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i agree, the warmer matte white is a better fit for a room you actually want to live in. the glossy pure white makes it feel like a basement room.
The wall is almost certainly already some variation of Swiss coffee, which is like a drop of black and two drops of umber per gallon… juuuuust enough to give it a little color.
When I used to help people pick colors the primary advice I gave them was that once it’s on the wall you will never see the difference between the four shades of [color] you’re looking at because at scale your brain blends it in with the lighting and ambient color of the rest of the room.
Sheen makes more of a difference, and the answer is always satin/eggshell for living spaces and gloss for kitchens and bathrooms (because it’s more moisture resistant and washable). Flat can go fuck itself, it only exists as a cheap option for track homes who don’t care about your paint looking good for more than six months.
Source: worked at a paint store for several years, did a loooot of color matching by eye.
I had no idea the builder we had was going to use flat inside. I fucking hate it, the patches we've painted over with THE EXACT same paint never match because we are brushing it on and not spraying.
They probably didn't even paint, just primed. Which a LOT of them do.
I at least know they didn't only prime, it's an actual noticeable shade of white.
We added onto our house and our contractor suggested flat and I vetoed it. Eggshell at minimum, please! I don’t do trendy. So happy to have insisted.
All of our trim is in Swiss Coffee though, lol. The funny thing is, I’d much rather have dark wood trim but that would cost a fortune. Maybe someday I’ll improve my DIY skills enough and do it myself.
You don't think flat is good for ceilings?
(Also I think some people do really care about the difference between the shades but they're not the ones who need help picking one out.)
Sorry, not who you responded to, but flat is great on ceilings everywhere but a kitchen. There's always a chance food gets splashed on the ceilings in a kitchen so it's best to use semi-gloss or better so you can clean it.
I do semi-gloss in my bathrooms as well to keep moisture out of the walls as much as possible.
Flat in living areas is best in my opinion though for light refraction. Softer and more light gets refracted all around the room instead of just reflected straight from the light source.
I despise flat, anywhere. Satin at a minimum, because flat is a bitch to clean.
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I agree, my bedroom has a wall with a sliding glass door facing South with a street light outside, and full wall length window on the opposite side. It's bright as all fuck at all hours. Even a sliver of light would feel like the sun was shining in your eyes from all directions. I painted it a flat dark color and can sleep now.
If you have kids or pets, or just have a tendency to be a clumsy person yourself, then glossy is much better from a practical standpoint. So much easier to clean with less risk of rubbing the paint off the wall. To be fair, I don't have much of an eye for style so it suits me just fine.
Yep we love our big matte red wall but that bitch catches scuff marks like crazy.
yeah, but if its on a rough wall like this one i don't think surface finish matters much. stuff is going to stick anyway...
Definitely in with the non-white making a big difference, even if it's subtle. Especially if your trim is white white, which highlights that the walls are just light colored, but distinctly not white.