To a large degree it's a question of preference. I prefer a satin or flat on the walls. It has less sheen and is more subtle. Downside is a little harder to clean. Eggshell for me it too shiny.

Do you need to be able to scrub the walls occasionally? Do you have kids or pets or are you a messy cook? Is it bad there in the winter and the dog shakes all over and gets dirt and grit on the walls?

Typically the hard finishes (eggshell, semi-gloss, etc) are used on trim, or in kitchens and bathrooms, utility rooms, hallways, etc. Though I have used eggshell in main rooms because it used to be that in order to get any kind of scrubability you needed to have some kind of gloss. I have a soft-mouth dog that shakes his lips over everything and I need to be able to clean that off.

I used a flat enamel on my current ceiling because I figured cob webs would slide off easier as I run the ceiling fan 365 days a year. I wanted a finish but not a gloss. It worked.

I used an eggshell enamel on my bath and laundry room ceilings. I ended up not liking a glossy ceiling either.

So some of it is need. Some of it is preference. I am painting my house now for resale and I am using a flat on everything. Flat paint is better than it used to be for scrubbing. I think in my new house I will do all flat.

Had flat for the last 15 years and was fine with that, kept a can of paint for touch up if we ever had a scuff that would not wipe off. No need to scrub, no kids, no snow, we are in the south. We do have an English Mastiff, but got lucky there he is dry mouth unlike the one we had before we moved to this house. With the old dog we would have benefitted with semi gloss on the ceiling LOL :> Thanks for your thoughts. I think I like flat everywhere better. To me the gloss even of an eggshell makes the house look "sturdy, industrial" if you know what I mean. Unfortunately we just spent the painting budget on getting this done. Like I said the contractor will redo the ceiling, however, I really don't want to have him redo the whole job. Not sure that is fair to him. We will live with the walls and repaint ourselves if it continues to bother me.

Design Collabortive … thanks for the comment, hopefully this discussion will help someone else not make the same mistake. If I had though about it a bit I should have painted a large patch and seen what it looked like. I was in a hurry because I wanted to get done before moving in.

Flat on the ceiling, flat or matte on the walls and semi-gloss on all wood.