Tuesday's Tip: How much SHINE do you want!?

I am a Latex Girl!  

I have tried chalk paint and a few other specialty paints and while they are lots of fun to paint with, 

I love the durability of Latex.  

With latex you have a few more color choices and SHEEN choices.   

Choosing the right SHEEN for your project is very important, it can determine the look of a piece.

If you are wanting a really shiny piece of furniture and you plan to paint it on and leave it I would go with a Semi-Gloss or Gloss.  As it will give you a beautiful finish and it cleans up great.  I don't seal my furniture with a top coat when I am painting with a Gloss.

If you are wanting to distress your piece of furniture I would not go with a Semi-Gloss or Gloss for a few reasons:

1-the glossier the paint the more it balls up with distressing

2-you will see all your sanding marks

3-when applying a glaze it does not sink into the paint as well

When I paint a piece to distress I go with Eggshell or flat.  I like how they sand and when rubbing on a glaze it will slightly sink into the paint.  I do however like my furniture to have a slight shine to it so I seal it with a Satin or Gloss Top Coat.  

There are flat or Eggshell top coats as well if you don't want a shine at all!

For this Blue Desk I used an Eggshell Latex with a Gloss Top Coat for the added shine

(the top photo I used an Eggshell Latex Paint with a Satin Top Coat)

TTFn

Brooke