Paint color selection is only one of many important decisions when painting your home or business. Understanding paint sheens (and selecting them carefully) is just as important to make a great impression. Here’s some advice from our expert commercial and residential painting contractors at C&R Services. 

What’s Paint Sheen? What are the Different Types?

Paint sheen describes how glossy or shiny a paint finish is. The higher the paint sheen, the higher the reflectivity (the more it reflects light). Interior and exterior paint sheens are formulated differently to suit their applications, but both kinds of paint are generally available in a range of sheen/reflectivity levels.

Here are the most common paint sheens, from least to most shiny/reflective:

• Flat/Matte: Has no shine, hides imperfections well. Typically, flat/matte paint is used on ceilings and low-traffic areas. 
• Eggshell: Eggshell sheen is soft and subtle. It’s generally suited to walls in low-traffic areas. 
• Satin: As the name suggests, satin sheens are pearlescent and velvety. Its moderate durability and shine make it a good fit for rooms/areas with some traffic.
• Semi-Gloss:This highly-durable, sleek sheen is resilient against wear and moisture. It’s also easy to clean, making it a good fit for painting in high-traffic areas. 
• High-Gloss: High-gloss = high-durability. Also low-maintenance/easy to clean, it’s another good-fit sheen for high-traffic areas.

Choosing a Paint Sheen: Some Things to Consider

Choosing the best paint sheen depends on your priorities. What colors are you thinking? Where is the paint going? How well do you need it to hide marks and scuffs? For each of these questions, different sheens have different results. Here are few considerations:

• Color Selection: Paint color itself impacts reflectivity, since every color absorbs and reflects some light, with the exception of black (which absorbs all light) and white (which reflects all light). 
• Look and Feel: Do you want a shinier or more subtle finish? The more reflectivity/shine you want, the higher-gloss sheen you want. 
• Ease of Cleaning: Glossy sheens have a harder finish, making them very easy to clean. Many marks come right off of glossy painted surfaces. But the high shine makes it a little harsher, so it’s best to use it strategically. 
• Low Maintenance Semi-gloss sheens are a step down from glossy as far as shininess. Think of it as a middle-of-the-road compromise between ease-of-cleaning and being easy on the eyes. 
• Location/Use: Where you’re putting the paint is a great way to narrow down your paint sheen selection. Low-gloss sheens (satin or eggshell) are ideal for interior wall painting, for example, because they absorb more light and give paint colors a richer look and feel. 
• Camouflage: The more shine in your sheen, the more that marks, touch-ups, and imperfections will stand out (since the reflectivity will make them more visible). Again, strategy is the name of the game. 

Some Light on the Subject: Light, Windows and Paint Sheens

Thinking about light is very important when choosing a paint sheen, and that goes for both artificial and natural light. Light impacts how colors appear and can enhance the reflectivity of paint sheens. Here are just a few ways light impacts the way your paint looks:

• LED and fluorescent lights give off a cool, bluish tone that makes paint colors feel “cooler).
• Incandescent or halogen bulbs reflect yellow and golden tones, increasing reflectivity and making paint colors feel “warmer”.
• Natural light shifts throughout the day, which can change the look of a bold color or sheen. That’s why many natural-lit rooms with windows all around them are painted in neutrals with lower sheen. 
• Deeper, bolder color may be a good fit for rooms with northern-light exposures, while the western facing windows (that bring in all that warm afternoon sun) are often balanced by green colors. 
• Southern windows (and the way the natural light plays in them) make them complimentary for both warm and cool tones, and various paint sheens.

Expertise That Makes Your Painting Project Shine (Or Not!)

While you make the final call on paint colors and sheens (“You pick it, we stick it!”), C&R Services is committed to helping you make paint color sheen selection with confidence. Whether we’re answering project questions, creating digital renderings, or showing you similar projects, we’re here to help. Contact our team to start your project off strong!