Interior Painting Considerations & Ideas

Few additions transform the interior of your home more than a new coat of paint. Interior paint adds variety, color, and a touch of your personality to any room. Different interior paint colors can also be a great design tool, making larger rooms feel cozier and smaller rooms feel more spacious. Here’s a few tips when it comes to choosing paint for inside your home, so that you can feel confident you’re making the right paint decisions for your interior spaces.

Overwhelmed by the Options?

Most homeowners do feel overwhelmed when it comes to choosing paint for the interior spaces of their home. It’s understandable, since there are literally thousands of colors to choose from. First and foremost, look for colors that are pleasing to you. Check your closet and take a long look at your wardrobe. The colors you see there are the ones you feel most comfortable in, and which best reflect your personality. Determining a baseline is always a good place to start, and makes for a great jumping off point when you pick up the color wheel at your local hardware store.

Think Design when Choosing Interior Paint

Besides choosing a color that reflects you, you also want to think about what impact different interior paint colors are going to have on different spaces. Light interior paint colors make a room feel more spacious, and are an excellent choice if you’re dealing with tight, confined spaces. Darker colors work the opposite, and are best suited for larger, spacious areas where you want to reign things in a little bit. On the flip side, darker colors are also more comforting and inviting, making them perfect for entryways, living rooms, and other areas where you entertain guests. Lighter colors lack the warmth of darker shakes, making spaces feel more formal and proper.

To Prime or Not to Prime

Once you’ve decided on interior paint colors, many homeowners are unsure whether a primer coat is necessary before applying the paint. The answer to this question is always “yes.” You might be able to get away without priming, especially if your new coat closely resembles the old paint in color, but a good coat of primer does more than just cover up the old paint. It also provides an ideal surface for your finish paint to adhere to, meaning your new paint job is going to look better, and last longer, than if you use a finish paint all by itself.

Flat, Satin, Eggshell, Semi-gloss, and Gloss

The last decision you’re going to need to make is which type of paint to use in each area. Flat paint is great for uses in areas that receive low traffic, and that you want to de-emphasize. Sitting side by side a high gloss variety, flat paint will be passed over every time. Satin, eggshell, and semi-gloss paints are better for high traffic areas, since they resist staining and are easier to clean than flat paints. And if you really want an area or architectural feature to get noticed, use glossy paint to get that perfect shine. Of course, remember, the glossier the paint, the more you’ll notice imperfections in the painted surface as well. For all these reasons, most homeowners choose the middle ground, and apply a semi-gloss or satin finish for their interior paint needs.

Consider Hiring a Professional Painter

Interior painting is certainly one of those home improvement jobs that any homeowner can tackle on their own. You’ll need the proper equipment (paint trays, tape, good brushes, rollers, ladders, and drop cloths), and a few weekends to get the job done, but this home improvement isn’t rocket science. Still, you might want to talk to a professional painter nonetheless, just to get an idea what they charge, and to mine for any ideas they might have for your home. Professionals are up on the newest design trends, paint innovations, and painting techniques, not to mention they can offer wall texturing and other services that are beyond the reach of most homeowners. If you’re thinking about adding a new coat of paint to the interior of your home, talk to a professional painter about your full range of design and paint options.

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