Table of Contents
The short answer
For the walls of most rooms, choose a water-based emulsion in a matt or low-sheen finish, and a flat matt for every ceiling. Use a washable or scrubbable grade where hands, bags and furniture touch the wall: hallways, stairs, children's rooms, the dining area and the kitchen. In bathrooms, and on kitchen walls near steam, use a paint made for humid rooms, which has a tighter film and an additive that resists mould. Put a primer or sealer under the paint wherever the wall is new, filled, stained or glossy. Keep enamel for doors, frames and metal.
One trade-off runs through every choice, and it is sheen. The shinier the finish, the easier it wipes and the more it shows every dent, patch and roller mark in the wall. Abu Dhabi's light makes that trade-off sharper than in most places, because strong sun through large windows shines along a wall and picks out whatever the finish does not hide.
This guide explains the types and finishes without naming brands. Every large manufacturer sells each type described here, and the label and the product data sheet tell you more than the name on the front of the tin. IHR Dream Cleaning paints interior walls as part of its maintenance work, from one accent wall to a full apartment or villa, and what a visit includes is on the wall painting page. The work is quoted by wall area, paint type and wall condition before anything starts.
What is in the tin, and why it matters
Paint is three things. Pigment gives the colour and hides what is underneath. Binder is the resin that holds the pigment together and sticks it to the wall. A liquid carries both and then evaporates. The binder decides how tough and washable the dry film is, and the amount of good pigment decides how well it covers. A cheap tin has less of both, which is why it can need three coats where a better one needs two, and why it marks when you wipe it.
House paint falls into two families, named after the liquid: water-based and solvent-based. Which one you need depends on the surface. Within each, most manufacturers sell an economy grade, a standard grade and a premium grade, and what separates them is binder and pigment. Our own painting quotes ask whether the job is in standard emulsion or in a premium or washable paint for that reason.
| Type | Used for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Water-based emulsion (acrylic or vinyl) | Walls and ceilings | Low odour, dries in hours, tools wash in water. The normal choice indoors |
| Water-based enamel | Doors, frames, skirting, cupboards | A harder film than wall emulsion, with far less smell than solvent enamel |
| Solvent-based enamel (oil or alkyd) | Wood and metal | Very hard and glossy. Strong smell, slow to dry, and white tends to yellow indoors |
| Exterior masonry paint | Outside walls | Made for sun and weather. Not a substitute for interior paint, or the reverse |
Interior and exterior paints are not interchangeable
Exterior paint is built to survive sun, heat and rain, and its label will usually say that it is for outdoor use. Interior paint is built for low odour, an even finish and resistance to wiping, and it chalks and fades quickly outside. Our painting service covers interior work. If the job is an outside wall, a boundary wall or a balcony, describe it when you book so that the scope can be confirmed first.
Matt, eggshell, silk, satin and gloss: what sheen changes
Sheen is how much light the dry paint reflects. More binder gives a smoother, tighter, shinier surface, and that same tight surface is what makes a finish easier to wipe.
The names are not standardised. One maker's 'silk' is close to another's 'satin', and 'eggshell' can mean a wall emulsion or a trim paint depending on the range. Look at a painted sample card in your own room, not at the word on the tin.
| Finish | How it looks | Where it suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat matt | No shine at all | Ceilings, quiet bedrooms, uneven walls | Ordinary grades mark, and polish when rubbed |
| Washable matt or low sheen | Soft, almost flat | Living rooms, majlis, bedrooms, hallways | Costs more than plain matt |
| Eggshell or silk | A gentle glow | Kitchens, children's rooms, corridors | Shows patches and roller marks in side light |
| Satin or semi-gloss | A clear shine | Bathrooms, doors, frames, skirting | Every wall defect shows; needs careful preparation |
| Gloss | Close to a mirror | Doors, railings, metal | Too reflective for walls in a bright room |
Why shiny walls look worse in a sunny room
A matt surface scatters light in every direction, so a shallow dent or the edge of an old filled patch stays hidden. A surface with sheen reflects light like a dull mirror, and a low sun shining along the wall draws a shadow behind every ripple. Rooms with floor-to-ceiling glass, which many of Abu Dhabi's newer towers have, get that light for hours each day.
If your walls are less than perfect, and most are, go one step flatter than you first intended and spend the difference on a washable grade. A flat finish on a well-prepared wall looks better than a silk finish on a poor one.
