Choosing the right color is just the first step. You tell the clerk you want two gallons of “Dolphin Grey” paint and she asks you what sheen? You think, No, I have spend more time thinking about paint!.
Good news! Figuring out the paint sheen you need is much simpler than choosing colors. Paint sheen is the glossiness or shine of the paint. The finish is harder and less permeable A high sheen paint such as gloss reflects light directly back much like a mirror or lens while a low sheen like flat defuses or scatters reflective light to create a much more ambient light. Common paint sheens from dull to shiny are: Matte, eggshell, satin, silk, semi-gloss, gloss and high-gloss.
There’s a basic rule of thumb to follow when choosing paint sheens: The higher the sheen, the higher the shine — and the higher the shine, the more durable it will be. Flat paint has no shine; high-gloss is all shine. In between are eggshell, satin, and semi-gloss, each with its own practical and decorative job to do (ref. Wikipedia)
Paint manufactures measure sheen in percentages as follows:
Flat (1–9% gloss) difficult to clean and hides surface defects
Low Sheen (10–25% gloss) hard to clean and minimizes surface defects
Eggshell (26–40% gloss) easy to clean and will show surface defects
Semi Gloss (41–69% gloss) easy to clean and will show surface defects
Gloss (70–89% gloss) very easy to clean resists dirt and is highly reflective showing all surface defects.
You job of choosing the right sheen just got easier too because household paints generally run from flat to semi-gloss.
sheen chart
To the left is a sheen chart for your reference: Although very similar different paint manufactures such as Ben Moore and Sherwin Williams have different sheens and their different lines of paint may have one sheen such as eggshell but not satin. On the whole, sheens are fairly predictable. Professorial tip! When in doubt pick satin because it has a nice smooth finish is easy to clean and minimizes surface imperfections while casting a bright diffused reflection.
Brush With Color are professional interior and residential painters who specialize in creating beautiful and durable interiors for your home, business and workplace. If you would like to schedule a free color / paint consultation call (603) 770-5072. Our craftsman are fully-insured and we offer the industry leading paint guarantee.