You need to consider the qualities you want out of the painting finish, when you’re deciding whether to use a custom painting finish or something more common for your home. Different 
painted surfaces such as walls and furniture are more suited to certain interior painting techniques than others. You should examine the more common painting finishes to see if any are suitable before resorting to finding and buying a custom painting finish.
Qualities that should be considered when choosing a painting finish include but are not limited to the frequency with which the surface needs to be cleaned, the difficulty with which the finished surface can be cleaned and the desired appearance of the finished surface. Frequent cleaning means that the finish will need to be more durable to endure the cleaning while easy-to-clean finishes become more desirable the more frequently the surface needs to be cleaned. Appearance is another important factor and different finishes can produce very different visual results on the same surface.
The most common painting finishes are a matte finish, an eggshell finish, a satin finish, a semi-gloss finish or a gloss finish. Matte finishes are flat, durable and good at concealing flaws in the surface but also harder to clean because of dirt retention. Eggshell finishes are durable, easy to clean and possess a bit of a shine, meaning 
that these finishes are easy to maintain and suitable for surfaces that need to be cleaned frequently. Satin finishes are smooth, possess a bit more gloss in their color and hold up well under high humidity.
Semi-gloss finishes are easy to clean, hold up well under high humidity, shinier than most finishes but expose flaws in the paintwork because of their shine. Gloss finishes are the most durable and even shinier than semi-gloss finishes, meaning that flaws in the paintwork are even more noticeable in comparison.
You should carefully consider the uses for the surfaces in your home before deciding on what kind of finish you want to use on them. If none of these standard painting finishes match your needs, you might then want to look into custom painting finishes. There are specialty finishes that can add a very custom and rich apperance to your home. Some of the advanced techniquesinclud faux finshes, wood specialty finishes and other decorative painting ideas.