Ceilings are always flat matt
A ceiling is one large surface lit from the side by every window in the room. Any sheen shows the joints between gypsum boards, the overlaps of the roller and the patches around light fittings. Ceiling paints are made dead flat and bright white for that reason. The exception is a bathroom ceiling, which needs a moisture-resistant paint even at the cost of a little sheen.
Sheen decides whether a scuff can be touched up
Flat paint is forgiving when a scuff is touched up later, because a small patch blends in. Paints with sheen are not. A touched-up spot on silk or satin dries with a slightly different shine from the wall around it, which painters call flashing, and it can be seen from across the room. On a sheen finish, expect to repaint the whole wall from corner to corner.
Washable and scrubbable paint: what the words mean
Ordinary matt emulsion is porous. A greasy fingerprint soaks in, and rubbing it with a cloth either lifts pigment or polishes the spot until it shines. A washable paint has enough binder to close the surface, so a mark sits on top and comes off with a damp cloth. 'Scrubbable' is a stronger claim: the film is meant to survive repeated cleaning with a sponge and mild detergent without wearing thin.
The words on the front of the tin are marketing. The evidence is on the data sheet. Some manufacturers give a number of scrub cycles from a laboratory test. Others quote the European standard EN 13300, which sorts paints into wet-scrub classes from 1 to 5, where class 1 is the most resistant. If the sheet gives neither, 'washable' is a claim you cannot check.
Modern washable matts have changed the old rule that only shiny paint cleans well. A good one gives a flat finish that wipes clean, which suits the bright rooms described above. It costs more per tin than plain matt, so put it where the wall is touched: hallways, stairs and the entrance, children's rooms, the dining area and the kitchen, and behind the seating in a living room or majlis, where bukhoor and incense also leave a film over time. On ceilings, and in a bedroom where little touches the wall apart from the headboard, it adds nothing you will notice.
How to wash a painted wall without spoiling it
Two things spoil more walls than dirt does. Cream cleaners and melamine sponges are fine abrasives, and they leave a shiny burn on matt paint. Strong degreasers and anything containing bleach can lift the colour. Test whatever you plan to use in a corner that furniture will hide.
- Wait. New paint is dry to the touch within hours but takes some weeks to reach full hardness. The tin gives the time, and the wall should not be washed before it has passed.
- Dust the wall first with a dry microfibre cloth or a soft brush, so that grit is not rubbed into the film.
- Use a soft sponge with warm water and a few drops of washing-up liquid, wrung almost dry.
- Work on the mark with light pressure, then widen out so that no clean halo is left around it.
- Stop if colour comes off on the sponge. The paint is not a washable grade, and more rubbing will leave a pale patch.
Bathrooms, kitchens and other humid rooms
Paint in a bathroom does not fail because water is splashed on it. It fails because steam meets a cool surface and turns back into water. In a home cooled by AC the walls and the ceiling are cool all year, so a hot shower puts a film of condensation on them within minutes. Ordinary matt emulsion absorbs that water, softens, and in time blisters and peels, usually first on the ceiling above the shower. Mould then grows on the damp surface.
A paint sold for bathrooms and kitchens answers both problems. Its film is tighter, so condensation sits on the surface and dries off, and it contains an additive that slows the growth of mould on the paint itself. These paints nearly always have some sheen, from soft sheen to satin, because the tight film that resists moisture also reflects light.
What moisture-resistant paint cannot do
It resists water that arrives from the room side: steam, condensation, splashes and washing. It does nothing about water that arrives from behind, through the wall or the slab above. If a ceiling shows a brown ring, or paint is lifting in sheets on a wall that backs onto a shower, the cause is a leak or damp in the structure, and no tin fixes that. The order of repair is set out in water stain on the ceiling or peeling paint: what to fix first.
It also cannot make up for a room that never dries. Many apartment bathrooms in Abu Dhabi have no window and rely on an extractor fan. If the fan is weak, clogged with dust or wired to go off with the light, even a good bathroom paint will grow mould. Run the fan during the shower and for a while afterwards, and leave the door open once you have finished.
Preparing a wet room for paint
Most bathroom paint that fails early was put on a surface that was not ready for it.
- Mould is treated and washed off before painting, never painted over. Paint on top of live mould lifts, and the mould shows through again. How to clean it safely is in bathroom deep cleaning: limescale, grout and mould.
- Loose and blistered paint is scraped back to a firm edge, and the wall is left to dry fully.
- Silicone sealant is dealt with separately. Paint does not stick to silicone, so sealant that has gone black is cut out and renewed, which is a job for grout and silicone repair, and the new bead goes on after the paint has dried.
