Flat vs Matte Paint: Difference and Comparison

Everything becomes a little better with some color in it- our food, our dresses, our rooms, and our lives too. It is stated that the color of our room and the colors of the walls in our house sets the tone for describing the kind of person we are.

Therefore, if we think about it, choosing the color of our walls is very important, and the first step to doing so is by ensuring that we have the right type of paint. Flat, matte, and satin, are all types of paints.

Key Takeaways

1. Flat paint provides a non-reflective finish, ideal for hiding surface imperfections, while matte paint offers a low sheen that still reflects minimal light.
2. Matte paint withstands cleaning better than a flat paint, making it more suitable for areas with higher traffic or potential for dirt and stains.
3. Flat paint works best for ceilings and low-traffic areas, while matte paint suits walls in living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms.

Flat Paint vs Matte Paint

The difference between Flat Paint and Matte Paint is that while the previous one adds absolutely no iridescent look to the walls, it does help in concealing its underlying imperfections. On the other hand, the latter type of paint adds an iridescent look to the walls, but since it dries up very quickly, several strokes of the brush will make the walls very unpleasant to look at. 

Flat paint is a type of paint that does not have a shine when applied to the walls. What it is good at is concealing the underlying imperfections of the wall that cannot be seen with human eyes unless minute attention is paid to it. These colors are affordable and are pretty durable.

Matte paint, on the other hand, adds a glow to the walls. This is because the quotient of gloss in the paint is quite high in comparison to flat paint. This quality ensures that the light that falls on the walls is reflected instead of being absorbed by it. As a result of this, the walls appear iridescent.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Flat Paint	Matte Paint
Ratio of gloss	The quotient of gloss in the paint is under six percent	The quotient of gloss in the paint ranges between five to ten percent
Reception of Light	Absorbs the lights instead of reflecting it	Reflects the light
Best-suited for	The walls in ones’ toilets and ceilings	All the walls in the house
Visibility of Wall Imperfections	The underlying imperfections of the walls are not visible	The imperfections are quite visible
Time Taken to Dry	The time taken to dry is quite high	It dries up pretty swiftly

What is Flat Paint?

This paint is widely used in households and other buildings, especially on walls that have not been built with proper care and bear imperfections. Flat paint is a type of paint that does not have a shine when applied to the walls. These colors are affordable and are pretty durable.

The quotient of gloss in the paint is under six percent as a result of which the walls do not look as iridescent as it looks when matte paint is applied. The paint, instead of reflecting the light that falls on it, absorbs it. As a result of this, the shine diminishes.

It is due to this reason that this paint is best suited for houses with crude walls in our toilets or ceilings where people cannot see the abrasions on the walls unless they see it from a close distance.

This paint takes quite some time to dry up. Therefore, after applying the paint, it is best if the walls are not touched for at least more than half a day.

Another aspect about it that goes slightly against it is the fact that if you have a child at home who is an artist in the making and uses your walls as canvases, you have to be particularly careful because any marks made on the walls cannot be scrubbed off.

What is Matte Paint?

As the name suggests, these paints give the walls a more iridescent finish. This is because the quotient of gloss that is mixed in the paint ranges between five to ten percent.

This quality ensures that the light that falls on the walls is reflected instead of being absorbed by it. As a result of this, the walls appear iridescent.

As the paint is quite fancy, it is used on the bedroom or sitting room walls. This is because apart from lifting the aesthetics of the room, the quality of paint also depicts one’s choice.

There are certain downsides to this paint. To begin with, this paint dries up very quickly. As a consequence, multiple strokes of brush will give the wall a very rustic and crude look.

The paint should be applied swiftly with one straight stroke of the brush. The tiny bumps on your walls can be concealed with this paint, but it is not ideal.

However, what provides respite is the fact that if your child goes all Van Gogh on the walls, you can easily wash it off by scrubbing them gently.

Main Differences Between Flat and Matte Paint

1. Flat paint is a type of paint that does not have a shine when applied to the walls. On the other hand, matte paints add a glow to the walls.
2. Flat paint is ideal for concealing abrasions, bumps, or other irregularities on the wall that is otherwise visible due to bad wall work. In contrast, Matte paint can hide tiny abrasions too, but it is not desirable to use this paint.
3. Where flat paint takes a long time to dry up, has to be left without being touched for a long time, and gives ample scope for multiple touch-ups, mate paint dries up very quickly, as a result of this, the paint has to be applied with one swift and straight stroke of the paintbrush instead of applying multiple layers.
4. While a wall that has been painted with flat paint absorbs the light that falls on it instead of reflecting it, a wall that uses matte paint reflects the light that it receives instead of absorbing it. This is why the wall appears iridescent.
5. While any mark on the flat paint cannot be scrubbed off with soap and water, any mark on walls painted with matte paint can be washed off easily.

References

1. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ANAxCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA66&dq=Between+Flat+and+Matte+Paint+&ots=VjBIAffzhQ&sig=Jg9Thd_7EB4EL5h6oCb0q
2. https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/20512/34.Daudin-Schotte.SCMC3.Mecklenburg.Web.pdf