Matt emulsion or silk for living room?

[dancerdog]

Posting here for traffic. I need to get my living room paint bought tomorrow and can't decide on matt or silk finish for the emulsion on the walls.

What do you prefer? The room of 14 ft x 15 ft, with a south facing window and a west facing window so will get a good bit of light. The paint will be daffodil white, (pale yellow).

When we moved into this house all the paintwork was matt, and seemed to be sucking the life and the light out of the house. I've gone for silk or soft sheen everywhere else, but now wondering if matt is so prolific in the shops, maybe that's the fashion and I should give it a go again. And if matt, would you go for a washable version?

Just goes to show everyone is different because I think silk is beyond naff but it seems 50/50. My walls are well plastered though. I can’t understand why you would paint walls that aren’t well plastered anyway

Mari50 The walls aren't great, that's why decorator has advised we put up lining paper.
Swithering here, will sleep on it. Thanks for a your comments.

We have silk in the bathroom, the kitchen and the hall and stairs because the kids run their hands up the walls and make mucky marks, same in the kitchen. The other rooms are dulux endurance Matt or whatever it is called. I can wipe away the marks around light switches.

Silk is a right pain to paint over-that is reason enough for me to hate it.

A sheen/shine on walls doesn’t look nice apart from in a bathroom perhaps and it really does show every imperfection.

I would be put off buying a house where they’d used it on the walls after the hassle we have had trying to cover it!

Matt only on new builds,older properties never have anything but especially on old plaster.
I don't think I have put anything on walls but Matt except for kitchens and bathrooms.When DD was younger we lived in a very old house and the walls were mostly white so easy to repaint when washing failed.

Scrubble matt. Especially if your walls aren't perfectly flat.
We have had scrubbable dulux and johntones recently and both have been really good.

I live in an old listed building and the walls are very lumpy.

I can 100 percent say that silk highlights the imperfections and looks shit, matt gives a very even finish, and is a million times better.

The Dulux washable matt is fantastic, it really does do what it says on the tin, and any marks just wipe off. Without taking the paint with it.

Colour matching F&B is not just about the colour, it's also about the finish, f&b is a chalky matt paint and the Dulux washable gives the same finish.

Every decorator we have had in here has said it needs to be matt immediately. I painted our bedroom and used a silk and realised my mistake immediately. The light just shone off the bumps and made it look way way worse. When I redid it in matt, the difference in the appearance of the walls was astounding. Way way better.

Mari50 ummm.... maybe not everyone can afford to get a whole house plastered! Strange isn't it?

I hate silk paint with a passion! I’ve had endless problems trying to paint over silk walls painted by the previous owners of our house.

Matt always, I hate silk and have never even considered using it.

I prefer the look of Matt but silk is easier to clean. However, I have used the magic eraser on Matt finish and it got off crayon mark without damaging the paint.

Definately silk!

I would never ever have Matt again, all the dirt and grease sticks to it, all my walls done in Matt look filthy and there’s no point trying to wipe it off because it rubs off the paint too.

We are In the process of re doing every single wall in silk.
Lovely and easy to clean and I prefer the sheen of it.

Twillow - satin or eggshell..........

I know, all this is driving me nuts. Too much choice is actually getting me a bit upset, that fear of making the wrong choice. Story of my life really, and no - one will even notice if daffodil yellow is better than buttermilk, all they will see is that we finally fixed this blinking room and all is clean and bright.

So, I have gone for matt. Or matte. See, even a choice of spelling!

I figure if I really don't like matt, I can paint over it myself with a silk, whereas PP have said silk is harder to cover to do the reverse.

Thanks for all your comments.

Matt finish looks classier IMHO, silk finish just seems old fashioned, I loved it in the 80’s 😂 Perhaps it’s having a revival, but I will stick with Matt.

Matts a pain in the arse to wipe clean.i don't give a toss at what's fashionable.

Do people actually give a toss about 'whats in'? Is that why everyone has grey walls? Practical every time.

I don't give a toss what's in, matt has always looked better than silk.

It does for a week or so. Every splash, every greasy little hand adds up.

Then it looks shit.

Due to a misunderstanding with the decorator who painted my living room, I have silk but hate it, much prefer matt and will ensure the right paint is used when being re-done. I just need to decide on a colour - I may go mad and have a pale duck egg blue as i'm bored with cream.

Matt really isn't hard to keep clean if you use a washable one, it's no different to cleaning any other paint finish. I'm really not sure what some folks are havering on about.

Op, I think uou made the right choice and won't regret it.

I had this issue recently when decorating DDs bedroom. I got a tester pot each in matt and silk. The silk seemed to enhance every imperfection on the wall, the matt covered them up. So we went for matt and I'm glad, the finish is lovely and smooth. It's a good quality, washable paint so we should be able to clean any marks.

Update for anyone who cares - the scrubbable matt emulsion is up and looks fantastic!

Thanks to all who took the time to comment.

Yes, Matt is the way to go.