We had wrought iron railings installed on our patio along with two exterior stairways and chose flat. Personal preference, but I just thought flat looked nicer and the shop that did my railings never mentioned which was more durable. They did mention everything should definetly be powder coated and will most likely have to be repainted after some years. Wrought iron will rust no matter what (as opposed to an aluminum railing).

satin

Satin or semi

Flat since that is waht wrought iron is .

A good primer is more important than your finish.

Whichever is most durable (requires less frequent repainting) would be my personal choice. That might be something your builder or iron-maker could answer.

If you use flat every raindrop will show up on the railings as a spot.

Honestly, my railings look perfect....and they are certainly out in the rain. There is no staining, spotting, or marks of any kind. They do look pristine. In fact i was actually surprised after the first rain because i expected the railings to be spotted, but they were not. Maybe that’s what good powder coating does....in addition to giving the finish strength, it keeps it smooth as well...i don’t know. I’m not sure of the exact order of things, but the iron is coated several times and then put in a HUGE oven and heated and baked to I don’t know how many degrees (it looks like a crematorium). The iron shop took me through the entire process...it was very interesting.

Powder coat is COMPLETELY different than paint that comes out of a can. It is applied and then heated.

Beverly....yes, exactly. The op did not actually mention anything about paint out of a can, she only asked whether she should have it painted flat or satin. My assumption (maybe wrongly) was that she was going to have it powder coated since it was an exterior Juliet balcony made of wrought iron. Exterior wrought iron will not hold up well to the elements using plain paint.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Going for the Powder coated from custom manufacturer in Low sheen black

One thing mentioned above is: "will most likely have to be repainted after some years. Wrought iron will rust no matter what (as opposed to an aluminum railing)." is a true statement, there is no paint job wet or powder coat that will last forever. You may want to keep in mind the only way to touch up or repair or simply repaint a powder coat is to uninstall the exterior railing take it back to the powder coater and have them re-do (an oven is needed to bake the finish on) Removing and transporting an existing exterior item is not always easy. If you had your exterior railing wet painted, touchups and re-painting can be done on site. The wet paints will last many years and are as good as powder coat but in my opinion if your item is difficult to move to an oven, preferable.

Satin is my choice.