Semi-gloss finish: This is the best finish for your trims such as baseboards, mouldings and even cabinets and doors. It's also a good choice for highly trafficked area that gets lots of wear and tear such as a mudroom.
The most common and best sheen for interior trim is a satin or semi-gloss finish. Satin paint finishes have a medium sheen and are durable and easy to clean. Semi-gloss paint finishes have a higher sheen and stand out in a room. They are easy to clean and stand up to dirt, stains, mold, and mildew.
Paint has improved since then, so our current go-to is satin for baseboards and trim and eggshell for walls. Either satin or semi-gloss will work well for baseboards. You'll just want something that is a little glossier than flat or eggshell to make it easier to wipe off scuffs and other markings.
Spray The Trim With A First Coat
It's time for your first top coat, which should be a high quality trim paint! At Culver's Painting, we use Sherwin Williams' Pro Classic or Emerald Urethane. These premium products are specially designed for woodwork and will provide a beautiful and durable finish.
Oil-based paint is more durable and long-lasting, making it a good choice for high-traffic areas or scuffed baseboards. It does, however, take longer to dry and is more difficult to clean.
Of the two, satin is more durable and is slightly less likely to scuff or mark than eggshell and it's easier to clean when it does get marked. This makes it a better choice, especially for woodwork such as painting skirting boards, than eggshell for high traffic areas like hallways and living rooms.
Brushing is generally the best option for most trim. You can use a mini 4” roller for flat stock trim boards to work more quickly but for trim with complex profile designs a brush allows you more efficiently paint all the edges and grooves.
Eggshell finish, perennially popular with professional and DIY painters alike, has a low-sheen reminiscent of flat or matte, but it is infinitely more durable than its namesake.
MAGNOLIA HOME BY JOANNA GAINES TRIM & CABINETRY INTERIOR SEMI-GLOSS Paint is a water-based acrylic product designed for surfaces such as kitchen and bathroom cabinets, trim, window frames and doors. It offers the hardness of a traditional oil-based paint in an acrylic formula.
For baseboards, it's best to choose a sheen right in the middle of the spectrum, such as semi-gloss. Semi-gloss baseboard paint is a great choice for baseboards for several reasons. First, having a higher sheen on your baseboards makes them stand out! It provides a striking visual contrast to the more matte walls.
A baseboard height that's approximately 7% of the wall height provides for a solid and definable base without being too big. The overall proportion of baseboard to wall height will be comfortable and pleasing. So in a room with a 9 foot high ceiling, a baseboard that's about 8 inches tall works.
Rounded or Stepped Baseboard
This is the most popular baseboard profile used in homes. The top of the trim has a rounded shape that tapers into the wall. The trim of these types of baseboards looks best in modern homes because of its relatively short profile and simple design.
Normally, semi-gloss paint is the best choice for trim work, since high-gloss paints are so shiny that they highlight imperfections.
Appearance. Semi-gloss has more texture than satin paint. A surface painted with satin paint is noticeably smoother to the touch.
A satin finish is a medium gloss sheen that's shinier than matte but not as shiny as semi-gloss paint. Likewise, satin offers slightly more luster or light reflectiveness than eggshell finishes. Concurrently, satin works perfectly on smooth walls in higher-traffic areas like hallways, family rooms, and kids' rooms.
Eggshell is the most commonly used sheen for interior walls. It is a good middle ground, having enough sheen so that it is easily washable, but not too much to where any wall imperfection will stand out. The look of the eggshell finish is quite attractive for interior painting projects.
If you want your paint to have a smooth finish, the technique you use is very important. Keep your brush at a 90-degree angle while applying the paint and feather as you go. Between coats, sand the wall lightly using a very high grit sand sponge of at least 220 grit.
Color Considerations
We all know that lighter colors emphasize imperfections while darker colors hide them. This also has to do with light and reflection. Lighter colors reflect more light while darker shades absorb it.
Paint the Trim and Baseboards
In most cases, we recommend painting your trim before your walls. Let the paint dry, then tape off the trim and move on to the walls. Using high-quality semi-gloss paint will protect the wood as well as leave a pleasing shine to your trim and baseboards.
So once the paint has been applied with the roller, you have to go over it immediately with a high-quality brush to get a smooth, flat finish. The brush allows you to even out the coat. And the result is a gorgeous, even finish. Like the skin of a plum, rather than of an orange.
In my opinion, satin paint is the best finish for trim in most scenarios. It has perfect velvety finish, it's durable and easy to clean, and it's more forgiving than semi gloss. However! Semi-gloss would also be a great choice for trim!
Avoid using eggshell paint in high-contact, high-traffic areas such as door and window trim, baseboards, cabinetry, and doors. It's best to use semi-gloss paint in these areas.
For one level of sheen up from flat or matte, eggshell and satin are good choices. “Satin is slightly shinier, and both are easier to clean than flat or matte paint,” Handel says.
Satin and low-lustre paints have a slightly higher sheen than eggshell finishes. Paints in this category are warmer and provide a greater appearance of depth than flat paints. They also resist stains better than flat paints.