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Interior Design vocabulary · Materials & Finishes

Sheen

Meaning in interior design, with examples

/ʃiːn/nounCommon term

In interior design, sheen means: How much light a painted or finished surface reflects, from flat or matt with almost no shine, through eggshell and satin, up to gloss.

In Turkish: parlaklık derecesi, parlaklık

How it is used

Designers specify a sheen with every paint colour. Higher sheens are easier to wipe but show every bump in the wall; matt hides imperfections. A typical choice is matt or eggshell for walls and satin or gloss for woodwork such as doors and skirting boards.

Example sentences

  1. The walls are matt, but the doors need a higher sheen so they can be wiped clean.

  2. Which sheen did you order? The sample looks shinier than we agreed.

Common collocations

  • low sheen
  • high sheen
  • paint sheen
  • sheen level
  • finishThe final surface of a material, or the material used on a visible surface, such as paint, tiles, wood stain or polished stone; also how that surface looks, for example matt or glossy.
  • neutralA calm, muted colour such as white, beige, grey, taupe or greige that goes well with most other colours; also used as an adjective, as in a neutral scheme.
  • skirting boardA narrow board running along the bottom of an interior wall where it meets the floor, protecting the wall and hiding the joint.
  • wallcoveringAny material used to cover and decorate walls, such as wallpaper, vinyl, fabric, grasscloth or wood panels; often used in the trade as a broader word for wallpaper.

More terms: Materials & Finishes

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