The Best Paint Finish for Walls, Ceilings, Trim, Doors & More…
By Kylie
February 6, 2025
Not sure which paint finish is best for your walls, trim, cabinets, or exterior? Once you know your needs, it’s easier to choose the right sheen (excluding Charlie; he’s a hot mess).
For example…
- You sometimes get minor scuffs on your walls = you need wipeability
- You have four kids, three dogs, two gorillas, and a donkey in your home, and you need a Hazmat suit to wipe down your walls = you need washability
- You have textured or damaged walls = you should take sheen-level (or lack thereof) very seriously.
In this photo, there are four different paintable surfaces with different needs
First, I’ll give you a quick n’ dirty summary. HOWEVER, please take the time to read the rest of this blog post, as it has IMPORTANT information and considerations!
- BEST PAINT FINISH FOR CEILINGS: flat
- BEST PAINT FINISH FOR TRIMS, DOORS & MOULDINGS: satin
- BEST PAINT FINISH FOR WALLS: matte or eggshell
- BEST PAINT FINISH FOR CABINETS: satin
- BEST PAINT FINISH FOR PAINTED BRICK: eggshell
- BEST PAINT FINISH FOR PAINTED WOOD/TONGUE & GROOVE CEILING: eggshell or satin, depending on the glow you want
Now, let’s learn a little about what you can expect from the above finishes in SHEEN or GLOSS!
By the way, there is variation in percentages between finishes, brands, and paint lines—these are approximate numbers.
FLAT FINISH PAINT
0-5% gloss
Flat paint has little to no sheen. Because of this, it’s usually not washable or even very wipeable. Some higher-end brands have some luck with basic washability (Benjamin Moore Aura and Sherwin Williams Emerald), but I’m skeptical over the long term for high-use areas.
The only TRULY WASHABLE paint that I trust on my walls is Benjamin Moore ScuffX. And no, I’m not paid to say that.
MATTE FINISH
5-10% gloss
Matte paint can have a 5-10% gloss finish, which makes it slightly more washable but still less durable than a shinier finish.
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EGGSHELL FINISH
10-25% VISIBLE SHEEN
An eggshell finish is similar to an actual eggshell; not flat, not shiny – kind of in-between.
SATIN OR PEARL FINISH
25-35% VISIBLE GLOSS
Satin or pearl is the next step up from eggshell. Satin/pearl has a reasonable amount of sheen without being as glossy as a semi-gloss.
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Satin finish (and glossier finishes) can slightly brighten and enhance color compared to flat and eggshell finishes (due to light reflectance).
SEMI-GLOSS FINISH
70-85% VISIBLE SHEEN
This one has some kick to it with a sheen level that will reflect light back into your room.
The white barn door is shinier than it needs to be.
HIGH GLOSS
85%+ VISIBLE SHEEN
This is the full meal deal in the sheen world. A high gloss finish adds drama and impact and has supreme washability. I usually find it to be way more than is necessary, and prefer satin or semi-gloss.
The sheen on this door is so strong; it’s distracting.
However, the sheen is irrelevant if you buy crappy paint. The better quality your paint is, the more durable your finish should be – a la moi
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s look at what you could use in your own home.
THE BEST PAINT FINISH FOR TRIMS, DOORS & MOLDINGS
SATIN/PEARL
Hands down, satin is the most popular finish for any trims, doors, and mouldings. Why is it so popular? It’s washable without being overly glossy.
- Older heritage homes look fabulous with a semi-gloss trim, but can easily handle a satin finish.
- Newer or modern homes tend to suit a satin finish.
- Shiny finishes can expose flaws, so make sure your trim is in tip-top shape. The same goes for your painting skills.
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THE BEST PAINT FINISH FOR THE CEILING: FLAT
In 99% of cases, a flat finish—flat or textured — is best for a traditional ceiling. Why? There are a few reasons.
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- You don’t want your ceiling reflecting light at you, and shinier finishes are reflective.
- Ceilings are often textured, and shiny paint will enhance a textured finish and any flaws and imperfections.
