When it comes to choosing the right interior paint for your house painting project, it can be a little confusing for some people. House paint comes in many different paint finishes and it’s important that you choose the right one.

Paint finishes for interior paint come in flat, semi-gloss, enamel, eggshell, matte finish and more. Some interior paint is shiny and cleanable, while other house paints are not cleanable and have no sheen at all.

Here are few tips or guidelines when choosing the interior paint for your house painting project.

Come up with some interior paint ideas and decide what rooms you will be painting. The rooms that you decide to paint will determine the types of paint finishes you will need to purchase. Write down all your interior paint ideas and thoughts. When planning for house painting, it’s important to take lighting into consideration and also if the area is a high traffic spot.

Some interior paint finishes might look too shiny if there’s heavy artificial light or a lot of sunlight during the day. Painting walls with the right paint finish is important, so be sure to do proper planning before buying the wall paint.

Decide if you’re going to use an oil or latex interior paint. Most people use latex (water based) interior paint for house painting. In some cases, oil (alkyd based) paints can be used for interior painting of doors and trim, but it’s not very common in house painting. Oil paints are more durable, but they are not as easily available for house painting these days, due to new environmental laws.

Plan on buying eggshell or satin sheen house paints for high traffic areas such as a foyer, hallway, bedrooms or a stair case area. Painting walls with these paint finishes creates a smooth and cleanable surface. It’s important to keep in mind though that shiny interior paint finishes will highlight drywall imperfections. If you have plaster walls, painting walls with shiny paints is not recommended. However, using shiny house paint is still ideal for the high traffic areas.

Choose flat paint finishes for ceilings in your living room, dining room, bedrooms or any large ceilings that are very sunny and noticeable during the day. For house painting, avoid painting a ceiling with a shiny interior paint, because sunlight will make roller marks and other imperfections more noticeable.

If you need an interior paint for your ceiling that’s cleanable, choose a matte finish interior paint. Matte finish house paints are cleanable.

When planning interior paint ideas, check for water stains on the walls or ceilings in your home. You will also need interior paint primer to cover water stains, as well as crayon, or pencil marks in kids rooms.

Compile your list of paint finishes for your wall paint and decide if you’re also going to be painting doors and trim. If you’re painting doors and trim for your house painting project, then you will need to purchase either semi-gloss or gloss interior paint. You can also use satin or eggshell interior paint for trim and doors, but it won’t look as nice as using a shiny house paint.