Choosing Paint Sheen for Each Room in a Torrance Home

On a wall that has been patched and textured many times, a glossy finish will show every repair. That condition changes the sheen answer for most painting work in Torrance, CA, as the breakdown at torrance painting contractor burnside writers collective explains room by room. Sheen is the amount of light a dried film reflects, and it affects how a wall looks, how well it wipes clean and how much it forgives.

Flat and matte for ceilings and imperfect walls

Flat hides roller marks, patching and uneven drywall finish better than anything else. Ceilings almost always get flat, because a ceiling lit from the side by a window will highlight any shine. Bedrooms and formal living rooms with older plaster walls also suit a flat or matte latex, since plaster that has been repaired over the decades is rarely truly flat.

Eggshell in everyday rooms

Eggshell has a low sheen and tolerates a damp cloth. It is the usual choice for hallways, living rooms and family rooms in a post-war tract house, where the walls are in reasonable shape and fingerprints are a fact of life. Two coats gives full coverage and an even sheen, while a single coat over a similar color can leave a patchy look.

Satin where hands and steam reach

Kitchens, laundry rooms and children's rooms take satin, which sheds grease and scuffs when wiped. Bathrooms near the coast hold moisture when the marine layer sits over the South Bay for days, and a satin acrylic resists the mildew spotting that a flat paint would collect. Satin needs smoother prep, since it shows lap marks and patch edges more than eggshell does.

Semi gloss for trim, doors and cabinets

Trim takes the most contact, so baseboards, casings and doors get semi gloss in latex or a water-based enamel. The harder film resists dings and cleans easily. An older door with many layers of paint should be sanded smooth first, because semi gloss exaggerates every drip and brush mark.

Light changes the choice

Rooms facing Santa Monica Bay or the Palos Verdes Hills receive strong low-angle light in late afternoon, which makes any sheen above eggshell look harsher on the wall. A sample brushed on a patch of wall and checked at three times of day tells more than a color chip. The chosen sheen then runs wall to wall, with the same product used to cut in so the edges do not show a shift in gloss.