Designer’s Corner

Choosing the Right Paint Finish for the Job

By Jim Kabel, owner, Case San Jose

Image Courtesy of Case

When painting your home, choosing the perfect color is only half the battle. Picking the right finish will determine the look and durability of your finished project. With so many finishes to choose from, including matte, eggshell, satin, semi gloss, and high gloss, it’s not surprising that many homeowners are unsure what finish is the most appropriate for their home.

Selecting a finish depends on a homeowner’s personal taste, room conditions, and desired amount of shine and durability. Consider the pros and cons of the following finishing options before you tackle your next project.

Matte Finish – This finish is the least shiny option available, giving walls a rich and velvety look. This is a great option for hiding imperfections on walls. This finish is typically used for ceilings and interior walls with little traffic. Because of the flat finish, this does not clean well.

Image Courtesy of Case

Homeowners typically avoid this finish in kitchens, bathrooms, and children’s rooms, as the only way to eliminate markings is with another coat of paint. Scrubbing flat paint wears off the finish and can leave patches of sheen.

Eggshell Finish – Slightly less flat than a matte finish, an eggshell finish is a great option for someone who wants the sophisticated look of a flat wall but with easier cleanup thanks to a hint of sheen. This is also a great option for decorative finishes due to the low luster finish.

Satin Finish – This elegant finish offers a bit more gloss than an eggshell finish, without the harsh shine of a semi gloss. It is often used in a formal room, such as a dining room, where a bit of shimmer is fitting. This finish is also more forgiving when it comes to keeping clean and can be used in higher traffic areas.

Semi Gloss Finish – This finish is a great option for walls that are exposed to spills and splatters, be it water in a bathroom or grease in a kitchen. The glossy finish creates durable protection for your walls, allowing stains to be easily wiped away.

High Gloss Finish – The shiniest of all the options, this finish provides the easiest clean-ups and is stain resistant, extremely wipe able surface. However, the gloss can be very unforgiving. Because it reflects so much light, it tends to highlight all of your wall’s imperfections and is often used for painting cabinets or other furniture instead.

About the Author: Jim Kabel is the owner of Case Design/Remodeling San Jose. His design and remodeling team specialize in helping homeowners envision, plan, and build interior remodeling projects from simple make-overs to complete additions.

www.casesanjose.com

Simple and Modern Nursery

Preparing a nursery for your upcoming bundle of joy is one of the major milestones you reach along the way to welcoming a new baby into the family, and is one of the most exciting tasks for many parents-to-be. Choosing the perfect furniture and bedding that reflects your style while still ensuring that you’re adhering to the stringent safety guidelines put in place to protect babies means there are lots of things you’ll have to take into consideration during the planning process. One of the first things on many parents’ to-do list, however, is to paint the nursery walls the perfect shade that creates a sanctuary for their little one.

Gender and Color Theory

Traditionally, pinks and purples are used to denote a feminine space, while bright primary hues are favored for more masculine ones. If you’re not planning to find out your new baby’s gender before birth or simply want to create a more gender-neutral palette to avoid those traditional gender roles, then grays and muted yellows are a great choice. Part of the color-choosing process will depend upon your attitudes about such things and the way that you want to parent your child.

Longevity

Unless you don’t mind periodic repainting, you’ll want to consider the longevity of a color scheme before you start decorating. Powder pink walls with fluffy bunny borders might be adorable and charming for a newborn’s room, but may not be so well received when she’s starting kindergarten. While you won’t be able to predict your child’s unique and personal preferences before she arrives, you can think about how well certain decorating schemes will carry over as your child gets older. Completely repainting a room isn’t cheap and can be quite disruptive, so you may want to make an attempt to choose something that will age along with your child, at least for a while.

Choosing the Best Shade for the Space

The same paint sample that looks perfect under the fluorescent lights of a home improvement store may be awful when it’s applied to the walls in your child’s room. The best way to determine how both natural and interior lighting will affect your chosen colors is to apply them directly to the wall in a rather sizable swatch. Small sample jars are inexpensive and contain enough paint for you to apply a swatch to each wall so that you can look at the way the light affects the color under varying conditions. The last thing you want to do is invest the time and money in painting the nursery with an untested color, only to be forced to repaint or to live with a shade that you absolutely hate when it’s actually applied.

Coordinating and Pulling a Scheme Together

If you already have a color you’re in love with, you’ll probably choose bedding and window treatments with it in mind. Parents that spring for the bedding first, however, will need to look at the different shades it contains in order to choose one that compliments it well. Decide which route is more suited to your personal decorating style and build around it. You may find that the perfect wall color only reveals itself after you’ve chosen the perfect bedding, and that it contains a color you weren’t even considering before.

Health and Safety

The shade of paint that you choose may depend upon the availability in low- and no-VOC paint lines. Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are part of what gives paint its distinctive smell. Benzene, toluene, naphthalene, methyl chloroform and formaldehyde are among the chemicals that traditional paints can contain, all of which have been shown to have adverse affects on human lungs. When you set out to choose the perfect shade for the room that will serve as a safe, soothing retreat for your child, you’ll want to make sure that the paint you use won’t make him sick.

In the end, choosing a paint color for your new baby’s nursery is a personal decision that will depend upon your parenting philosophies and personal beliefs as much as your style and individual tastes. Taking your time and making sure that you’re perfectly happy with the decisions you make is the best way to ensure that you’re not forced to completely redo the nursery down the road or live with something that you don’t like until your child is old enough to begin expressing her own tastes and preferences.

Re-Posted with Permission from

http://www.newborncare.com/blog/how-to-choose-paint-colors-for-your-babys-room/

#babyroom   #paintcolors   #nurserycolors  #rayco  #raycopainting

In addition to selecting a color for paint, you must also select a sheen. The sheen refers to the shine quality of the paint or the gloss level. Paint sheens generally range from flat, eggshell, matte, pearl, semi-gloss, gloss and high gloss.   Here are some quick pointers to help you choose.

• High gloss sheens – very shiny, stain-resistant, great for kid’s rooms but mostly used for painting furniture and cabinets
• Semi gloss sheens – medium shine, holds up through frequent washing, good for trim and moldings, kitchens and bathrooms
• Eggshell sheen – used for interior walls and has a little shine but is considered bland
• Charlie Sheen -not a paint sheen, but was Wild Thing in Major League

Choosing the right sheen for your home or commercial project is critical to an expert looking paint job. When you pick out your paint color you can view sheen charts, or view one from your Rayco foreman.   To learn more about paint sheens and to view examples, check out http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/for-your-home/how-to-select-a-sheen

Sherwin Williams Green Sure Paints.

One of the easiest and most commonly used decorating tricks to brighten up your home is a new paint job. And if you use paint that’s safe for both your family and the environment, you can’t go wrong.  Nowadays most conventional paints contain VOCs that can trigger skin rashes, asthma, headaches, dizziness, and can even cause cancer.   These paints and their VOCs also contribute to ground level ozone. Fortunately for homeowners, paint manufacturers like Sherwin Williams have developed paints that are either low VOCs or no VOCs.   For all of Rayco’s eco-friendly paint jobs we use Sherwin Williams Green Sure paints.  These paints meet the Green Seal Standard and will make sure that you and your family won’t be inhaling dangerous chemicals.  These paints also look as good and last just as long as traditional paints.  Next time you paint your home, you should strongly consider eco-friendly paints.  For more information on Sherwin Williams Eco-Friendly paints check out http://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/ask-sherwin-williams/education/green-products-and-initiatives/environmentally-preferred-paint/