Does the Choice of Interior Paint Product Really Matter?

There’s a lot to think about when making the decision to paint the interior of a home. Some of the choices are simple: Should one paint one’s home as a do-it-yourself (DIY) project, or hire a contractor? That question can usually be answered quickly, by looking at the amount of spare time, energy, and painting skill available to the homeowner. Answering that question is beyond the scope of this case study; one should note, however, that a DIY painting project will always come in over time, and over budget unless one has done a lot of painting in one’s past. Enough said there!

Whether DIY or contract, the next decision to be made is a choice of color(s)and sheen. Again, this subject is beyond this article’s scope as well; suffice it to say that there are many and varied ways to arrive at color/sheen selections for a home, from the paint store or Big Box store paint display to virtual color consultations offered by paint manufacturers (Sherwin-Williams offers a free 30-minute interior or exterior color consultation that can be scheduled at this link) to paid or complementary color consultations offered by painting companies (CertaPro Painters of Bartlett, TN, for example, offers color consultation by a trained design professional for a modest fee – ask your sales representative for more details).

But once all those decisions are made, the most critical decision of all now looms:  What paint should I use for my project?

Paint, like every other consumer product, varies widely in price. And typically, the buyer gets what s/he pays for. As paints decrease in price, so too do they decrease in pigment content (the material included in the paint that renders the color), and in resin content (the component of the paint that contributes to its ability to hide underlying colors and defects), increase in solvent content (the liquid carrier that dries, leaving.

There are also features engineered into paints that go beyond the question of color and hide. For example, both Benjamin Moore & Co. and The Sherwin-Williams Company offer paint lines that offer unique color palettes. Both manufacturers also offer paints that have unique capabilities engineered into the paint system itself. Benjamin Moore’s Scuff-X® latex coating is extremely durable and scuff-resistant, by design, and is suitable for high-traffic areas in a residential or commercial project. Sherwin-Williams’ ProClassic line of trim paints is engineered with a spherical polymer molecule that dries to a tough and durable finish suitable for a home setting. And Sherwin-Williams’ Cashmere line of interior paints makes it much easier for a DIY painter to achieve professional-looking results with walls through their self-leveling technology.

Our consistent recommendation for interior home painting projects, however, has been Sherwin-Williams’ Duration Home® interior Latex Coating. Duration Home® not only offers color rendering and hide superior to even the best paints available at big-box retailers, but it also offers a feature that is prized by any homeowner with children or teens: Duration Home can not only be washed; it can be scrubbed.

What homeowner hasn’t looked at the wall around light switches in high traffic areas, or on walls at the turn of a corner, and been saddened by the accumulation of grime and skin oils over the years? And who hasn’t been further saddened by the attempt to remove the accumulated dirt, only to find that the water used has turned cloudy from the paint that has come off the walls in the process?

Our primary reason for choosing Duration Home® for our interior painting projects is exactly that:  not only does dirt come off easily from a Duration Home®-painted surface, but it also comes off without the paint being removed from the wall in the process.  That capability restores the homeowner’s ability to deep clean, when necessary, with minimal risk of creating another problem.

No matter what paint system one chooses for an interior painting project, having the paint applied by a professional, if possible, will yield the best outcomes.  But whether one completes a project as a DIY venture, or hires a contractor, the paint system used makes a big difference in the outcome achieved.  Choosing a premium paint product for your home will always yield a better-finished project.