Interior Painting vs. Outdoors Color

One of the most common questions that are raised with regard to interior design is how to choose the correct paint for one's home. It is never easy to find a color that is suitable for your home's interiors neither is it easy to paint your walls outdoors. But is there a huge difference between your color choice for interior painting or painting the exterior part of your home?

Same Paint or Different Paints?

The million dollar question is this – can you use the same paint for your exteriors to your home's living room, bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, etc.? Back in the day, people would paint their homes with the same color indoors and outdoors. So if they used white paint outside, they are sure to bring in that same stark color indoors.

Keep in mind that exterior painting often requires application to stucco and other such surfaces. This paint is supposed to withstand the harshest weather elements such as water, wind, the sun, mold and mildew.

Paint becomes tougher with the addition of volatile organic compounds or VOCs. Other resiliency additives are used so that the outdoors paint becomes more durable. Outgassing takes just about 48 hours but there are some that can stay for years making the paint less ideal for interior projects.

Interior painting is meant to withstand abrasions, also, it is supposed to have zero VOCs. Interior paints are manufactured to be more delicate when compared to exterior paints.

In essence, interior paints can be scrubbed. The level of scrubs done is directly related to the gloss level of each paint. Paints that have the least ability to wash are flat paints. They are the easiest to touch up, though.

High gloss paints can easily wash but they can also be hard to apply even on the smoothest surfaces. For living rooms and other dry areas of your home, it is wise to choose a low sheen paint or anywhere in between. For wet areas such as the kitchen or the bathroom, use semi-gloss paint. If you want to maintain a lovely consistence throughout your home, you can use low-sheen paint in your kitchen or bathroom.

There are but a few paints that can be used on both indoor and outdoor settings. These paints are those that are found in the middle of line paints. Just look for the indicator outside of the paint can so that you know that you are purchasing a versatile product.

Choosing Indoors Paint

It is so easy to transform the look of your home when you choose the right paint colors. The best colors set the mood in a room while giving it a personality that spells the real you. The key is to find the color that can blend with the theme that you have chosen.

Do not stick with conventional or boring paints, though. There are now a lot of paint options in the market that it is a total waste to not take your time and look around.

Your budget matters as to the paint that you will soon buy. As soon as you know the ballpark figure, you may want to consider the emotions that you would want to evoke in each room, too. Would color eccentricities be okay with you? After answering these, go to the next step.

Find which paint brand you can trust. Choose the brand that best suits your budget and your taste. Would you settle for gloss, semi-gloss, matter or eggshell finish?

Consider also the existing color schemes in your home. Will you build around those or are you going to totally repaint? Consider also the lighting in each room as well as other design elements that need to harmonize with the color that you are going to pick.

Finalize the color scheme and you're done.

Are you someone that appreciates old-styled homes and furniture? Are you fascinated by the grace and timeless beauty of the pieces that have been made many years ago?