If you’ve been thinking of doing a full bathroom remodel or just refreshing your current paint color, one of the best ways to change your bathroom look is by painting with a new hue. But since there’s a multitude of paints available on the market, you might be scratching your head wondering which one to choose.
Satin paint has been unanimously recognized by experts as the best type of paint for bathrooms. Thus, a satin finish is the most popular paint sheen.
Since satin paint is durable, low-maintenance, easy to clean, washable, and resistant to water stains and moisture, it’s highly recommended for use in bathrooms. Thanks to its elegant appearance with a subtle gloss, it’s suitable for all kinds of rooms and surfaces like bathroom walls or ceilings.
Below I will explore the great benefits of using satin paint in the bathroom and discuss whether it is really a good choice for bathrooms.
What Is Satin Paint Best Used For?
Satin paint is considered to be highly versatile and one of the best for indoor painting. But if you want this paint to best suit a particular room, it’s important to understand what kind of room it is, what purpose it serves, and what you would like the interior to look like.
Because satin paint is durable, it is best used for high-traffic indoor areas, such as living rooms, children’s rooms, entryways, staircase walls, hallways, or home offices.
Satin paints work particularly well in busy spaces that get exposed to a lot of moisture, such as kitchens, laundry rooms, and bathrooms.
These are areas where surfaces require a more hardy yet softer finish, and you need to make sure that your paint will hold up.
In such rooms, you might apply paint with a satin finish on walls, ceilings, doors, windows, and even woodwork.
If you have mirrors and artwork hanging on your walls for a long time, satin paint will do a great job to cover up all those holes. This paint is also perfectly suited for trims and moldings in any part of your home.
So, Is Satin Paint Good for Bathrooms?
Satin is a natural choice for bathroom paints. This is due to its durability and power to resist moisture, mildew, and fading. These days, satin finishes are much tougher and longer-lasting than they were in the past. The paint is easy to keep clean and tolerates even rough scrubbing of any stains.
Should You Use Satin Paint in the Bathroom Anyway?
Besides looking good, your bathroom paint should protect the surface so that you don’t need to touch it up too often.
As the bathroom is a place prone to suffer from high humidity, you should use only satin paint to protect the surfaces in your bathroom as soon as possible. Because it is made for great resistance, practicality, and endurance, a good application of satin finish will keep you protected for a long time.
Who enjoys constant cleaning of bathroom walls to remove water streaks and marks? When you paint the walls with a satin sheen, you’ll avoid wasting your time scrubbing those stubborn water stains.
If you have a small-sized bathroom, satin paint is what you need. Due to its ability to reflect light (natural as well as artificial), a satin finish will reflect light off the walls, which will make the space look optically larger.
Though keep in mind that in big and spacious rooms, slightly glossy walls are going to make the room appear even larger and thus, less cozy.
Is Satin Paint Good for Bathroom Walls and Ceilings?
Satin paint can be successfully used on bathroom walls and ceilings due to its washability. Not only satin sheen will brighten up your bathroom space but it will also add durability to the ceiling and walls.
You don’t have to worry about having to clean these surfaces regularly, and since the paint is very resistant, damaging the wall during cleaning won’t be much of an issue.
While satin finishes are not the preferred choice for a bumpy, textured surface such as a popcorn ceiling, they can offer a slightly reflective sheen to it.
A solution that’s used in the case of satin paints are spherical particles, i.e. microspheres. When painting walls or ceilings, the microspheres get arranged right on the surface, thus forming a protective layer. This is what prevents abrasion or damage to the surface.
Some paint manufacturers also add a special ingredient to the satin finish, which reduces the so-called surface tension of the coating, thanks to which the walls painted with this finish do not attract dust and other debris so quickly.
If you choose satin paint, you will add a very delicate shine to your walls and the ceilings, which will create the illusion of perfectly soft and smooth surfaces. The increased, dull shine is ideal for hiding small surface flaws and marks.
However, while satin paint is an excellent choice for brand new, or not badly damaged walls or ceilings, it’s better to refrain from applying it to an old or damaged surface with lots of holes.
More serious imperfections in the surface like filled bumps, divots, or cracks in the plaster, will become visible as the light bounces off the more glossy surface, drawing attention to them.
Is Satin Paint Shiny / Glossy?
Satin paint refers to an assortment of hues that can reflect some light. But it still has a softer sheen that prevents it from having a reflective, kind of wet look.
Satin finishes have a smooth appearance with just a small amount of gloss. This is because they have a higher level of resin and much less pigmentation, which gives them a slight shine. The surface covered with the satin hue shows a bit of shine that makes the color pop.
Satin paint has a more vibrant color than flat paint, and offers a luxurious and nearly pearl-like sheen. Its elegant luster is often described as velvety, and thus, it can give your interior a classic but also a modern feel.
Since satin paint is less shiny, it will not glare as much as high-gloss or even semi-gloss paints do. This is because satin paint has a lower gloss percentage in the mix of only about 30% gloss.
Is Satin Paint Oil or Water Based?
For indoor or outdoor home applications, satin paints are available as oil-based and water-based. In this case, it is recommended to use a water-based satin finish as the oil-based finish will discolor, turning yellow over time. That’s because the oil content rises to the surface, which causes the discoloration.
Water-based options have the look and feel of solvent-based satin paints, but also add the benefit of a water-based formulation that makes them fully washable and resistant to odor.
Satin acrylic or latex paints, on the other hand, are great for simple base coats and a variety of art and craft projects, but also for decorative painting and home decorating.
Is Satin Paint Easy to Clean? Does It Clean Well?
Satin paint is the perfect choice for bathrooms as it’s been designed for easy cleaning. So if you need to get rid of all the brown water stains and mildew from your bathroom walls and ceiling, satin paint will clean well. The durable finish is made to resist mold and moisture.
Satin paints contain a lot of resin, which not only gives them a beautiful sheen, but also makes them resistant to cleaning. The surface becomes so tough that it can withstand more rubbing and scrubbing.
Although the satin finish can be wiped very easily to remove dirt, it can lose its luster if scrubbed too roughly and too often.
Can Satin Paint Be Washed? Is It Washable?
Satin paint is easy to maintain and completely washable. A satin finish can be washed and cleaned, which makes it a practical solution for applying to surfaces throughout the house.
However, it’s recommended to wash it with a wipe or a soft sponge with the addition of a regular household detergent, and avoid abrasive scrub brushes.
However, some manufacturers of satin paints use advanced technology to ensure even greater durability of this type of paint. For example, these solutions can use technology that reduces the coefficient of friction.
This, in turn, leads to the fact that the resistance of the satin finish to cleaning and scrubbing increases by more than five times, also with the use of various cleaning agents.
Due to their smooth texture and higher resin content, satin paints are characterized by a low degree of dirt absorption. Thus, they’re ideal for use in places exposed to dirt, grease, stains, other mechanical damage, and particularly bathroom moisture.
Contrary to flat paints, which often start to glow or lose color after dirt is removed, the satin sheen remains the same as before washing. This means that surfaces painted with satin paints can be washed without fear of damaging their appearance.
On a Final Note,
Satin paint has many benefits and is the perfect choice for use in many areas of your home, especially the bathroom. If you want to get a long-lasting effect without having to worry about frequent repainting, then you should opt for satin paint.
