The technology improvements in this area have been great and now water-based products outperform solvent-based ones apart from some specific areas. Water-based products have a variety of common names, acrylics, emulsion paint, latex paint, vinyls etc. and the thing they all have in common is their solvent is water.

Not only is performance better but they have vastly lower VOC levels (possible contributors to the greenhouse affect, and air quality) are much less hazardous to the painter (solvents can degrease the skin, contribute to respiratory issues, cause a fire risk), and are much easier to clean up.

Areas where solvent-based paints can still be needed in the decorative arena are for sealing porous surfaces (chalky old ceilings, set plaster), where a very high gloss finish is desired, and if there is a particularly resin rich timber problem. An oil-based primer is often recommended when painting wallpaper just to be safe (some wallpapers have unusual plasticers in their print) but our recommendation for the best result is to remove old wallpaper.