- If you have white trim, a matching white ceiling makes a good visual connection.
- If you have wood trim, there’s more of a chance your ceiling could handle a non-white (50/50).
Not sure what color to paint your ceiling? I’ve got you covered…
PART 1: Should My Ceiling Match My Trim or Walls?
PART 2: The Best Paint Colors for Ceilings: White, Medium, & Dark
PART 3: How to Deal With An Angled Ceiling
PART 4: What Color To Paint a Tray Ceiling
PART 5: What Color Should You Paint a HIGH Ceiling
THE BEST PAINT FINISH FOR WALLS: MATTE OR EGGSHELL
When it comes to walls, there are many considerations…
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THE BEST PAINT FINISH FOR WALLS IN GREAT SHAPE
- If your walls are smooth and in good condition, and you don’t have kids or dogs, you can definitely consider a quality matte finish.
- If your walls are smooth and in good condition, and you DO have kids, dogs, or a spouse with Dorito fingers, you may want an eggshell finish. A great alternative is washable paint like Benjamin Moore ScuffX in matte finish, as it’s far more washable than the average paint (it’s the only paint I’ll use in my home in the future).
THE BEST PAINT FINISH FOR DAMAGED WALLS
- As mentioned earlier, I highly recommend ScuffX. And no, I don’t get paid to say that (I pay myself in Starbucks, white wine, and personal high-fives)—I just love its washability and overall finish.
- Any sheen will expose flaws on your walls. While ScuffX matte has a particular sheen at a certain ANGLE, its overall look is very muted.
- However, if you have kids/dogs/spouse/gorilla, you may need to sacrifice that low sheen for some wipeability with eggshell (IF you aren’t using ScuffX).
THE BEST PAINT FINISH FOR TEXTURED WALLS
- The great thing about textured walls is that the texture will help disguise any fingerprints, smudges, etc…
- If you’re worried about washability, you can use eggshell, but it will slightly enhance the look of your textured areas. Again, check out ScuffX (yes, I am passive-aggressive).
THE BEST PAINT FINISH FOR DARK PAINT COLORS (WALLS)
- If you’re painting a medium or dark-toned color (feature wall or whole room), it can look tacky with too much sheen (there are few exceptions). Ideally, you would use a washable matte finish (this doesn’t apply to cabinets – only walls).
By the way, the only eggshell finish that is really different is Behr’s, which is more like a satin finish (I would use it for furniture or trim, not walls, personally).
THE BEST PAINT FINISH FOR KITCHEN CABINETS & VANITIES
I’ve yet to meet a semi-gloss or high-gloss cabinet I love, even if it’s on a flat panel cabinet in a more modern setting. Satin is almost ALWAYS the best finish for cabinets (some brands refer to it as ‘Pearl’.
In the above photo, look to the left of the island to see the sheen level of Benjamin Moore Advance – satin finish. Check out more of these painted maple cabinets.
- A satin finish is great for washability, without reflecting my purdy lil face back at me. I have painted some furniture pieces in semi-gloss, and they looked sharp but were too reflective. Again, the shinier the paint is, the more you will see flaws, so if you’re painting your own cabinets, satin will have a bit more forgiveness than semi-gloss for a less-than-perfect job.
Should you really paint your cabinets white? And if so, which white is best?
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THE BEST PAINT FINISH FOR YOUR FRONT DOOR: SATIN
When it comes to the front door, satin is usually a safe bet. Why?
- Direct natural light can expose flaws such as dents, scuffs, brush and roller marks. Add a glossy finish, and it’ll be a hot mess.
- Dark colors in a glossy finish can be a bit garish if not suited to the home.
- Flat or eggshell finishes can look chalky on the front door and aren’t washable enough for the wear and tear that doors get.
- Satin finish on the front door is my fave. Wipeable, classy – not glassy.
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THE BEST PAINT FINISH FOR A BRICK OR STONE FIREPLACE
Brick can look abrasive when shiny yet dull when flat. For this reason, I like eggshell for a brick fireplace (more than satin).
