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CostHelper.com > Home & Garden  > Painting an Interior

Painting an Interior Cost


How Much Does Painting an Interior Cost?


low costMedium: $200-$300 per room
low costHigh: $300-$700 per room

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Painting a House

Replacing Doors

Adding an Electrical Outlet

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Fresh paint can take a room from looking dreary and out-of-date to a sense of sparkling newness for a relatively low price compared to other remodeling projects.
 
Typical costs:
  • Interior paint itself costs anywhere from $12-$50 or more a gallon, depending on the quality. Painting a 12x12-foot room, both walls and ceiling, can require $25-$100 worth of paint, plus $10-$50 for primer, brushes, rollers, drop clothes and other supplies. For a 1,500-square-foot home, supplies run $200-$300 for average paint, and $400-$600 for higher quality.
  • Expect to pay $200-$400 to have a 12x12-foot room painted by a licensed contractor with brand-name paints; a 15x20-foot room or larger runs $300-$700 or more; and a 1,200-1,500 square foot home is $1,100-$2,000 or more. Having the ceiling painted bumps the cost to the high end of the scale.
What should be included:
Additional costs:
  • Cheap paint roller covers leave fuzz on the wall while inexpensive brushes leave streaky marks; pay a few extra cents or dollars to get better results.
  • It takes more coats of paint and costs more to cover a dark color with a light one, or vice versa.
  • Removing heavy furniture is often not included in painters' estimates; if you can't do it yourself or hire someone, ask if there will be an extra charge.
  • Having to paint crown molding, baseboards, wainscoting or other detailed can add to a contractor's estimated price, as can walls taller than the average of 8 feet. The exact extra expense will varies depending on the amount of extra labor required.
Discounts:
  • If a painter is setting up to do a single room in a home, additional rooms may cost less than the first--it's possible to save money overall by painting everything at once.
  • Painters' quotes can be lower in winter, early spring or late fall--the off-season--than in peak summer months when there's lot of work available. Ask if there's a discount if the project is done on a fill-in basis, in-between other projects.
Shopping for painting an interior:
Article updated May 2007
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Recent Posts

