Types of Paint For Your Home

To correctly choose the paint for your home, it's not only necessary to get the color right, you also need to know what types and models of paint there are. Find out which ones will best suit your rooms.
Types of Paint For Your Home

Last update: 19 July, 2021

Currently, you can find different types of paint for your home and not only to give it color, but also a decorative touch. Deciding what color to choose to paint your home is a difficult task. It’s important to use a color that matches your furniture and accessories.

Next, we’ll talk about the different types of paint and their uses, depending on the room you’re painting.

Types of paints

We can find several types of paint. However, the most commonly used are the following three types:

Tempera

Bathroom with a tempera paint wall.
Tempera painting: sorsparis.com

It’s a non-washable paint that has little adherence to surfaces that haven’t been treated. It’s cheap, permeable, and easy to spread.

Tempera paint isn’t recommended on walls that suffer from humidity as mold can form. This type of paint offers the possibility of creating textured finishes.

Plastic paint

Plastic paint.

It’s the most widely used interior paint. It’s washable, has great water resistance and dries quite quickly. In addition, it hardly produces odors, a fact to take into account when doing any renovation, and it’s very easy to apply. It has three types of finish:

  • Gloss: shimmering, washable, and water-resistant finish.
  • Satin: glossy finish and fine to the touch. It’s a very durable paint.
  • Matte: opaque and doesn’t reflect light. It’s a very good option to hide the damage to walls. It’s washable and ideal for uneven walls.

Synthetic paint

Synthetic paint.

This paint must be applied by previously applying a base. It’s resistant to dirt and the passage of time. Like plastic paint, it has three finishes: glossy, satin and matte. It’s recommended for kitchens and bathrooms.

Exterior paint

Red painted exterior door.
Red exterior door: servicolor.com

Exterior paints must have a higher resistance than interior paints, since various climatic agents can cause them to deteriorate.

The paints that are most often used are plastic, since they have additives to prolong its good condition despite the agents that deteriorate it. In addition, they’re the cheapest.

There are also other types such as elastomeric coatings. These are special to cover surfaces with cracks and prevent them from reappearing.

To avoid humidity, the best paints are those that contain silicate or silicone resin. They’re special thanks to their durability, their resistance to weathering, and humidity.

Interior paints

Types of gotelé.
Types of gotelé: interia.es

What’s more in trend right now are matte and smooth finishes. Although aesthetically it’s the most beautiful, it’s not always possible. In houses that have an embossed type of wall finish, removing it’s a job that apart from being laborious, is expensive.

If you doubt the color, choosing white is a sure hit. It’s ideal for smaller rooms or those that need more light. It’s also capable of visually expanding the space.

Paints for wet areas

Types of paints by colors.

In environments with high humidity, such as bathrooms, waterproof products are usually used, so as not to damage the coating that’s under the paint, and to avoid detachment. Moisture causes fungus to grow. Therefore, it’s common is to use anti-fungal paints.

Kitchen paint

Wall paint for kitchens.
Painted kitchen wall: Estiloydeco.com

In this area of the house, as in the bathroom, we also find humidity. And also that “greasy” aspect resulting from preparing meals. In this case, the paint should be plastic or latex. The latter is very resistant to external agents, as it offers a great protective layer.

A synthetic enamel can also be used as it’s much more washable and can withstand detergents and certain abrasive products.

One tip that’ll be very useful to you is to paint the wall with a satin or gloss finish as it reduces the adhesion of dirt. This is important because it’ll make cleaning easier. 

Special paints

Special paints.

There are different techniques to paint a wall such as sponge, crossed brush strokes, and different glazes. This type of finish is perfect if you want to highlight any area of the house as it breaks with the mythical smooth finish.

As we can see, there are a lot of types of paint. The important thing is to know how to choose the right one depending on how your wall is and in what room it is. Go ahead and give your home a change of scene!