Generally, for interior painting you can choose from a wide category of paints: flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss or gloss. The type of paint depends on your purpose and the type of your room you are painting.
Photo by Barclay Butera Interiors – Browse hallway photos
Hallways in a home are high traffic areas.
There are a lot of people going through them, kids and pets running every day.
Over time, your walls become dirtier and dirtier because of all the touching, scraping, and bumping.
There will be fingerprints and dirty marks everywhere on your hallway walls.
How to Proceed:
1| Pay attention to wall preparation. You need to sand the wall areas down using medium grade sandpaper and don’t forget that the finished result will depend hugely on the wall preparation. It’s very important to have a good surface for painting.
2| Clean your walls with TSP. Then apply a primer coat to seal the walls.
3| Choose flat finish paint for ceiling. Flat paint is the most common type of paint used for rooms with little traffic and ceilings.
4| DO NOT USE flat paint for walls. Flat finish paint is a porous paint and it gets dirty easily and is hard to clean.
5| USE washable paint such as eggshell paint. It is a very good paint to hide small bumps, cracks or other imperfections. Also it is easier to clean (washable with soap and water) and the finish is quite nice. You need to give it 2 coats leaving 4 – 6 hours between each coat. Eggshell has a hint of gloss and the more shine there is in the paint – the more washable it is.
6| Choose satin paint for doors and trims and for walls that receive a lot of wear. Satin paint has slightly more gloss than eggshell paint. It endures cleaning and light scrubbing well.
7| You can also use high-gloss enamel paints for doors. High-gloss paint is the most stain-resistant, durable and washable paint of all.
Tips:
1| Paint Quality is Important. The better the quality the paint, the less you will have to paint over the walls, especially if you keep them clean.
2| For hallway walls a good option is to go with a Decorative Paint Finish. Faux paint finish can hide the dirt and imperfections from the usual wear and tear of hallway use (sponging, ragging, color washing, etc.).
3| Add A Chair Rail. It is a bit expensive but the good thing about having a chair rail is that you can split the paint colors. Paint a dark color below the chair rail and a light color on top. The chair rail is also good for the wall protection.
4| Using paint to add color to the walls, ceiling and floors within a hallway space can turn what was once meaningless space into warm, welcoming areas within the home interior:
- – Paint the ceiling and floors darker than walls – hall seems to be wider.
– Light colors – make compact hallways appear larger.
– Paint the end wall darker – a long hallway seems to be shorter.
Venetian Stucco – A Decorative Painting Type (howtobuildahouseblog.com)
