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Should You Paint Your Walls with High-Gloss Interior Paint?

Should You Paint Your Walls with High-Gloss Interior Paint?

Should you take a walk on the glossy side?

Here's a quick recap.

You want your interior walls to look their best, but also to be durable, washable, and easy to touch up. Typically, this would call for a slightly higher-sheen interior paint, like a middle-of-the-road eggshell or satin. Popular options like these provide a pleasant balance of shine, durability, and easier application.

If you go with a glossier paint, like semi-gloss or gloss, the finish is super durable but the application is much more labor-intensive. Imperfections are obvious, both in your surface and/or your technique, making it crucial to invest in serious preparation and have strong painting skills. That's why high-gloss paint is typically used for surfaces like trim, doors, and cabinets.

Insider Tip...

Low sheen paint used to be used for ceilings only since it was easy to scuff and mark. It covers surfaces beautifully, and is very forgiving, but just not strong enough for higher-traffic spaces. That's all changed in recent years as paint formulas have improved. So, if you want a high-gloss finish, go for it! But if you're worried about durability, don't write off lower-gloss paint too quickly. Talk to your painting company about your goals and needs.

Painting a Wall with High-Gloss Paint - What’s Involved?

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As you can see in the photo above, high-gloss paint covering a whole wall offers a simply stunning look. The sheen makes the surface appear almost liquid, creating a depth that just isn’t possible any other way.

Here’s another example, used in a bathroom ceiling we recently painted.

So, how can this effect be achieved? Here are the steps that led to the dark walls you see above, outlined by one of our talented Crew Leaders.

Drywall Must Be a Level 5 Finish - This means it is flawless and smooth, often involving skim coating to make sure the surface is nothing short of perfect
2-3 Coats of Primer
Sand the Walls - In this case, we used a sanding block with 320 sandpaper
Wipe the Walls - There can’t be any dust left behind
Finish Coats - 2-3 coats of acrylic high-gloss applied with a sprayer

Should You Hire a Professional for Your High-Gloss Interior Painting Needs?

Yes, we definitely recommend it.

There really is no margin for error; one misstep will create a blatant flaw. It also is an extremely labor-intensive process, calling for very specific skills, tools, and experience.

Let’s Discuss Your Bay Area Painting Project!

The MB Jessee Painting team is ready to help. Contact us today!

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Customer Reviews

“Our paint crew did a great job and the foreman, Gersson was exceptionally great to work with. He was always available to answer questions, good at problem-solving, very patient, kind, and highly professional with great customer service. We definitely recommend this company, and Gersson and his crew.”

— Andrea Y.
Berkeley, CA

“I just wanted to thank you all for doing such a phenomenal job on our recent house painting. We are very happy with the outcome and can't say enough good things about the crew. Everyone working on the project was outstanding and made it a great experience. Thanks to everyone.”

— Daylan
Piedmont

“Many thanks to Rigoberto and Damon and the extraordinary team who transformed my castle in the skies.They are magicians. I appreciate their work very much.”

— Kathleen A
San Francisco

“I highly recommend MB Jesse Painting to anyone looking for a professional team that does an impressive job. They are on time, efficient and clean up well each and every day they are on site. They pay attention to detail and listen to the needs of their clients. In addition, they give back to the community. A Five Star team all the way around.”

— Erin Troy

“The people at M.B. Jessee are great – from the painters to the office staff to Matt. Talk about leadership from the top.”

— Kevin Ames, Mark Becker Homes

“Today I received a beautiful bouquet from your company. It was totally unexpected and very much appreciated--a lovely surprise. Also today, your crew finished my job. I am so pleased with all their fine work. Richard is absolutely amazing and a total delight to work with. He was also extremely helpful during the paint color process. The interior work in my home far exceeded my expectations. A big thank you to you and the crew for an outstanding job. Thank you, thank you for a terrific job!”

— Barbara
Piedmont

“In September, MBJessee finished painting two sides of our 3-story condominium building (six owners). We were impressed by the professionalism of the company and every one of its workers, Matt Jessee couldn't have been more helpful in planning the project. His painters were well-trained, easy to communicate with and eager to please. In addition to painting the stucco, they made extensive repairs on windows and frames, which will save us considerable money in the future. They finished earlier than anticipated, with as many as five men working on the job, and the scaffolding came down the next day. All of us were delighted with the results. Now my husband and I are looking forward to having MB Jessee paint our own apartment later this month. Matt and Gustavo (who will be our crew leader again) have explained how they will work to make the painting proceed smoothly while we're living here, and they have been endlessly patient with our protracted decision-making process. If you look at their website, you'll learn that MB Jessee is an exemplary company that takes good care of its workers as well as its customers, and contributes public service projects to the community. All in all, we can't recommend MB Jessee highly enough.”

— Jayne W.
San Francisco, CA

“The kitchen looks NEW! You guys are amazing.”

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“Very easy to work with, they did an outstanding job with our project of re-painting our painting our kitchen cabinets. Given the scope of the job and that our kitchen is roughly half of our upstairs living area they did a fantastic job of minimizing the mess. Workmanship was top notch, would definitely recommend.”

— Vince Scola

“Thank you for the support you have given the Women's Cancer Resource Center over the past year!”

— Margo - Director Women's Cancer Resource Center

“I had my wooden kitchen cabinets painted white. Anabal and Danielle were doing the job. I have nothing but praise for them. They came on time, cleaned up every day, were respective, friendly and helpful. If the rest of Jessee's crew are as great as Anabal and Danielle, this company will go far.”

— Anni S.
Oakland, CA

“Julie,Just to let you know I am very appreciative of your crew catching the plumbing/mold problem. It was very astute of them. I wanted to let you know that again your crew has done excellent work here, please pass this along to Mr. Jessee. There are some bumps in the road here, but the painting and your crew has not been one of them. Their work is the only thing going right currently, and this crew is very nice and respectful. It is much appreciated. Thank you again.”

— Beth
Oakland

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