If you have a bathroom with good ventilation and the water doesn t get all over your walls i think that it s absolutely fine to use a flat or matte sheen paint for bathroom walls.
Should flat paint be used on bathroom walls.
Satin paint between flat and gloss paint in terms of shine and durability can be used in a bathroom since it holds up to moisture and scrubbing.
However it s the least durable choice and doesn t usually stand up well to scrubbing.
Additionally they don t stand up to scrubbing and it can be tough to clean walls with flat paint without affecting the finish.
Flat this gives most forgiving finish with the best color payout.
Flat or a greater sheen though most homeowners choose eggshell or satin.
The good news is many paint formulas clean up easily with soap and water but people still tend to shy away from flat paint in favor of other sheens that are easier to care for.
That s why paints with shinier finishes are better choices for walls in the bath a space notorious for the amount of moisture and potential mold and mildew it generates.
The exception would be a paint made for bathrooms specifically.
Bathroom paint needs to provide protection from humidity and moisture that leads to staining chipping and peeling.
Bathrooms tend to be moist places and flat or matte paint will begin to grow mold or mildew much faster than other paint sheens.
Paint finishes come in three general categories.
Flat or matte low luster eggshell and satin and gloss or semigloss.
Glossy paints don t prevent mold but they re easier to clean.
If you want a saturated velvety wall a flat finish will give you rich results.
The mistake then is choosing a flat finish for your bathroom walls.
As long as you are using a premium brand like glidden paint you ll be able to clean your walls without degrading the paint.
Flat paint has a velvety matte look and is the best choice to hide any wall imperfections.
For these reasons it s best to pass on a flat finish paint for bathrooms.
As an alternative to mold resistant paint homeowners can coat their bathroom walls in a paint with a semigloss or high gloss finish.
The unfortunate answer is that it probably won t work great.
The widespread consensus is that paints with shiny finishes are both easier to keep clean and more resistant to moisture mold and mildew than flat finishes.
Also it doesn t resist stains very well and it is somewhat hard to clean.