If you’re looking into renovating your home, or you’re moving into a new house soon, you’re probably right in the thick of the paint choice. All these different options leave people in charge of repainting their home confused, at best.
Today, we’ll be going over Satinwood paint, which is a semi-gloss paint that has many benefits for your home. You’ll be able to easily choose from all the different alternatives, and equip your home’s surfaces to stay clean and crisp through the years.
What is Satinwood Paint Used for?
Satinwood paint is great if you’re looking to achieve a mid-sheen finish. It is commonly used for interior painting because of how durable it is. Satinwood is a very popular choice for painting window sills and skirting boards because it keeps bright colours looking radiant for longer than other paint finishes whilst being more hard-wearing than emulsions.
It has quite a neutral finish, with a small amount of shine that makes colours pop. It is the most popular choice for interior woodwork such as:
- Doors
- Frames
- Banisters/Hand rails
- Skirting boards
- Window sills
- Wooden window interiors
What is a Satin Finish?
A satin finish is usually silky and smooth paint. When dry, it keeps quite a fair amount of sheen and looks somewhat pearly. It reflects much more light than matte paint does and holds up well when washed often. It’s often used in areas that receive high traffic like kitchens, children’s bedrooms, and bathrooms.
Satin finishes will leave surfaces feeling smooth and slick. However, satin finishes don’t hide imperfections very well and are quite difficult to touch up because any paint added after the initial coat will stick out. Lastly, satin finishes offer more precise colours because they reflect just the right amount of light to compliment deep colours without altering their look.
Is Satinwood Paint Hard Wearing?
In high traffic areas, satinwood can sometimes become dirtier than other types of paint finishes. It is recommended not to wipe it down too much. Other than that, it is rather durable and holds up well through time. That’s part of the reason why it has become such a popular and trendy choice in recent years.
Quick tip: Use a primer to help prevent your satinwood paint from peeling over time, as well as achieve a beautifully smooth finish. It’s also important to make sure you’re applying enough coats to achieve a lasting finish. Beware of brush lines when using satinwood, especially when using water-based paints.
Do You Need An Undercoat With Satinwood Paint?
The general rule of thumb regarding satinwood paint and undercoats is that they don’t need one. Because of their amount of sheen (50% in most cases), satinwood paints have really great adherence on most surfaces. Therefore, an undercoat isn’t required for using satinwood paint.
However, there are two reasons you might want to use an undercoat when painting surfaces with a satinwood finish:
- If you’ve chosen a strong colour, it’s a good idea to use an undercoat to prevent the beautiful, vibrant colour from becoming dull over time. Dulux Diamond Satinwood, a popular Satinwood paint choice, recommends using an undercoat when painting a strong colour. Why? Because solvent-based paints are prone to discolouration as time goes on. This might happen more or less if the surface is exposed to UV light or not. Johnstone’s Aqua Water Based Satin recommended using their Aqua Water Based Undercoat for deep colours.
- If you’re painting satinwood onto surfaces you’re hoping will stay crisp and sleek for years to come, applying an undercoat is always a welcome precaution to take. A primer will help you achieve the smoothest finish possible by flattening any tiny bumps or ridges before applying the satinwood paint. Undercoats help prevent peeling, years down the road.
Can You Use Satinwood Paint On Walls?
Theoretically, you can use satinwood to paint on walls. However, we definitely don’t recommend it. Why? First of all, because it’s terribly difficult to apply on large surfaces. Usually, you’ll be able to see every brushstroke on your satinwood-painted walls.
That’s probably not the look you’re going for. The higher the sheen, the more you’ll be able to see imperfections on a surface. This doesn’t matter much for public places like schools and government buildings, which usually have high-sheen and even glossy surfaces; though for your home it’s best to stick with lower sheen finishes.
Secondly, light-reflecting finishes show every single imperfection. Every tiny bump or sign of damage in the wall. Honestly, satinwood is best suited for accents, like doors, windows, skirting boards; radiators of metal pipeworks. It’s also great for kitchen or bathroom cabinets.
Overall, we wouldn’t recommend attempting to paint it on walls – there are many better-suited options, like washable matt emulsion, regular emulsion or eggshell in higher traffic areas.
Final Thoughts
Satinwood, as you may have guessed by reading its name, is great at being painted on wooden surfaces. It has become particularly trendy in recent years. Most painters or paint shops will agree that satinwood is the new norm for accents around the home.
Where people used to paint banisters, skirting boards, and windowsills in gloss paint, satinwood has now taken its place. In fact, so many people have even endured the struggle to remove gloss from their homes in an effort to replace it with satinwood.