The best paint finish for every room in your house

There are four finishes you'll come across on most domestic painting jobs: matt, eggshell, satin and gloss. Each has a job it's brilliant at and a job it's hopeless at. Here's how we think about it.

Matt emulsion is the workhorse of interior decorating. It hides imperfections in plaster, has zero glare under lights, and modern washable matts (Dulux Diamond, Little Greene Intelligent) cope perfectly well with everyday family life. We use it on virtually every wall and ceiling.

Eggshell sits one step shinier. It's our default for woodwork — skirtings, architraves, doors and panelling — because it shows up the cut detail without going into full mirror-finish gloss. It's also wipeable, which matters on a kicking board.

Satinwood and gloss are old-school finishes that have largely been displaced by eggshell. Gloss is still right on cast-iron radiators and external metalwork where you genuinely want the reflective hardness.

Kitchens and bathrooms are the exception to all of the above. Use a dedicated kitchen-and-bathroom emulsion (or a properly-rated scrubbable matt) — anything else will mark within months.