How much does it cost to paint a room?

Here's a question a lot of home owners ask. How much to paint this room?  Typically when you are going to have a room painted the painter is going to help you, if you haven't already, figure out what exactly you need painted.  For instance, say you want your master bedroom painted.  Lets say its 20x12x8.  You may want your ceilings painted a flat bright white, walls a tan color with a satin finish so it won't scuff up easily and a two doors-two-windows-base molding-molding painted with a semi-gloss bright white.   The base molding needs to be caulked to fill gaps and a bunch of nail holes from pictures need to be filled.  First off,  as a painter I am going to figure out how much prep work will be needed for this room.  Then how much paint.  There is 512 square feet of wall area, 240 square feet of ceiling area and 180 linear feet of molding including 2 windows and a 2 doors.  So you are going to need 3 gallons of wall paint because each gallon covers about 300 square feet and two coats are applied.  The second coat covers with much less paint.  For the ceiling you are going to need two gallons of paint to cover it twice, it covers at the same rate as wall paint except it is typically in a flat sheen.  For the molding-windows and doors you will need a gallon.  It is more cost effective to buy a gallon vs two quarts for your molding-trim and chances are you can use what's left somewhere else.  Here is how I break down an interior paint job.

Prep Work :
1. Move furniture or center and cover with plastic
2. Lay drop clothes or cover floor with contractors paper
3. Sand walls, molding, doors, windows
4.Vacuum and wipe them down.
5. Fill nail holes, caulk and clean
6. Tape out molding and doors
7. Remove hardware and store

Painting : 
1. Cut in and apply two coats ceiling paint.  In my experience ceilings suck up paint because they are  more porous and typically painted with a flat sheen over and over.  So two coats are usually needed to get it true. 
2. Apply enamel paint to all molding, doors, windows 
3. Tape out all molding once it has dried 
4. Cut in and apply two coats wall paint

Cleaning & Restoration: 
1.  Remove tape, plastic and drop clothes 
2.  Clean area 
3.  Reset furniture
4.  Replace hardware

This is how a professional painter who is going to approach your room that needs to be painted.  So the cost to paint this  master bedroom including high quality paint+materials from Benjamin Moore or Sherwin-Williams will be about $1500.00-1,800.00.   High quality middle of the road interior paint from a paint retailer cost about $40-$50 and up a gallon for your walls, a gallon of a good bright white ceiling paint cost about $20-$25 per gallon, the molding-door enamel is $50-$60 a gallon.  You also have to factor in roller covers, rollers, pan liners, tape, plastic, clean drop clothes, joint compound, caulk, sand paper, cleaning supplies.  Paint and materials add up to around $400-$500.  There are options that will change the price such as no ceiling or molding, one coat vs two, no furniture to move.  For a room half this size it would be half the cost.  If you take out the ceiling and molding work it will cost about $900.00.

When you hire a professional you will benefit from their extensive experience in producing show quality results that will last.  Your hard earned dollars are being spent on an optimal result and great experience that will leave your home looking great, maintaining its value and looking exactly like the picturesque home you desire.  The best way to determine the actual cost is to schedule an appointment so that your painter can see exactly what you need done.  There are many variables that go into an accurate estimate.  Please visit our website listed below for more information and to schedule an appointment. 

Bill Donigan
Donigan Painting
Syracuse NY 13208
315-313-3254
http://doniganpainting.webstarts.com/