How Much Does an Interior House Paint Cost?

A house cannot become a home without hiring house painting services to paint its interiors. A home can never look complete without a fresh coat of paint to serve as a backdrop for your exquisite furniture. However, interior paint ideas can be an incredibly personal decision and can wildly vary from person to person. What may look good to one homeowner might not look good to the next pair of eyes. The end goal, however, remains the same: to make your home look beautiful. The caveat with making your home look beautiful is that it comes at a cost.
Interior house paint cost can vary depending on the size of your house. Therefore, it is paramount that you determine the cost of painting your home in order to keep your finances under control.

Should You Hire House Painting Services?

Some homeowners like to indulge in DIY (Do It Yourself) projects like painting their own homes. This can be seen as an effective method to minimize expenses. Still, it can be detrimental to your finances because it is pretty easy to make mistakes that require a professional’s help to fix. If you are a beginner and have no prior experience in painting the interiors of a home, hiring a professional to do it is your best bet.
Professionals can also help you achieve your design goals by using their years of experience and advanced techniques. An added benefit of hiring a professional is that if you buy your paint through them, you can get additional discounts on paint.
Besides the risk of taking up the painting responsibilities yourself, here are some advantages of hiring professional house painting services.

• Professionals can accuracalltoy determine the quantity of paint your walls require. This helps you save money by not overbuying paint.
• Most professionals bring their own equipment like ladders, scaffolds, brushes, rollers, etc. Doing it yourself would mean renting costly equipment or buying them.

How Much Does Interior House Paint Cost?

Professional house painting services charge homeowners somewhere between $1.50 to $3.50 per square foot for painting the interiors of a home. Since interior painting usually comprises painting the ceilings and trim too, the cost can rise up to about $3 to $4 per square foot.
However, there are some additional factors that can raise the cost of painting.

• If the walls have any signs of damage or blemishes, fixing them might incur additional charges.
• Any additional design elements and services can cost extra too. For example, suppose your walls are already painted, and you want a different color. In that case, it may require a primer and an undercoat. If the previous and new shades of your walls are drastically different, it may require several coats of paint.
• Some homeowners prefer having textures or designs on their walls. These tend to require additional time, expertise, and cost.

Some factors can also reduce the price of interior painting. Suppose you just want to breathe fresh life into your walls by repainting them with the same color. In that case, a primer is not required, and a new coat of paint will cost significantly less than a fresh paint job.
As a rough estimate, the cost of painting your house can be around $1800 for an average-sized room. The average price of painting the interiors of a 2000-square-foot home in the country is $2,851. However, it can be as low as $1714 or as high as $3682, depending on several factors.

Interior house paint costs by room.

Since every room of a house is unique in its shape, size, and type of paint for the interior walls, the cost of painting them varies accordingly. The interior house painting cost for each room are as follows.

• Bedroom

  – A typical bedroom in America is about 132 square feet with large walls and ceilings. Painting a bedroom can cost about $300 to $800; however, if the primary bedroom is significantly oversized, the costs can go up to about $1,500.

• Living room

  – An average living room covers about 340 square feet, but they often have complex walls and shapes. The cost of painting a living room can range from $600 all the way up to $2,000. They have higher costs because most living rooms are equipped with large walls and high ceilings, making them difficult to paint.

• Bathroom

  – Bathrooms are considerably cheaper to paint. Thanks to their small size and the fact that a majority of the walls are either covered in tile or finished with acrylic. This brings down the cost of painting a 20 square feet bathroom to a mere $50 – $150. A larger primary bathroom might cover an area of about 70 square feet, which can cost anywhere between $350 and $650.

• Kitchen

  – Kitchens are typically large in most American households. However, owing to the fact that most of the walls are either covered with cabinets, appliances, or backsplash, painting these large structures can cost a relatively low $200 to $750.

• Hallway

  – The hallway of a home is vital in leaving a lasting first impression on visitors. Since it receives an exorbitant amount of foot traffic, most entryways and hallways are painted with a special coating or paint that is highly resistant to scratching or any other form of damage. This particular type of paint can drive the costs from $300 to an astounding $1,000.

• Dining room

  – Most dining rooms cover an area of about 300 to 400 square feet. Since standard dining rooms do not have complex walls, the cost of painting them can be anywhere between $600 and $1,000.

• Stairwells

  – This is the only part of the house where the cost of painting is not calculated in square feet. Instead, linear feet is used to determine the painting cost as it involves paginating spindles, handrails, baseboards, and other linear features of a stairway. House painting services charge a rate of $15 to $30 per linear foot to paint a stairway.

• Pantries and closet spaces

  – Pantries and closets cover minimal areas and require less paint. Therefore, the cost is relatively low, at about $50 to $150. However, the labor cost might increase if these small spaces are difficult to access and work on.

Labor Costs

Contrary to popular belief, house painting services do much more than just paint the walls. Prep work is one of the most overlooked aspects of painting the interiors of a home.
What does prep work include?
Prep work includes cleaning any residual stains or mildew off the wall. Rough patches on the walls are also sanded down for a smoother finish, holes are patched, and cracks are caulked. The level of prep work required largely affects the labor costs, especially if the walls are high and hard to reach.
Most professionals charge for labor anywhere between $30 to $60 on an hourly basis. However, if the prep work is complex, the cost can go up to about $75. Other professionals may also charge on a per room or a per wall basis instead of an hourly rate.

Other Considerations Influencing Interior House Paint Costs.

Although most house painting services charge standard fees, certain factors can raise the price of an interior paint job.

• Adding textures to a wall makes achieving a flawlessly painted surface challenging. This is why professionals charge additional fees of $0.50 to $1 per square foot.
• Having an accent wall requires additional time and colors, thereby increasing painting costs.
• If your walls are substantially damaged, they may require extensive prep work, materials, and tools, which can drive up the cost of a paint job.
• Location is also a significant factor influencing the cost to paint the interiors of a house. If your home is located in a place with a higher cost of living, the price of painting goes up accordingly.

The Take-Away

The interior house paint cost can drastically vary, depending not only on the size of your home but also on your requirements. You may even consider doing it yourself instead of hiring professionals because it appears costly. However, it will actually be more expensive to do it yourself as you will be purchasing all the equipment and paints yourself. Furthermore, doing it yourself will extract a higher price in terms of your valuable time. There is also an added risk of getting inconsistent results that can only be corrected by professional house painting services.