- Tiles do the wet work. Paint belongs above the tile line and on the ceiling, not inside the shower enclosure.
Kitchens: steam and grease together
A kitchen wall has to cope with steam and with grease. Cooking oil travels as a fine mist and settles on every surface, where it holds dust. A washable low-sheen emulsion, or a kitchen and bathroom paint, lets that film be wiped off a few times a year. The wall directly behind the hob is not a place for paint at all: tile, glass or steel stands up to heat and daily degreasing, and paint does not. Before a kitchen is repainted the walls are washed with a degreaser and rinsed, since new paint over grease peels in strips. How to shift that film is in our guide to degreasing a kitchen.
Laundry rooms, store rooms and homes closed for the summer
Small rooms with a washing machine, a dryer or a water heater behave like bathrooms, and the same moisture-resistant paint suits them. A home that is shut for weeks in summer is a different case. Mould that appears on walls and behind wardrobes after a long absence is caused by still, humid air, and paint alone will not prevent it. What to do about it is covered in reopening a home after summer travel.
Primers and sealers: when a wall needs one
A primer is not a thin first coat of paint. It does jobs that finish paint is not made for. It grips a difficult surface, it evens out how much the wall absorbs, and some kinds lock a stain in so that it cannot travel into the new coat. Whether you need one depends on what is on the wall now.
| The wall | What goes on first | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sound, clean, painted in emulsion | Nothing | The old paint is already a good base for the same type |
| New gypsum board, new plaster, filled patches | Primer-sealer | Bare filler drinks paint and dries as a dull patch |
| New cement render or plaster | Alkali-resistant primer, once the wall has cured | Fresh cement is alkaline and attacks ordinary paint |
| Water stain, smoke, marker pen, grease marks | Stain-blocking primer | Stains dissolve into water-based paint and show through |
| Old gloss or solvent-based paint | A light sanding, then a bonding primer | Emulsion peels off a hard, shiny surface |
| Chalky, powdery old paint | Stabilising primer | New paint sticks to the powder, not to the wall |
Why patches show without primer
The most common fault in a repaint is that every filled crack and nail hole shows as a patch of different sheen once the wall is dry, even though the colour matches. Filler is far more absorbent than the painted wall around it, so the paint on top of it dries differently. A coat of primer-sealer over each repair, or over the whole wall where there are many, cures it.
Filling, patching and sanding are part of the preparation on our painting jobs, not an extra. Whoever paints your home, ask how the repairs will be sealed before the finish coats go on.
Paint and primer in one
Some emulsions are sold as self-priming. On a sound wall being repainted in a similar colour they do what they say. They do not block a water stain, they do not bond to gloss, and they still dry patchy over fresh filler. Read the tin for the surfaces it lists, and use a separate primer for anything outside that list.
Stains are the clearest case. A brown water mark, soot above a bukhoor burner or a child's felt-tip drawing comes through coat after coat of water-based emulsion until a stain-blocking primer is put over it. Many of those primers are solvent-based or shellac-based and smell more than emulsion does, so the room needs airing while they dry. With a water mark, the primer goes on only after the leak has been repaired and the surface has dried out.
Low-odour, water-based paints in a home with the windows shut
The smell of fresh paint is solvent leaving the film. Labels call these volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. Solvent-based enamels contain a lot of them and go on releasing them for days. Water-based emulsions contain far less, and those sold as low-VOC or low-odour contain less again.
This matters more in Abu Dhabi than the tin suggests. For much of the year the windows stay closed against heat, humidity and dust, and most home AC systems recirculate the air in the room; they do not bring in fresh air. A smell that would clear in an afternoon with the windows open can hang about for days in a sealed apartment.
- Choose water-based products for everything you can, including doors and frames. Water-based enamels now do most of what solvent enamel does indoors.
- Remember the primer. A stain-blocker can be the strongest-smelling product on the job, so it is used only where a stain needs it.
- Paint when the room can be aired: with the windows open in the cooler months, and with extractor fans running and internal doors open in summer.
- Give bedrooms the longest gap between the last coat and the first night's sleep, or sleep in another room for a night or two.
Babies, pregnancy, asthma and pets
Low-odour water-based paint is the sensible choice for a nursery and for anyone sensitive to smells. The simplest precaution is distance: have the room painted while its occupant sleeps elsewhere, and air it well before they return. If someone in the home has asthma or another breathing condition, or you are pregnant and concerned, ask your doctor before the work starts. Keep pets out of rooms that are being painted and away from open tins and wet trays.
