Choosing the Right Paint

Paints fall into two types: water-based and oil-based (also referred to as solvent-based). Recently there's been a swing towards using water-based paints, for health and environmental reasons, and certainly for the home decorator these are much easier to use, especially when it comes to cleaning up. Water-based paints also offer a great deal of choice: the range of colours is vast and there are a variety of finishes for - literally - floor to ceiling. There are still some situations, however, in which an oil-based paint will give the best results.

In this section, we've put together a guide to choosing the right paint for your walls and ceilings, for metal- and woodwork, and for specialist applications such as bathrooms, non-slip floors and ceramic tiles.