Trying to renovate (but mostly freshen up) a split level house in bad neighborhood in large southeast city that was built in early 1960s. My mom owns the house but is in assisted living, we are really just trying to rid ourselves of this liability. No illusions of making much profit on this deal.
My sister has the decorating skills of Martha Stewart, and is great at picking out colors, etc. We put her in charge of the paint colors, but she chose eggshell finish, and our painter is suggesting we do flat finish instead. His argument is that flat finish will better hide all the imperfections in the walls of the home, while eggshell will more likely make the imperfections more prominent.
Before I dicuss this with my sister (I have no skills in this area, but am the primary communicator between labor and siblings) I wanted to get more input from experienced house flippers.
Thanks for your help in educating me on paint finishes.
The walls in this house are original, probably built between 1960 and 1962. My question is, will eggshell paint finish show off the imperfections of these old walls that have seen their fair share of kids running around and bumping into them over 25 years?
Does it matter whether we use flat or eggshell finish?
Are the walls textured? Wood or sheetrock? I’m guessing walls aren’t textured if your sister thinks eggshell (high gloss finish?) looks better. I do think that flat hides more sins generally. Frankly, for a minimum of fuss, I’d go with what the painter recommends and he can also do small patches and repairs as he goes along.
Any buyer would likely want to update the house so I wouldn’t put too much into it except to clean it up, make it look “neutral.” Let them see the potential in the house. Good luck!
Definitely flat. Your painter is correct that it hides imperfections better. Eggshell cleans easier, but you’re not painting with future cleaning in mind.
You may also want to bear in mind that great home decoration is not always best for home staging. The objectives are different.
Decision is based on the condition of the walls and how even they are. If not in good shape and have good light on them then go flat as the painter suggested. It’s not as durable for cleaning but that’s not the goal for you. Ceilings are notorious for unevenness which is why flat paint is used for ceilings–it hides a lot of flaws.
If walls are in lower light conditions and not prone to show all the flaws, I would go satin finish which doesn’t have as much gloss in it as eggshell.
I would go with the eggshell finish myself. Flat doesn’t clean as well and I don’t like the look of it either. The higher the gloss, the more durable the paint. Eggshell is not a glossy paint- it is only one step above flat. There are 5 finishes, ranging from no sheen to high sheen: flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss. Eggshell really won’t show off the imperfections but will give the walls a warmer look than flat.
The potential market for this home is low income, first time buyers. They will not be coming in and spending money updating the home. They will be thrilled to just qualify for the loan. I think we will go with the flat paint.
The walls haven’t been painted in 30 years or more. They probably started out as some kind of beige, and we are sticking with basic neutral colors. I am not speaking directly with the painter, but the general contractor said two coats of paint. We are hiring out the painting job.
Take the painter’s advise and use flat, it is easier to go with the primer. Once, I had to have 4 or 5 coats to cover a room of black paint. And I used to buy HomeDepot because it is closer, but after using Benjamin Moore, I don’t think I will go back.
I have always preferred eggshell. Go to any paint department- eg Home Depot or Lowes or a paint store where they have examples of finishes. Flat may be best at hiding imperfections but eggshell is more washable. It is minimally shiny, not at all like semigloss or gloss used on doors and trim. You don’t want to try to remove the inevitable dirty spots from flat paint- your sponge will have paint on it.
Agree that two coats of paint needed. Years ago we “colorized” our all white (eggshell) walls in a house and had one “thick” coat used. Far too many missed spots that needed touching up. In this house had two coats- much better coverage. Both were with good quality paints, btw. We also chose eggshell instead of flat paint on plastered ceilings- but left popcorn finishes untouched (did not want to create problems). Pay attention to bathrooms and kitchen walls because of moisture and the need to clean more often.
My 1956 childhood home had sand in the paint for texture. Walls had a very rough surface until repainted later. I like the “orange peel”- sprayed on texture. Current house did that where wallpaper removed. Painter noted that two bedrooms had just had paint on roller texturing but we chose not to change that- it works for us. The next owner can make that change (and remove the 1987 popcorn ceiling material!).
Flat hides imperfections better. A trick builders use is to paint kitchens and baths flat too. It’s better to use at least eggshell in those spots for cleaning. Re Behr most professional painters will rebel. They usually want to use Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams. They usually have a pro discount so it’s cheaper in the long run anyway. Good paint is so much easier to work with.
If you care about your purchasers, you will use eggshell. You mention that they are fairly low income. That means they are highly unlikely to do a lot of repainting, even if the flat paint gets dirty or washes off with scrubbing.
As for paint brands, Sherwin Williams used to be one of the very best paints out there, but at least for a while they did not cope well with new paint formulation regulations and their paints were rated very poorly. Behr paint was rated very highly last time we painted. It’s probably worth finding a way to read the most recent Consumer Reports article on paint to get an idea of what is best.
Painters in my area on a job like this will use cheapest off white stuff they can find and will spray interior and be done in a couple of hours. Don’t over think this.
Flat will appear cheap. I would be an extremely annoyed buyer if I knew the home had recently been repainted and they chose (cheap and unworkable) flat. (and NEVER use flat in a bathroom!!!) Flat is for ceilings and other places that don’t get “touched” much.
While flat “hides” imperfections, eggshell is not satin or semi (which would show imperfections to a greater extent.)
Eggshell comes in a 10-25% gloss…just choose a lower %.
