When you’re looking to revamp your home with some decorating, your options are almost unlimited. Just painting interior walls can be a big job for painters, and there are also doors, floors, ceilings, furniture, cupboards, and loads of exterior surfaces too!
If your budget allows you could spend every free weekend painting your home; choosing the right projects to prioritize isn’t easy. People often fall into the trap of focusing fully on the inside of their home, neglecting exterior surfaces until they start to let the side down.
One surface you should never ignore are your windows. Both inside and outside your home, these can highlight other surfaces with a complementary colour, or you could apply a fresh layer of paint to protect them from the elements.
Today we’re going to talk all things window paint – the best methods, the best colour for windows, and the best paint for windows.
Can you Paint Windows?
Absolutely! You can paint window frames, making them look better than new and ensuring they won’t fade for up to a decade. The glass itself, as you can imagine, cannot be painted.
However, before you pick up your paintbrush, make sure you know what material your window frames are made from. Older buildings may still have wooden window frames, which need durable wood paint that will prevent rot.
Plastic window frames need specialist paint that will cling to the surface. As it is much smoother and not porous, regular paints will look streaky and fade after cleaning or a few rain showers. The same is true for painting uPVC window frames, which are standard in all modern homes in the UK.
They’re niche, but there are concrete window frames too, usually used for apartment buildings or office blocks. We’ve talked a lot about painting concrete in the past, and our concrete and masonry paints will be perfect for the job, so we’ll only mention them briefly here and focus on the most popular types of windows.
You can paint both the inside and outside of your window frames. This gives you the option of mixing up the colours on the inside to fit the palette of individual rooms, while keeping a universal neutral shade for the exterior.
Best Window Frame Paint
Once you’re sure what material you’re painting, it’s time to choose the right paint for your windows.
The best paint for wood window frames is our satinwood range. Our water-based acrylic satinwood is ideal for wooden surfaces both inside and outside the home. It’s tough compared to other water-based paints, so it’ll handle the pressure with ease, and its low odour compound makes it safe for use around children and pets.
If toughness is the goal, we also have an oil-based satinwood paint that will last for a few years longer before a new layer is necessary. However, oil-based paint can be trickier for beginners to use, and it will have a strong odour and potentially harmful VOCs. Painting a window frame gives you access to easy ventilation, but it’s still something to keep in mind before you commit.
Both satinwood paints provide a mid-sheen finish, so it’ll reflect some light but not enough to create any glare – the perfect balance for windows. And if you’re looking for plenty of colour options, both are part of our Colour System. Enter a British Standard or RAL code at checkout and we’ll mix any colour you can imagine.
Best uPVC Window Frame Paint
You can paint uPVC window frames with a few different types of paint.
One of the best uPVC window frame paints we provide is our specialist cladding paint. This can be used on a range of exterior surfaces including metal, uPVC, and timber, so it suits most types of window frame, old and new.
Keen decorators often look for paints that they can use on as many surfaces as possible, so they can order larger quantities of paint to get the most for their money. Since cladding paint works on so many difference surfaces, it’s the perfect product to order a large supply of as you’ll always find a new use for it.
No matter which paint you choose, you should always pair it with a layer of our GripMaster primer. As we mentioned, uPVC and plastic window frames are very smooth surfaces that some paints struggle to cling to. GripMaster primer’s advanced compound is designed for those surfaces. It creates a barrier between the surface and your paint, so that colours look bolder and your final layer lasts for as long as it should.
Priming surfaces before painting isn’t always essential, especially for exterior painting, but it’s a great way to add a few more years to the paint you choose.
How to Paint Window Sills and Window Frames
As with any painting project, preparing the surface before you begin is the most important part of the job. You could have the highest-quality paint on the market, but it can still have an uneven or streaky finish if the surface wasn’t prepped.
Window sills gather dust and grime after years of use, even if you clean them regularly. Before you paint, it’s essential to clean the surface as thoroughly as possible to remove any stains or caked-on dirt that would show through your layers of paint.
For wooden window sills, it’s best to sand the surface down. This will make it a lot smoother, and minimize the required cleaning, so the job will be easier overall.
The UK’s Most Trusted Paint Provider
Painting window frames and window sills may seem like a small job, at least compared to painting walls, ceilings, and floors, but the results can really tie your home’s look together.
It’s not just for aesthetic purposes either, painting your windows adds durability to the surface, so you won’t have to worry about rot or wear in the future.
Whatever paint you need, trust Paintmaster to provide it and more. We’re loved by both tradespeople and domestic painters across the UK and beyond, with high-quality paints and painting accessories that suit all projects.
