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Expert questions about Benjamin Moore Aura satin / flat

16 years ago

Hello All,

First post here. After reading a lot around here and elsewhere, we've decided to probably go with Benjamin Moore Aura paint for the house we're having built. Our painter will be doing this - I'm not a painter at all (which is why I'm asking for help)... I have a few questions, particularly relating to satin vs flat. First of all, from what I understand, flat is typically harder to clean but easy to touch up and satin is harder to touch up but easy to clean. I read one place that Aura satin and flat are both easy to clean and touch up without looking bad / different. So my questions:

1. Are Aura satin and flat both easy to clean and touch up in your experience? Which paint is better in each aspect?

2. Which would you choose for your home (why)? Consider we have a 4 year old son.

3. I'm confused on what I've read about their color matching. Can I take a Sherwin Williams paint swatch (which is what we'd picked from) and have them match? Is that a bad idea? We're doing a chocolate brown (I think it's called portabello) and a "resolute blue".

4. In Consumer Reports, Aura satin had an average rating for "surface smoothness" - absence of roller marks, and poor for "gloss change" when cleaned with a hard-surface cleaner (most low luster paints did, but they were excellent for "scrubbing" with an abrasive cleaner - not sure what the difference is). Aura flat had a poor rating for "surface smoothness" (and average for staining). Should I be concerned with this?

Thanks in advance!

--Kyle

Comments (4)

newtoremodeling
16 years ago
I have the newest CR issue and find it confusing. CR do not specify which Aura finishes they were rating. Aura comes in three finishes: matte (flat), eggshell, and satin (more like semi-gloss). Maybe you should consider eggshell since it is in-between satin and flat.
paintguy1
16 years ago
Having used all three Aura finsihes, I will tell you that unless you want your walls to shine, there is no reason to use anything for walls but Aura matte - in any room. As for CR reviews about the finish, my guess is that they applied it like the other higher VOC finsihes. Read some of the boards out there and you will find comment after comment about the smoothness of the Aura finishes. The key is to put it on and leave it alone. If you roll back into it, even after a minute or so, you will diminish the finish because it sets up so fast. The trade off here is that recoats can be done in about an hour.
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New house, high ceiling in kitchen, lots of windows, concrete floors, no trim, oak and sapelle woods. In Seattle area (Whidbey Island), so cloudy. Painting in BM white christmas (slight gray/blue) throughout, and pearl river (gray/blue/violet) in upper den that has wood flooring. A walkout basement studio area will be super white or chantilly lace. I plan to do the ceiling color the same as the room wall color, in each room. I was going to do eggshell, because designers seem to think matte finishes will look dingy over time and difficult to clean, whereas eggshell will last longer. In using most white and light grey with a high LRV (75-88), now I am wondering if it's better to use the eggshell to give the white a little brightness with some light reflective qualities. Anyone think that the Aura matte finish in whites look pasty, bland or blah? I will be using Aura paint and see they now have an Aura spa paint for bathrooms and its in a matte finish! Do people use matte when its rich deep color and an eggshell for whites? I did see that the pigment concentration in the matte and eggshell is high, 47+.
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User
16 years ago
Hi
I just painted 5 rooms in my house with Aura matte paint. (tumeric, dijon, grasshopper, citrine and soleil). The paint is fabulous. I do not have roller marks at all and I definitely did some rerolling. The coverage was amazing. I used only a gallon per room (12 x 14, 12 x 18, 12 x 22). 2 coats gave me beautiful coverage and a flawless finish. This paint is so worth the extra money in terms of time and results. The recoat time of 1 hour meant I completed 1 room per day by doing 2 complete coats including cutting in. I was able to hang everything back up the same day without damage to the walls.

The only downside is that it would have taken twice as much paint in any other company so I have extra cans of dijon and citrine. I guess I will hit my upstairs next week with the extra.

The matte is beautiful. I have always used eggshell in the past and this finish glows.
wandalentz_scottsboro_org
12 years ago
I live in an A-Frame house built 44 years ago and walls in cathedral ceiling are paneling. 20 years ago, Kilz and an oil based paint were applied to walls. I am now having walls repainted. Because my husband is confined to a wheel chair and mobility is an issue, I do not want to go through the Kilz process again. Unless there is a new paint or formula, I'm sure I'll have to use oil based paint again. Am I limited to a satin or semi-gloss finish. I really do not want a shiny look since my house faces east and is practically all glass.

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