Home Interior Painting Tips for Your Sunroom

Call them sunrooms, solariums, three-season rooms, or enclosed porches -- these many-windowed annexes make for relaxing, multi-purpose spaces that allow you to enjoy the scenery without enduring the environment directly. Of course, even if you get a decent amount of use out of your sunroom, you might not give it as much attention as your other interior spaces, such as your kitchen, living room, or bedrooms. Eventually, you might realize that your sunroom’s paint job has seen better days.

Updating this room’s paint job can go a long way toward revitalizing its overall atmosphere and protecting it from further deterioration. That said, painting a sunroom isn’t quite the same process as painting any other room -- after all, sunrooms, while enclosed, are still more vulnerable to the environment than other interior spaces.

With that in mind, here are our home interior painting tips for painting your sunroom.

How to Paint a Sunroom

Thoroughly Prepare Your Surfaces

Whether you hire local house painters for the job or go it alone, proper surface preparation is, as always, a crucial initial step for achieving beautiful, long-lasting results. You should follow the same preparation steps as you would for any other interior painting project, including:

• Removing furniture and moveable accessories
• Covering non-mobile features that won’t be painted
• Laying down drop cloths to protect floors from paint and residue
• Scraping away old, loose, peeling paint from all surfaces
• Cleaning surfaces
• Sanding surfaces
• Applying painters tape
• Priming surfaces that will be painted

Following these steps will make the project go smoothly, prevent major messes, and aid in paint adherence.

Avoid Interior Household Paint

From here, sunroom painting diverges somewhat from other interior painting protocols. While a sunroom is technically an interior space, its surfaces should be treated as if they were outside the home. Much like your deck and siding, your sunroom’s surfaces will be regularly bombarded by sunlight (“sun” is in the room’s name, after all). Other interior rooms receive natural light as well, but to a lesser degree -- plus, most other interior rooms are outfitted with curtains, shades, and/or drapes that can block sunlight at will. Sunrooms, on the other hand, invite the sun’s rays. Typical interior house paint isn’t built to withstand constant ultraviolet (UV) radiation, so it’s best to go with a different type of paint for your sunroom. Professional interior house painters should know this, but if you’re tackling this project on your own, it’s important to understand this as well.

Protect Your Paint from Harsh Sunlight

So, which type of paint should you use for your sunroom? Even if standard interior house paint isn’t ideal, exterior paint might not be the best option either, as these paints typically contain additives meant to kill mold and mildew that can be harmful to the lungs. The best option is a paint that rides the line between these two worlds: interior/exterior paint. And whatever composition or brand you choose, go with a paint that offers additional UV protection so your paint holds up against all that sunlight. If you need help figuring out which paint type is ideal for your sunroom, consult reliable local painters and do some research of your own.

Choose Colors That Complement Natural Light

Color selection is often one of the most challenging parts of any home painting project. A paint job is temporary, sure, but you want the results to last a long time, so you want to be sure that you’ll remain happy with your color choices. You can paint your sunroom whichever color(s) you like, but there are a few factors to keep in mind that might sway your decision.

First, consider that darker colors absorb sunlight and lighter colors reflect it. This transfer of energy has an impact on how hot your sunroom gets during the day -- if you choose darker colors, your sunroom will get quite toasty, which might be nice in the fall and early spring, but not so much in the summer. Conversely, lighter colors will help keep your sunroom cool.

Beyond temperature considerations, note that sunrooms are designed to let the natural light in and that lighter colors (especially white) are optimal for emphasizing this sunlight. So, if you want a bright sunroom, choose lighter tones -- if you would rather offset some of this natural light, contrast is with darker tones. Ultimately, your color choices come down to personal preference and energy/heat concerns.

Pick the Right Finish

Paint color isn’t the only thing to think about when choosing paints, either. You must also consider the paint’s finish, as in how flat or glossy it is. This choice isn’t just about aesthetics, either. Flatter finishes tend to be less durable and more difficult to clean than glossier finishes. If you’re trying to protect your paint from excessive sunlight, you might want to avoid matte or eggshell finishes. However, you might not want to go with a glossy finish either, as these are highly reflective and may bother your eyes when sunlight bounces off your sunroom’s surfaces. The happy medium, then, is a satin or semi-gloss finish. These finishes offer high durability and washability without overwhelming the eye or falling apart from sun exposure. Indeed, paint with a stain finish is often used for many areas of a home, and sunrooms are no exception.

You May Need Multiple Coats

Finally, prepare to apply multiple coats to your sunroom, in addition to at least one coat of primer. In most cases, two coats will do the trick. Only applying one coat of paint might not yield the aesthetic results you desire. Additionally, a single coat of paint may be too thin to properly protect your sunroom’s surfaces from UV rays, temperature fluctuations, and moisture. Ultimately, it’s wise to overestimate the amount of paint you’ll need for your project so you have enough on hand. If you end up with more than you needed, store the excess for a later date. You never know when you’ll need to perform touch-ups, after all.

Restore Your Sunroom this Season

A sunroom can be a magical part of any home -- give it the love and care it deserves. Painting your sunroom might not be as straightforward as painting your other interior spaces, which is why the interior and exterior painting experts at Nash Painting are happy to help customers in Nashville, Brentwood, and Franklin, TN. To learn more about us, our services, and our values, call us at 615-829-6858 today!