Choosing paints for interiors depends first of all on the particular spaces to be painted verandah, kitchen, living room, lobby  each requires its own painting requirements, and a range of paints and ancillaries to choose from.

There are four categories of interior paint: ( in ascending order of price and quality in ascending order of price and quality)

• Dry Distemper,
• Acrylic Distemper,
• Matt Emulsion and
• Silk Emulsion.

Choosing is a question of economics a matter of budget, materials, labour and time relative to the finish you want.

EMULSIONS 

Known generally as “plastic” paints, these are based on a fine dispersion of resin in a solvent, which on drying, creates a remarkably tough, adherent, durable coating.

Special additives in emulsions give them an incompara- bly smooth finish, in beautiful shades that last for years.

Resistant to water and chemicals, washing makes them smile again. Other special properties keep them free from fungus and algae.

They   come in three categories:

• Silk Emulsions are premium acrylic emulsions, with silky smoothness and a luxurious silk-like finish. Their very high acrylic resin content enhances durability, and creates reflectance and smoothness of such a high order that dust cannot settle on it. A ‘silk’ wall looks fresh long years later.

• Regular Emulsions produce a smooth eggshell finish, in an equally wide choice of colours, and have almost the same durability as Silk. Combining Silk and Regular judiciously could give your painting project just the right balance between great looks and a long-cycle economy.

• Economy Emulsions offer the basic strengths of emulsion paint at economy prices. They are still a generation ahead of Distempers on durability, washability, fade-resistance and smoothness.

DISTEMPERS 

The traditional economy paints, they can produce a perfectly satisfactory finish at reasonable cost, given proper application and workmanship.

Their lifecycle is shorter.

Dry Distempers (which come in powder form) and Oil Bound / Synthetic Distempers are not washable. Acrylic Distempers, being partly based on acrylic resins, produce greater smoothness and washability.

Properly maintained, they keep their good looks for 3 to 4 years.