Amount: $250.00 Finally got bathroom painted
Posted by: First Time Homeowner in Santa Clara, CA.Purchased: September, 2005
Number of Rooms: 1Painter: small firm, 1 guy
My wife and I hadn't gotten to painting our bathroom for over a year, and we had hired a guy to paint our exterior, so we asked him how much he'd charge to finish our bathroom and he quoted $250. I think the price was a little high considering he was already here and it's just a bathroom, but he'd be setting up to paint (inside) for just room, so we hired him. He did a great job. I have to admit, our one professionally painted room looks much better than the rooms we painted ourselves. We definitely wanted a name-brand paint, and he used Kelly-Moore.
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Amount: $1,650.00 interior painting
Posted by: Prepping house for sale in Sonoma, CA.Purchased: November, 2007
Number of Rooms: 6Painter: local guy
It was very helpful having your information before we started looking for a painter. We were quoted drastically different prices - your article gave us ideas of what to question, to find out what each painter really included in their quote. Thanks a lot.
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Amount: $400.00 I was trained as a painter by my father who was a painter his entire life from age 15 til he was 78
Posted by: Thumper in cleveland, OH.Purchased: 2007
Number of Rooms: 1 bathroomPainter: me
The ave cost to paint a bathroom always depends on several factors, size, condition of the room type of paint. For a small bathroom 10 x 10 including the ceiling will cost about $100.00 in paint, and another 300 to 400 for labor.
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Amount: $400.00 Amount 400.00
Posted by: Mikey1111 in Forest Park, GA.Purchased: 2007
Number of Rooms: 1Painter: Local painter
He did a great job, he had to remove the popcorn ceiling (we hated it and wanted it gone) so the price jumped by 200.00, not bad, since it took him a long time to scrape and to filler it back to normal.
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Amount: $1,250.00 Seemed a bit expensive to me at the time
Posted by: AnotherBob in Vancouver, WA.Purchased: March, 2008
Number of Rooms: 4Painter: Local
Bathroom, kitchen, living room, bedroom. Including ceilings. Primed and painted.
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Amount: $12,000.00 interior home
Posted by: Tom & Ellen in Lancaster, PA.Purchased: April, 2008
Number of Rooms: 12Painter: Bill Torres Painting
Bill Torres Painting painted our Home
about 12 rooms walls,ceilings,trim 2 coats
he used Behr Premium we choose a Eggshell
Finish walls Flat Enamel ceilings Semi-Gloss
on trim Bill did a thorogh prep job very neat
and clean easy to work with
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Amount: $19,000.00 Interior Painting
Posted by: Johnathan in Oconomowoc, WI.Purchased: February, 2008
Number of Rooms: 9Painter: Dan Fulwiler
Dan Painted faux finishes in every room of my house. He included several trompe l'oeil effects and a mural, too! I could not be more delighted with Dan's proffessionalism and the perfection of his work.
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Amount: $0.00 Watch out for the cheap guys
Posted by: Nick LoGrasso in St. Charles, MO.Purchased: 2008
Number of Rooms: 0Painter: SNL Painting, Inc.
I am a smaller painting contractor just outside of St. Louis, MO. My price usually falls in the higher end of the spectrum, but we run our business like a business, not like a hobby or out of a truck. Our painters are background checked, trained on a regular basis, and are "normal, happy people". Our customers always say it was worth the extra money. Check out our website at www.snlpainting.com, and don't think just because the price is higher that it's not worth it.
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Amount: $8,875.00 Interior Painting
Posted by: Richard & Angella in Wayne, PA.Purchased: May, 2008
Number of Rooms: 6 RoomsPainter: Bill Torres Painting
We Had Bill and his Men do some work at our home
what a great guy to work with very professional and respectful of our home He and his men went out of there way to make this a wonderful experience.very neat and clean & on time will definitely have him back to do more work
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Amount: $1,300.00 interior paint bid
Posted by: dreyer in phoenix, AZ.Purchased: December, 2008
Number of Rooms: 5Painter: mike
new 1300 sq ft home empty home they wanted walls, celing and trim 1 color. I bid $1180 for the job and the owner thought it was way too much. Just wondering if it was a fair bid. and it was a spray.
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Amount: $0.00 It is worth the extra money to get it done right.
Posted by: Rich in Clayton, NC.Purchased: 2008
am a smaller painting contractor just outside of Raleigh, NC. If your painting a home you own, they do it right, get it done by a professional, especially one with references. I have many and they keep coming back. It is all about the prep, I spend more time prepping than painting, but speed is not important. Do it right, it will last and look great! Pay a little more, it is worth it. Our customers always say it was worth the extra money because of the quality. .
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Amount: $5,500.00 Interior painting + plaster repair
Posted by: a user in Albany, CA.Purchased: January, 2009
Number of Rooms: 6Painter:
Complex interior paint job for 900 sq. ft. house. Each room had a different color, with same trim and ceiling color throughout. A couple rooms required extensive plaster "floating" due to old lathe/plaster crumbling.

Caveat emptor: have the painter put everything in writing ahead of time. Things we forgot to put in writing included the time of day the painters would leave, the number of days the job would take, and the cleanliness of the house at the end of each day.
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Amount: $1,000.00 pricing
Posted by: Fred Murtha in Cheshire, CT.Purchased: January, 2009
Number of Rooms: 1Painter: Daniel Painting
The prices you give for painting a room are ridiculous! $200..$400..per room...Is there furniture to cover? Walls or ceilings need patching? Wallpaper to strip?

