Having your home interior repainted is one of the best ways to quickly improve its overall appearance and potentially even increase the property's value. However, choosing the right paint for this task can be quite tricky. Here are two of the most important factors which you should take into consideration when making your selection.
Colour
One of the most crucial factors which you'll need to carefully consider is, of course, the colour of the paint you choose for each room of your home. The colour of a room's walls can have a huge impact on its ambience. It can also affect how spacious or cramped it feels.
In rooms in which you want to create a soothing, serene atmosphere, pale, cool-toned hues are best; shades such as sky blue, dove grey and pastel pink are all excellent choices for areas like the bedrooms and the bathrooms.
However, in places such as the living room and kitchen, where you probably want to create a lively, inviting atmosphere, the aforementioned shades could create a decidedly cold and sterile look. In these parts of your home, it's a good idea to use warm-toned colours like crimson, amber or coral.
Consider the focal points of each room, too, as colour can be used to draw attention to these areas. For example, if you have a large, beautiful fireplace in your living room, you could paint the wall behind it a very bold colour and use a neutral tone on the other three walls.
Last but not least, when selecting paint for a specific room, consider the size of the space. Deep, bold colours can look very striking and elegant; however, they can also make a tiny room appear even smaller. As a general rule of thumb, light, bright colours should be used to create a sense of spaciousness, whilst darker colours should be used to make an overly-large room feel smaller and cosier.
Sheen levels
Most paints are available in one of three sheen levels; gloss, satin and matte. Gloss is perhaps the least popular of the three, largely because its light-reflecting properties have a tendency to highlight every tiny flaw that a wall has.
If you do decide to use gloss, do not attempt to repaint the walls yourself, as this type of finish will showcase every single clumsy brushstroke that you make. Instead, hire a company that offers repainting services to tackle this job for you.
Despite its problematic reflective properties, gloss is still an excellent option if you have children, pets or messy hobbies such as gardening, as it is extremely easy to clean any marks, paw prints or grubby fingerprints off this type of paint. As such, it might be a good idea to use it in high-traffic areas of your house, such as the hallway or the kitchen.
Matte paint is ideal for walls with scratches and bumps, as it can disguise these imperfections. But, unlike gloss, it can be very tricky to keep clean. Given this, it should only be used in rooms where the walls are unlikely to be exposed to dirt. If you do decide to paint a high-traffic room with a matte paint, it's worth purchasing an extra tin for touch-ups in the future.
Satin paint has a semi-matte finish and as such, serves as a good compromise between gloss and matte. It gives the walls a faint, but attractive sheen without drawing too much attention to flaws.
Share