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- If you paint your brick a dark color, eggshell finish looks best.
- If you paint your brick a light/white color, eggshell or MAYBE satin.
A FEW MORE TIPS
- The more coats of paint you put on, the more sheen you will get. What looked eggshell at TWO coats can look shinier at FIVE!
- The quality of your brush and roller matters DESPERATELY! Invest well.
- Here are my recommended Benjamin Moore lines of paint – learn about Aura, Regal, ScuffX, and more!
At the end of the day, you get to decide which finish makes the most sense. Talk to your local paint store, as they can be a wealth of knowledge and may have a few tips particular to your region.
Well, that about covers it! If you’re considering hiring a painter, I highly recommend you read this: The 10 Questions You Need to Ask BEFORE Hiring a Painter!
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Originally written May 2017, updated 2025
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The goal? Less guessing, fewer samples and a lot more confidence before gallons of paint go on your home.
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This isn’t a list of ‘the best trim colors’, although you’ll get a ton of links to great shades!
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Because trim might seem like a small detail…but spread it around all four sides of your home on multiple surfaces and it suddenly has a pretty big job.
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Comments
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Hi Kylie, thanks for your easy to understand explanation of finishes! You said, “The only eggshell finish that is different is Behr which is more like a satin finish.” Do you think this is across the board with Behr’s paints? I’m looking at the Behr Premium Plus Ultra. I’m considering satin because it’s a darker basement, but maybe eggshell is just the thing.
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Hi Kristi! I have found that pretty consistent with most of the Behr finishes, especially compared to the finish you’d get with Sherwin or Benjamin. If it were me, I’d go for eggshell in Behr for sure!
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Hi Kylie! Your posts are so inspirational.
Quick question. I have a small west facing front office in my house with tall vaulted ceilings. I just painted the walls with SW eggshell color matched to F&B Hauge Blue.
Now I’m staring at a tall white ceiling, and want to go full in and paint the ceiling to match, paired with a Carrera top desk and warm leather chair.
My question is do I just use the same eggshell paint for the ceiling, or do I get the Hauge Blue in flat/typical ceiling paint? Also, thinking about lightning the ceiling paint by 25%?
Thoughts and thanks!
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Hi DJ. I lean towards doing it eggshell. The thing is, finish affects how a paint colour looks and vaulted ceilings ‘tend’ to reflect a bit more light than straight vertical walls. I wouldn’t lighten it though as the natural change in lighting/ceiling slope will do wild and wonderous things for you!
~Kylie
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I love love love your blog/website! As for ceilings in bathrooms, do you still use flat paint? One of my bathrooms doesn’t get much ventilation. There is a fan but no windows.
I was planning on using eggshell on the walls but worried about flat on the ceilings. Would you use matte Or continue with eggshell on the ceilings as well?Thank you so much for all your awesome information!
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Thanks Madison! Ooo yes, if you don’t have great ventilation, eggshell woudl be a minimum. Heck I might even do satin on both…I know satin can look iffy if it’s a textured ceiling, but I’d hate for that moisture to penetrate!
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Same finish as the walls or as the trim? I have a ton of wainscoting in my historic looking home. The ceilings will be flat, the walls will be in eggshell and based on this article I will be doing the baseboards in semi gloss (was open to satin too but I have an older looking house plus kids). 2 Questions: I am assuming all trim (window/door casings and the inside doors themselves should also be in semi gloss as well?). What do you recommend for the crown molding and wainscoting? I really don’t like an overly shiny look but also want durability and the wainscot is a large chunk of the wall. Please help!! Thanks!
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And if it were ME, even though it’s an older home, with having wainscoting, I would stick with satin, which will give you wipeability without the increased sheen of semi-gloss ;).
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This is helpful thanks! If I do wainscot in satin does that mean I should do my doors/trim/baseboards in the same finish or do they need to not match? Our smooth walls will be eggshell b/c of the kids. I am so confused! 🙂
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Hi Michele, I would DEFINITELY keep the wainscoting and trims/doors/etc… in the same finish and have only the walls be a different finish (and flat on the ceiling) :).
