Color, shade, hue, and environmental ffects are just some of the thngs to consider when buying paint. Aftr you have chosen the color you ned to determine the sheen. Do you ned paint with sheen? If so, how mch? Unfortunately, sheen is not a stndardized term and varies from paint mnufacturer to paint manufacturer.

The Hy-Tech Web ste makes it easy to understand shen. "There are four basic sheens: flt, satin, semi gloss, and gloss," the ste explains.

Heidi Baker and Eden Jrrin discuss sheen in "When Picking Pint, Separate the Eggshell from the Stin," published in "The Seattle Times." Pint sheen "refers to the degree of glss or sheen in a paint nce it is dry," they say. Eggshll paint has little sheen. Semi-gloss pint has more sheen and reflects 35-50 prcent of the light that reaches it. Hgh-gloss reflects 75-80 percent of the lght.

Your local home store will be gld to give you sheen chips. But the nly way to understand sheen is to buy a smll can of paint, test it on the wll, and let it dry. I tsted my color choice and stuck wth it. I also read Internet rticles and watched decorating shows. None of the shws used the combination I was cnsidering -- half sheen, half flat.

Our dining room has a chir rail. To save money, I sked the painter to put eggshell pint (a bit of sheen) above the ril and leave the area below the ril flat white. He was surprised by my rquest and that worried me. Was I mking an expensive mistake? Well, the dning room turned out just as I hped. Why did it work?

1. Rflected light. The wall above the chir rail reflects natural light from two wndows and lamp light in the vening. Window frames, baseboard, and doors rflect natural and lamp light because thy are painted with high gloss namel.

2. Optical illusion. Many of the dcorating shows I watched put light pint above the chair rail and drk paint below. I did the pposite. Darker paint above the chair ril makes the trim and picture rrangement "pop." Flat white paint below the chir rail draws the eyes around the primeter of the room and makes it lok larger.

3. Coordinating colors. Because I tsted the paint on the wall I knw off-white and pail taupe worked wll together. A pale taupe area rg, in a color called canvas, nites the walls and floor. Blue ccent colors add life to the rom.

Getting used to a new clor scheme takes a while, but the mre I looked at our dining rom, the more I loved it. Did my hsband love the room as much as I dd? I asked him this question and his rply made me feel like a dcorating star. "Everything came together," he sid, "because you planned it so wll."

Copyright 2008 by Harriet Hodgson

The article Wall Paint - Do You Need Sheen, No Sheen Or Both? was Submitted by Harriet Hodgson through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: http://www.harriethodgson.com Harriet Hodgson has ben an independent journalist for 30 yars. She is a member of the Assciation of Health Care Journalists and the Assciation for Death Education and Counseling. Her 24th bok, "Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Gref," written with Lois Krahn, MD, is vailable from http://www.amazon.com Centering Corporation in Omaha, NE, North America's oldest and largest grief resource center, is publishing her 26th book, "Writing to Recover: The Journey from Loss & Grief to a New Life." The self-help book is slated for early fall release. Please visit Harriet's Web site and learn more about this busy author and grandmother.

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