How to air a home while paint dries, with the AC running, is explained in our guide to repainting an apartment or villa, along with how long the work takes and how to prepare the rooms.
Colour in rooms with strong sun
The colour on a card and the colour on your wall are rarely the same, and in Abu Dhabi the gap is wider than usual. Three things cause it.
Bright daylight washes colour out
In very bright light, colours look lighter and less saturated. A soft grey chosen in a showroom can read as plain white on a wall that takes direct sun, and a brilliant white can glare enough to be uncomfortable at midday. In sun-filled rooms an off-white with a little warmth is easier to live with than pure white, and a colour one step deeper than you think you want often lands where you intended. Rooms that get no direct sun do the opposite. Colours look greyer and heavier there, so go a step lighter.
Tinted glass and evening lamps change it again
Many towers have blue, green or grey tinted glazing. The daylight inside is already coloured before it reaches the wall, and it pushes warm whites towards green or grey. At night the wall is lit only by your lamps. Warm white bulbs make a cream wall look yellow, and cool white bulbs make a grey wall look blue. Evenings are when most people are at home, so judge the colour then as well.
Deep colours and direct sun
Strong, dark and very bright colours have three costs. They need more coats to cover evenly, especially over white. They show dust, scuffs and touch-ups far more than pale colours do. And on a wall that takes direct sun every day, some pigments fade over the years, so the area behind a picture or a cabinet ends up darker than the rest. None of that is a reason to avoid a deep colour. It is a reason to put it on a wall away from the window, in a good washable grade.
How to test a colour properly
Sheen changes colour too. The same colour looks slightly deeper in silk than in matt, so test it in the finish you will use.
- Narrow the choice to two or three colours from cards viewed in the room itself, not on a phone screen.
- Buy sample pots, or ask the painter for brush-outs, and paint two coats on large pieces of white card.
- Fix the cards to the wall beside the window and to the wall opposite it.
- Look at them in the morning, in the afternoon sun, and at night with your own lights on and the curtains drawn.
- Check them against the things that will not change: the floor tiles, the kitchen cabinets, the curtains.
- Once you have decided, write down the manufacturer, the colour name and code, and the finish, and keep the note with the leftover tin.
If the home is rented
Before you choose anything, read what your tenancy contract says about decoration and about the condition in which the home is to be returned. If it is not clear, ask the landlord or the managing agent in writing. Contracts differ, and so do landlords. Some are content with any neutral colour, and some expect the original shade back at the end. We cannot tell you which applies to you, and neither can a painter.
- Ask which paint the property is finished in: the manufacturer, the colour name or code, and the finish. Many landlords use one standard white throughout, and a painter can be asked for exactly that.
- If you want a colour, get the permission in writing and ask what is expected at the end of the tenancy.
- Photograph the walls, with dates, on the day you move in. Marks that were already there are easier to discuss later when there is a record.
- Keep the leftover paint, labelled by room. A scuff touched up from the same tin blends in far better than one touched up from a new batch.
Touch-up or full repaint at the end of a tenancy
A few scuffs on flat matt paint can often be touched up. On our jobs, touch-ups are matched to the existing paint where its colour is known, and where it is not, a match can be made from a sample on site. Even so, a wall that has aged for several years will not hide a new patch perfectly. Painting the affected wall from corner to corner is often the smaller job in the end.
Walls are only one of the things looked at when keys are returned. The rest is covered in move-out cleaning and your deposit.
A room-by-room summary
Put together, the choices look like this. Treat the table as a starting point, and adjust it for the state of your walls and the way each room is used.
| Room | Finish | Paint type |
|---|---|---|
| Living room or majlis | Matt or low sheen | Washable emulsion |
| Adult bedroom | Flat matt or matt | Standard or washable emulsion |
| Child's room | Washable matt or low sheen | Scrubbable, low-odour emulsion |
| Hallway, stairs, entrance | Washable matt or low sheen | Scrubbable emulsion |
| Kitchen | Soft sheen or silk | Kitchen and bathroom paint, or washable emulsion |
| Bathroom, laundry | Soft sheen to satin | Moisture-resistant paint with a mould inhibitor |
| Ceilings | Flat matt | Ceiling emulsion; moisture-resistant in bathrooms |
| Doors, frames, skirting | Satin or semi-gloss | Water-based enamel |
How many different paints a home needs
Two wall paints and one ceiling paint cover most homes: a washable matt for the living areas, bedrooms and corridors, a moisture-resistant paint for the wet rooms, and a flat ceiling white. Add one enamel if the doors and frames are being done. Fewer products means fewer half-used tins, and simpler touch-ups later.