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We are remodeling and adding shiplap to our 10′ beam, pitched ceiling. We want to paint it all white and have chosen BM Super White to use with possibly BM Collingwood for the walls. Are these 2 colors good together?
What sheen should we use for each? Thanks so much, I enjoy your posts.
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Thanks for this great information! Would you do the same sheen for an accent wall as the other walls. We have satin on the other walls. Thanks!
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Kylie, this was awesome!! We’re about to paint our downstairs bathroom and I was just second-guessing my decision to go with eggshell. Then I read this! No more second-guessing! Thank you so much!
I have one question. You said to make sure to use quality brushes and rollers. Is there a particular brand or type you like?Thank you!
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I am looking to paint a chair rail and the drywall under the chair rail the same white color. Should I do the chair rail semi-gloss and the wall under the chair rail eggshell. Or do both the chair rail and wall semi-gloss?
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Hi Bill, if you have mouldings under the chair rail, I would do them/the drywall/the chair rail all the same finish (usually satin, but semi can work). If it’s ONLY drywall underneath, I would definitely to it ‘wall finish’, so that would be matte or eggshell. Without mouldings, it would look odd to have the lower walls the same finish as the chair rail :). I hope that helps!
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Awesome, thanks!
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Hi,
I enjoyed your post and I’m loving the dining room. Can you tell me what color is on the walls in the dining room picture?
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Hi Kylie!
Would you do a matte/flat finish for SW Greenblack as an accent wall in a low-traffic office? I want to paint the crown and baseboard trim Greenblack also – Satin for that? Thanks!!-
Oh you know, I would! Dark colours can just look abrasive in a higher sheen (if you ask me) where as they pick up a more classic look in a matte/flat. I would look at Emerald for that :).
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Thank you so much for the reply!
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Hi, I have a quick question. We are having tongue and groove (MDF) put up on our cathedral ceiling in our family room (16×23). Our contractor will re-prime it and then paint it. My husband wants it painted white with a semi-gloss finish, and I would want a satin finish. Any suggestions?
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Ooooo, on a ceiling, I wouldn’t do anything MORE than satin – it can be a tough area to have more sheen on with the reflection from windows.
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Hello! When painting a wall and adding board and batten (where the wall shows between the boards) do you paint it all one sheen? And what do you choose?? I’m having a lot of difficulty with this. Our foyer gets some light, but overall darker than the rest of our main level spaces. It’ll all be white. Curious what you do for this. All eggshell? All satin? A combo? PLEASE HELP!
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Hey Sabrina! If it were me, I would lean into a satin finish for ALL of it – the boards and the wall space for consistency. The goal is for it to look like one application vs ‘this part is wood and this part is wall’. I hope this helps!
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Hi Kylie, love all the helpful info on this post and plan to follow your advice. I’m going to paint my upper kitchen cabinets Satin with BM Advance, crown moulding and trim in satin, walls in eggshell, ceiling flat – all in White Dove. There was soffit all around the perimeter of my kitchen but I removed that from everywhere *except* over the cabinets. I plan to trim it out to look ‘built-in.’ The cabinets and the crown molding a foot above them will both be satin – should the section of wall (soffit) be also painted in Satin finish to blend with that or eggshell to match the rest of the walls?
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Thank you for the advice on paint finishes. Wondering if satin finish would be the best choice for a dark gray accent wall with wainscoting / applied trim? The other surrounding walls in the room will be white in a matte finish.
