Advice and reviews: choosing interior paint

Browsing through the aisles at your local hardware store, it's hard not to notice the vast selection of paints available today. Not only are there different brands of paint, but there are different kinds of paint for indoor and outdoor use, as well as different paint finishes and paint bases. If you're looking for paint for your kitchen, dining room, bedroom or bath, you're going to want interior paint. It's important to know a few basics about choosing interior paint before you begin painting.

One important thing to understand is the difference between latex and oil based paints. Both have their advantages and so when choosing your base you need to decide what factors are most important to you. Latex paints have less of an odor than oil based, are non-flammable, clean up with soap and water, dry quickly and retain their color better. Oil based paints are more wearable, they dry smoother, flow better, and cover better than latex paints, yet have a strong odor and any spills cannot be cleaned with soap and water.

Quality is essential when choosing interior paint. Poor paint quality will lead to reduced coverage and the need for frequent touch-ups. To choose high quality paint, look on the paint can to check for a few ingredients. First, check for the kind of binders in the paint. The right binders make the paint more durable. If using oil based paint, look for linseed or soya oils, or an alkyd base; if using latex paint, you'll want to find a kind with 100% acrylic binders. Paints also contain liquids and solids that affect quality. Latex paints contain water, which maintains durability, keeps the paint flexible when the weather changes, and maintains color. Oil based paints do not contain water, and as the liquids in them dissolve, they develop a tough skin when stored. To prevent this, oil based paints should be stored upside down. The amount of solids in paint can also denote quality. Look for 30% to 45% paint solids in quality paint.

Now that you can pick out high quality paint, it's time to decide on what finish will be the most appropriate. There are five kinds of paint finishes. A basic rule to remember is that higher gloss paint is easier to clean yet shows imperfections more than other finishes. Flat paint has no sheen, and can be a good choice for bedrooms and ceilings, or walls with irregularities that would be more visible with glossy paint. Eggshell paint, with a very slight gloss, is good for bedrooms and living rooms. Satin paint is your happy medium, with a little bit more gloss than eggshell, but easier to clean. Semi-gloss paint is the second-most glossy finish. It is easy to clean and is very durable, and is good for kitchens, bathrooms, doors and trim. Finally, paint with gloss finish is very shiny, but extremely durable and is good for areas that will be washed often, such as in kitchens and bathrooms. However, it does show imperfections.

With so many options, choosing interior paint can be overwhelming at first, but once you know the basics it's easy to find a high quality paint that will look great in your home. Just remember, it's always better to over estimate how much paint you will need than to not have enough to cover your walls properly. Plus, you'll want to have some left over for touch-ups, just in case.