Wall paint price: what you pay for, and how painting is quoted
There are two prices in a painting job: the paint and the work. The work is the larger of the two in almost every home, and that changes how the price of a tin should be judged. A premium emulsion that covers in two coats and stands years of wiping costs less overall than an economy one that needs a third coat and marks in the first month, because each extra coat is another pass over every wall.
IHR does not publish a price per room for painting, and a figure given without seeing the walls should be treated with care, whoever gives it. Our painting is quoted by wall area, paint type and wall condition, from photos for a small job or after a free site visit for a larger one, and the figure is confirmed before work begins. These are the things that move it.
- The total wall area, or the number of rooms.
- The paint type and finish: standard emulsion, or a premium or washable paint.
- The number of coats needed for even coverage, which rises with a colour change.
- The condition of the walls. Cracks, holes and water stains add preparation time.
- Whether furniture has to be moved and protected.
- Ceilings, if they are painted along with the walls.
Working out how much paint a room needs
Every tin states its coverage for one coat on a smooth wall. To estimate what a room needs, add up the lengths of the walls, multiply by the height, take off the doors and windows, multiply by the number of coats and divide by the coverage on the tin. Rough or freshly filled walls take more.
Buy all the paint for one room in one go. If it comes in several tins, mix them together in a larger bucket before starting, because tinted batches can differ slightly and the change shows where one tin ends and the next begins. The measurements a painter needs for a quote are listed in how to get an accurate repair quote.
Who supplies the paint, and how a quoted job is paid
Settle the paint in the quote. Say whether you have a particular product in mind, whether the landlord has specified one, or whether you want it supplied. Either way the quote should name the paint type, the finish and the number of coats, so that you and the painter are pricing the same job.
Every IHR price includes VAT, and there is no call-out fee. Quoted work is paid online by card, from My bookings on this website once the price is confirmed. For a quoted job of AED 1,000 or more, 30% is paid in advance by that link and the balance is settled the same way when the work is finished.
Common questions
Is matt or silk better for walls?
Matt for most walls, particularly in bright rooms and on walls that are not perfectly flat. Silk suits kitchens and busy corridors, where wiping matters more than hiding defects. A washable matt gives much of the benefit of both.
Can the same paint go on walls and ceilings?
It can, if it is a flat matt. But ceiling paint is flatter and whiter and spatters less, and it usually costs less than a washable wall paint whose scrub resistance a ceiling never uses. Using each where it belongs gives a better ceiling for less money.
Is there a paint that stops damp coming through?
No. Decorative paint cannot stop water that is coming from behind the wall. Find and fix the source first, let the wall dry, and then choose the paint.
How many coats does a wall need?
Two coats over a sound wall in a similar colour is the usual standard. A strong colour change, a deep or very bright colour, or a porous wall can need more. On our jobs the number of coats is confirmed in the quote, based on the colour change and the condition of the wall, and the aim is full, even coverage.
How long does new paint smell, and when can it be wiped?
A water-based emulsion in a room that is aired loses most of its smell within days; solvent-based products take longer. The surface is dry in hours but goes on hardening for weeks. Keep furniture from leaning against a freshly painted wall for at least 24 hours, and leave washing it until the time printed on the tin has passed.
Which brand should I buy?
This guide does not name one, and the type matters more than the name. Within any established manufacturer's range, choose by the data sheet: the finish, the wet-scrub rating, the VOC content, the surfaces it is meant for and its coverage. Then buy a sample pot and test it in the room.
Booking a painting visit
Decide the rooms or walls, the colours and the finishes first. Then give us the scope when you book on the website or in the IHR Dream app: which walls or rooms, roughly how large they are, and whether the job is a touch-up, a colour change or a full repaint. Send photos of each wall and of every crack, peeling patch and stain. Small jobs can often be quoted from those. For a larger one, a site visit gives an accurate area and condition, and the inspection is free in every area we serve.
What the visit includes, from surface preparation to the final check in daylight, is on the wall painting page, and the other trades we quote for are under maintenance and repairs. If a ceiling needs a board repair before it can be painted, that is gypsum and false ceiling work, and the two can be scheduled together. We work every day, 8 AM – 8 PM. When the scope is clear, book the job.
Services in this article
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