Paint finish comparison

How to use the paint finish comparison

This paint finish comparison ranks five sheen levels for a selected room and surface situation. It helps homeowners and renters weigh washability, moisture, traffic, sheen, and how well each finish hides wall imperfections.

1. Choose a room from the room list.
2. Set traffic to low, medium, or high.
3. Set moisture to low, medium, or high.
4. Choose the wall condition: smooth, average, or rough.
5. Review the ranked finishes, scores, reasons, sheen ranges, and typical rooms.

What to enter

room

Choose bedroom, living, dining, office, hallway, kids, kitchen, bathroom, laundry, ceiling, trim, or closet. Default: living.

traffic

Choose low, medium, or high traffic. Default: medium.

moisture

Choose low, medium, or high moisture. Default: low.

wallCondition

Choose smooth, average, or rough walls. Default: average.

Example using the default settings

Use room = living, traffic = medium, moisture = low, and wallCondition = average. The weights are traffic 2, moisture 0, and wall condition 2. The maximum raw score is 5 × (2 + 0) + 5 × 2 + 3 × 3 = 29. Flat / matte: 1 × (2 + 0) + 5 × 2 + 1 × 3 = 15, so round((15 ÷ 29) × 100) = 52. Eggshell: 2 × (2 + 0) + 4 × 2 + 3 × 3 = 21, so round((21 ÷ 29) × 100) = 72. Satin: 3 × (2 + 0) + 3 × 2 + 2 × 3 = 18, so round((18 ÷ 29) × 100) = 62. Semi-gloss: 4 × (2 + 0) + 2 × 2 + 0 × 3 = 12, so round((12 ÷ 29) × 100) = 41. High-gloss: 5 × (2 + 0) + 1 × 2 + 0 × 3 = 12, so round((12 ÷ 29) × 100) = 41. The ranked order is eggshell, satin, flat / matte, semi-gloss, and high-gloss. Semi-gloss appears before high-gloss because tied scores keep the source data order.

How the recommendation is calculated

The tool assigns traffic weights of 1 for low, 2 for medium, and 3 for high. Moisture weights are 0 for low, 2 for medium, and 4 for high. Wall-condition weights are 1 for smooth, 2 for average, and 4 for rough. For each finish, raw score = washability × (traffic weight + moisture weight) + hidesImperfections × wall-condition weight + room bonus × 3. Washability and hidesImperfections each run from 1 to 5. Room bonuses range from 0 to 3; an unlisted finish gets 0. The room bonuses are: bedroom—flat 2, eggshell 3, satin 1; living and dining—flat 1, eggshell 3, satin 2; office—eggshell 3, satin 2; hallway—eggshell 1, satin 3, semi-gloss 1; kids—eggshell 1, satin 3, semi-gloss 2; kitchen and laundry—satin 2, semi-gloss 3; bathroom—satin 2, semi-gloss 3, high-gloss 1; ceiling—flat 3, eggshell 1; trim—satin 1, semi-gloss 3, high-gloss 2; closet—flat 2, eggshell 1. The maximum raw score is 5 × (traffic weight + moisture weight) + 5 × wall-condition weight + 9. The displayed score is round((raw score ÷ maximum raw score) × 100). Results are sorted from highest to lowest score, with ties kept in the source data order. Sheen percentage is reported as an approximate 60-degree gloss range, but it is not used directly in the score.

Reading the results

The tool compares Flat / matte, Eggshell, Satin, Semi-gloss, and High-gloss. Each result includes a rounded 0–100 score, reasons for its ranking, an approximate sheen range, washability from 1 to 5, how well it hides imperfections from 1 to 5, typical rooms, and a finish note. The sheen ranges are flat / matte 0–10%, eggshell 10–25%, satin 25–35%, semi-gloss 35–70%, and high-gloss 70–90%. In the source data, washability increases from 1 for flat / matte to 5 for high-gloss, while hiding imperfections decreases from 5 to 1.

Limitations and common mistakes

• This is a comparison and recommendation tool. It does not calculate paint coverage, gallons, quantities, prices, or project cost.
• Sheen percentages are approximate ranges in the tool data, not a product-specific measurement.
• The score is a deterministic ranking. It does not account for lighting, color, application quality, surface preparation, or a specific paint product.
• Do not confuse typical room listings with room bonuses. For example, bathrooms appears in the typicalRooms data only for semi-gloss, although the bathroom scoring bonus also includes satin and high-gloss.

Frequently asked questions