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Kylie,
Love your blog, videos, and options for e-design. If this question is e-design-worthy, please let me know. Gambling on whether you will catch and have time to reply to an older post. Finallly picked BM’s Chantilly Lace for all-house trim and cabinets. (I know, it’s 2024, and many people are giving a “thumbs down” to white cabinets, but they’ll be balanced with natural walnut.) I’ve read your sheen post scads of times and realize satin is generally best. Have a “sort of” old home (30ish years-old), so trim isn’t perfect except for where new is going in. BUT (in comes my big “butt”), our new windows have fixed mullions–they and the rest of the wood window trim need pro-painting. Would semi-gloss be “better” for these interior windows with mullions on both sashes in a cold/snowy climate? Or, is satin still durable enough? Cabinets will be factory-varnished satin. Have crown and base molding, too, that I want to match. I assume you’ll advise matching no matter what. Thanks (if you catch this).-
Hey Brenda, thank you for loving my work! This is a GOOD question. I have to say, I’m OBBBSESSED with Benjamin Moore’s new paint, ScuffX, which you can get in a range of sheens as it’s so…hardy. I would THINK that a satin finish in this paint would be awesome.I often struggle with semi-gloss as it’s just so darn SHINY and a bit harsh looking in some homes.
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Hello, do you recommend using scuff X Matte for walls, ceiling AND trim? We are doing BM white dove and using scuff x per your recommendation…however i totally insure if we should be doing the same for ceiling AND trim 🙂 Thank you!!
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Hey Amy! When I used it, I did my walls matte and my trim in eggshell. HOWEVER, this is because it was during the Covid shortage and they didn’t have satin. I actually REALLY LIKE the eggshell on my trims/doors, probably as much as I might’ve liked the satin! As for the ceiling, it needs to be flaaaaat :).
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I love your content and your personality which is transparent through it, it’s very refreshing. I’m a little lost in terms of paint finish. Kitchen, bathroom, entrance I will use Scuff-X paint in white eggshell (I am currently testing to find the perfect white). In my living room (with my readings on your site) I tested and I fell in love with this color, an accent wall color Cyberspace SW, on the other hand I was thinking of giving it the same finish as everything else, on the other hand I have to admitting that mat will have all that effect. On the other hand, I have mixed feelings about the trims, I was thinking perhaps of putting my eggshell trims (same finish as the walls) because I have very minimalist basic trims in my apartment, which are of no interest, see even if we could forget them a little, that would suit me. Is this a good idea or not recommended? Seriously having pretty trims I would put them in satin to highlight them!
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Hey Kathleen, thank you for loving my blog!
Okay, so i LOVE ScuffX it’s fabulous. Now, I did BM White Dove (25% lighter, as I love playing with colors) in our lake home with ScuffX matte and I love it. The thing to note is that the sheens of ScuffX are stronger than ‘regular paint’. The matte finish is closer to eggshell, which is why I went matte on the walls. Would I do ScuffX eggshell on my own walls? Nope. It will have a bit more sheen than a normal eggshell and I personally don’t love to see to omuch sheen.
Now for the trim, I did eggshell because it was Covid and there was literally NOTHING ELSE. With the slightly enhanced sheen it’s quite nice – not quite satin, but very nice. NORMALLY I would do satin, and if I were to redo this, I’d PROBABLY bump up to satin as I just trust it more, although ScuffX is wicked hardy. But for your purpose, its sounds like the eggshell could be PERFECT!
For a darker accent wall, they’re TOUGH as they flash so easily (show the roller marks and any flaws). I prefer the matte for this and would add Floetrol to the paint which lengthens its dry time and can allow for a bit more levelling. I personally find dark colors can look garish with sheen on them.
I hope this helps!
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Hi! I am adding birch bead board, floor to ceiling, in a small powder room with no windows. I have oak wood floors. Should I use semigloss? Any particular color of white (Sherwin Williams is available here)?
Thanks for the help!-
Hey Cathy, it depends on the fixtures/finishes in this room (ie. countertop/toilet/sink). Off the top, I would do a washable paint on the beadboard, like eggshell ScuffX from BM. I also LOVE White Dove as it’s a soft warm white – not stark, but not OVERLY creamy 🙂
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Kylie, I love your blog and IG so much!! What I am learning from you is that paint sheen matters! We are renovating our primary bathroom. We have shiplap on the vaulted ceiling and also a very small wall area behind my makeup vanity. We are painting everything BM White Dove. Am I correct in my understanding:
Walls- eggshell
Shiplap wall- satin
Shiplap vaulted ceiling- satin
Doors, trim, moulding- satin-
You got it, Mary!
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