A freshly painted room is the foundation for holiday decor

With the holidays right around the corner, now is the time to make certain your home looks its best. Holidays are a time for dressing up the home with decorations, lights and special table settings. However, the actual canvas of your home influences the holiday décor and is often overlooked. Home maintenance tasks left undone can tarnish the impact you hope to make. A fresh coat of paint can brighten any room and provide a brilliant, clean backdrop to show off your holiday decorations. Most people want to choose the very best paint for their project, but the majority do not know where to start. Here are some tips for choosing a high-quality paint so your home will be looking bright this holiday season.

What makes quality paint?

No matter what kind of paint you choose, you’ll find a variety of prices and a wide range of quality. You generally get more for your money, and a much better value, with higher quality paint.

Top quality paint goes on faster and easier. Good hiding and flow means the paint will go on with less brushing and less retouching, meaning that you get the job done faster, giving you more time to enjoy the holiday season. You may need fewer coats to achieve good hiding and an attractive uniform appearance. Also, less spattering can mean faster, easier cleanup.

For interior work, you should expect a top quality paint to last longer and give you more value. Quality paint resists dirt and staining better, and stands up to repeat cleaning better than an “economy” paint.

When deciding between latex or oil-based paint, environmentally friendly latex-based paint is considered the easiest to work with. It dries quickly and is easy to clean up – all you need is soap and water. It is best used on walls and ceilings and also works well on wood.

When using an oil-based paint, use a brush with natural bristles and a natural roller. With a latex-based paint, use a brush with synthetic bristles and a synthetic roller.

When choosing a finish it is important to consider the size of the surface. A flat finish is good for large surfaces because it doesn’t reflect light. It absorbs light so colors look darker and brings the space together. Gloss finishes are great for smaller, tighter spaces. They reflect most of the light, so colors tend to look brighter and open up the space.

Another consideration when selecting a finish is the volume of traffic. A semi-gloss and high-gloss finish is easy to clean and therefore is great for high traffic areas like kitchens, bathrooms, hallways, and doors.

Big area or small areas always use two coats. When applying paint on top of a previously painted surface, the first coat serves as a primer. However, when painting on an unpainted surface you need to use a primer plus two coats.

When choosing a color, Ron Boyajian, product marketing manager for California Paints of Andover, Mass., recommends buying a color that is mixed at the factory, where there is more control over the paint. However, when a buyer cannot get the color they want premixed, they should look for the best base possible. He says it should be 100 percent acrylic for adhesion and smoothness.

It is important to examine your walls and woodwork in your home when selecting a color scheme. Lighter colors can make a small room look larger and darker colors can make an oversized room look more intimate. California Paints’ Baked Apple is a perfect deep red for the walls in any living or dining room and brings warm holiday cheer to the space. To complement the darker red color, choose a lighter cream color such as California Paints’ Dewy Twig for the wood trim and perhaps the woodwork around a fireplace. This contrast of light and dark will open up the room and highlight the detailed woodwork.

High quality paints may cost more, but they have significant advantages. They have less fading, better hiding, good color, better mildew protection, and you will not have to repaint as often. A gallon of quality paints usually retails for $20 or more.

However, if you are going to invest your time and effort in preparing the surface and applying the paint, you want the best results.

In fact, California Paints has just introduced an innovative new line of interior paint that has ultimate scrubbablity and antimicrobial protection. The new 2010 ‘Super-Scrub’Ceramic 100% Acrylic Waterborne Matte Finish with Microban is available in thousands of colors and is highly recommended for kitchens, bathrooms, family rooms, hallways, children’s rooms, living rooms and any other high-traffic areas. It is perfect for the owner of a busy household as you can easily remove crayon, dirt, grease and numerous other household stains and scuff marks, simply by using a mild soap.

Holidays at home are about creating a warm and inviting place for the family to gather. Therefore, there is no better time than just before the loved ones arrive to improve your home’s interior with a fresh coat of paint and a stunning new color. By taking the right steps you can dazzle your holiday guests and improve your home’s interior for many years to come.