out. Eggshell or satin finishes are a good choice for stain resistance, durability, long wear, coverage, and ease of cleaning.
Because of its durability, many people choose a satin finish for bathrooms, kitchens, and kids' rooms. Satin is also a popular choice for trim, especially if you want to emphasize the architecture of a space.
'Satin paint is a tough, hardwearing paint designed for woodwork such as doors, window frames, architrave and furniture,' says Marianne Shillingford, creative director at Dulux. 'It is slightly more shiny than eggshell and is easy to keep clean.