Wall painting and wallpaper in Abu Dhabi

Anyone can put paint on a wall. The difference between a decent job and a poor one is almost entirely in what happened before the first coat, and in the discipline to let each coat dry properly before the next one. Neither of those is visible in a photograph, which is why painting is the easiest trade to undercut on price and the easiest to be disappointed by.

Arkan Interiors has been working on interiors in Abu Dhabi since 2003. Painting usually comes to us as the last stage of a fit-out, after the joinery is in and before the furniture arrives, which is the right point in the sequence for it. Getting that order wrong is how new cabinetry ends up with overspray on it and how a finished floor collects the drips.

Walls are more than paint, though. Custom wallpaper, panelling, and other wall decoration come from the same team, so a feature wall matches the rest of the room instead of being ordered in from somewhere else.

Sheen decides more than colour does

The same colour in matt and in satin will read as two different colours on the wall, and most disappointment with a paint job traces back to the sheen rather than the shade.

Matt absorbs light, hides an imperfect wall better than anything else, and is the reason a large flat surface looks calm. It also marks, and it does not enjoy being scrubbed. Eggshell and satin carry a low sheen, wipe clean, and are the sensible choice for hallways, children’s rooms, and anywhere hands and furniture meet the wall. The trade is honest: the more washable the finish, the more it shows a wall that is not flat, because sheen catches raking light and reveals every hollow and ridge.

Gloss and semi-gloss belong on joinery, doors, and trim, where the surface is small, prepared and meant to be wiped.

Which brings up the part that decides the result. The paint is the last five per cent of a paint job. Filling, sanding and priming are the rest of it. A wall that has not been made flat will look worse in an expensive paint than a cheap one, because better paint tends to carry more sheen. New plaster needs to dry properly and needs a mist coat before anything else goes on, and skipping that is how paint peels away in sheets a year later.

Two local conditions worth planning around. Dust settles on wet paint, so a room being painted should not also be the room being cut in. And a wall on the sun side of a building expands and contracts more than the others, which is where hairline cracking usually shows up first.

Sequencing is the part people underestimate. The villa renovation checklist sets out the order the trades should run in and what to settle before anyone starts.