There’s a reason why the paint companies – the experts on paint – recommend using High Gloss paint in areas that may be exposed to water, such as a bathroom or kitchens. Even Bob Villa recommends using high gloss paint in bathrooms.

The flippers, as we call them, (the people who flipped this house to make money right before we bought it) cut a lot of corners (as we’ve mentioned on this new house blog). Most of these corners were visibly cut to us before we bought the house; we knew what we were getting into, and accepted the challenge willingly. Except this one.

In the upstairs master bathroom, they used flat paint in a periwinkle color. Flat paint. Let me stress the severity of this poorly-made decision. It’s a flat paint that wears away when a wet towel is hung near it, or if a drop of water from the sink touches it. Flat paint that reveals the previous wall color below, a beige. Flat paint that I’m sure was on sale, and saved them money, but now is making me angry every time I visit the toilet. Flat paint that will now have to be repainted just 6 months later because YOU SHOULD NOT USE FLAT PAINT IN A BATHROOM WHERE THERE IS WATER! See the trouble?

Now our pretty bathroom has wear spots all over it, particularly under the towel racks and hooks and above the sinks, and all near the shower, anywhere where there is a hint of moisture.

Seriously, if you’re going to flip a house? Do a little research first. Learn a couple of things.