Stained trim needs 1 coat primer and 2 finish coats...Deep base colors need multiple coats...Popcorn ceilings have to be painted with oil and sometimes need 2 coats...You are misleading people.
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Amount: $1,700.00 Professionally painted interior
Posted by: Eileen in Racine, WI.Purchased: March, 2008
Number of Rooms: 4Painter: Fletcher's Fine Finishes
We had Brian paint our master bedroom, master bathroom, kitchen, and Dining Room. We used 4 different colors including a faux painted border in our dining room. We were extremely impressed with the neatness of the work and the professionalism of the painters. The price was in the middle of three bids we had for the work. One guy quoted $700.00 and left an estimate hand written on notebook paper. Another quote came in at $1950.00. We are having Fletcher's Fine Finishes come back this spring to paint our exterior.
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Amount: $2,800.00 Full interior
Posted by: AR in Richmond, VA.Purchased: March, 2009
Number of Rooms: 17Painter: Ray Earp
We were painting walls only with no trim work with the exception of a tray ceiling and a bathroom ceiling.
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Amount: $1,700.00 Entire Home 2300 SF
Posted by: bob the painter in Appleton, WI.Purchased: 2009
There is no reason to spend $5K, $10K, $20K to paint a home. Figure it out. How many weeks does it take to paint a room or two, or even a whole house. If a guy quotes you $5K+ for a solid week's work--about the time it takes to paint an entire interior of a house, he's making $250K a year painting. Seems a bit high to me for labor. Keep in mind he's probably paying the helpers 10 or 15 bucks an hour. The paint itself is just not that expensive.
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Amount: $900.00 Great Paint Job
Posted by: Mr.s Williams in weymouth, MA.Purchased: August, 2008
Number of Rooms: 4Painter: Inside -out Painting
I had 4 rooms 3 bedrooms 10x10 and a small bathroom 8x4 not much prep work needed and they did the windows as part of the job i was very happy with the results and the price was not bad they cleaned up after themselves and were very nice i would give them jobs again
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Amount: $13,000.00 Good painting job!!
Posted by: Mrs. Smith in Perry Hall, MD.Purchased: 2009
Number of Rooms: 5Painter: Valencia Painters
My husband and I bought a new home in Md. Beautiful, we start to look for colors and magazines to get an idea for interior painting and do it ourselves, we did the first room and looked terrible, I mean, the color is pretty, but the color is not even, after so many coats we get so tired and frustrated. We decided to call a local painter contractor, we saw Valencia Painters signs here in Perry Hall, Md. They make me an estimate for $13,000.00 to paint all interiors, we thought it was expensive, but after we saw the results, the price really worth it.
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Amount: $1,400.00 labor rate
Posted by: AL HANEY in bakersfield, CA.Purchased: 2009
Number of Rooms: 7 roomPainter: business
I do lot of painting interior job run 200.00 per room on white color only. If there is baseboard and ceiling for white only and wall colors are 300 per room

I have seen many business charge fair labor cost. best service good qulify job always start at 300 per room. Cheap labor cost always hit and run.
I am local in city that where many jobs are need of paint job.
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Amount: $0.00 trim painting
Posted by: Hutch in choctaw, OK.Purchased: 2009
Number of Rooms: 8Painter: Hutch
I am charging 800.00 to paint the base and crown in 8 rooms, some are small, some are larger, I am including the doors and cabinets.
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Amount: $1,500.00 Interior Paint- Whole house
Posted by: TD Castro in The Colony, TX.Purchased: June, 2009
Number of Rooms: 8Painter: local painter
JUST MOVED INTO A 2027 SQFT HOUSE, PAINTING MOST ROOMS, 4 COLORS. (AND THE FINSHING THE GARAGE OFF IN WHITE). I HAVE THE PAINTERS THAT THE BUILDER USED FOR THE BUILDER BEIGE.
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Amount: $0.00 painting
Posted by: a user in somewhere, GA.Purchased: 2009
Number of Rooms: 0Painter: -
the price of a paint job should not increase because multiple colors unless you are A having accent walls painted or B multiple coats for a red or a color that requires alot of tint for the base that does not cover with 3 coats. patching walls, caulking, wall paper removal should be included at a seperate rate in the pricing on top of what it cost to do an adaquat job. To the poster above, for a new interior, $1150 is too cheep for a 1300 sq ft house, even for AZ. someone has to set a standard. Be Honest, what is your time worth if you do what you are soposed to with your job and the gov. there are alot of aleins painting, as well as other trades that work cheeper rates. That is why the people that are trying to make a living cant make what they need because of people doing jobs for $5.50 per hour. they dont make that where they are from and dont care what it is doing to the people that actualy pay taxes and have insurance to do these type of projects. did you know that painters liability insurance is the 3 highest in the residential trades? bet you didnt
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