Having a room or house makeover should definitely be on the bucket list of every DIYer. Though it is a rewarding project, painting your room, for instance, requires serious action of planning and budgeting. How much does it cost to paint a room? Should you hire a professional to handle it? Those are the tough decisions you have to go through before rolling up your sleeves.
To better educate yourself from the beginning, read on to get a full picture of room painting prices and all related notices.
Why should you hire a professional instead of painting your room yourself?
For a big DIY project like this, it is surely good advice for you to hire experts so as to ensure the quality and success of your plan.
Considering the fact that professionals have experience in what they are doing and usually are from a specialized company, they will have better access to all the necessary and better quality tools and materials, they are way more trained to deal with risks popping up along the way and not even mention they can give you insights and advice from the very beginning.
Another major reason for having your room painted by professionals is simply to save time. From doing all the preparation, painting to letting things dry, not including repairing walls or ceilings if needed can consume a lot of your time. Many people don’t have much spare time to devote to such a project so hiring someone to do it for them is clearly a wise choice.
How much does it cost to paint a room?
Average cost per square foot
To start calculating how much it costs to paint your room, you should know that in the market, painters commonly charge per square foot. It is also worth noticing that painting one room is usually more expensive per sqft than it is to paint many rooms or the whole house.
For every square foot, you will have to pay from 1$ to 3$ to paint that area. So, a standard 12×12 room will cost you anywhere between 350$ and 850$. Doing it for the whole house, however, can vary from 1200$ to 4000$.
With that said, you definitely need to measure how big the area you want to paint is because how much you will have to pay depends greatly on the size of your room.
Labor cost
Drawing up your budget for this project will never be completed without adding labor costs. It makes up at least 70% of the total cost of your paint job.
Depending on where you are living, how and how much painters charge can vary a great deal. Generally, there are 2 methods: 2-6$ including materials per square foot of coverage area or 20-50$ per hour.
You will have to spend 2-6$ including materials for every sqft of the painted area, or 20-50$ for every hour of your project done by experts. Notice, it takes around 4 hours to finish coloring a standard bedroom and furniture removal can add 100$ to 150$ per room.
Altogether, the overall price for painting a normal room can be anywhere from 650$ to 1000$, adding all the major factors. This, of course, results from the context of pricing we have just mentioned above, which may totally be different from your own. Therefore, make sure to do your research with a few local contractors to get a hold of the rate in your area.
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Read more:
- Do You Know: How Much Do Painters Make? (Learn It Now!)
- How Much Area In Square Feet Can A Gallon Of Paint Cover?
- How Much Paint Do I Need To Paint My House?
What affects the cost to paint a room?
The wallpaper once removed can show large spots of crumbling/ falling apart plasterwork or any bit of wall damage will need to be fixed before painting. So, plan an extra amount of 40-45$ for this.
Darker colors will be slightly more priced as they may require more than two coats of paint.
If your wall is textured then it may increase the overall price of paint by up to 50% since a textured wall apparently has more surface area than the smooth one and thus more paint and labor needed.
Premium color or premium quality paint costs about 99$ per gallon, which is totally optional for you but if you are aiming for high quality, durable layer of paint, be financially prepared for this one.
Your budget will definitely be topped up with an additional hundred dollars if your room has vaulted or cathedral ceilings as it will require more stages and takes longer in time.
If you are aiming for more advanced, complex decoration on your wall rather than a new-colored, smooth one, get a good understanding of the price range. A marble texture, for instance, can cost about 5-6$ per sqft. Meanwhile, a stenciling wall is expected to be 8-11$ per sqft. Be well prepared for all of these significant amounts of money needed from the beginning if you are painting accent walls or wanting special texture.
Painting a room, in a lot of cases, doesn’t necessarily need to be stressful for DIYers as you want to enjoy the process and do it your way, which is why DIYers are DIYers. In the event that you don’t mind whether you can carry on this project professionally or not, you have plenty of time to spend and more importantly, you are on a budget, then there is still a way.
Since you will only need to spend on tools and paint, to paint a 12×12 room yourself, you will only need around 100$ to 300$. Make sure to list down everything you need beforehand, in the correct quantity, and check out their price so you don’t exceed your limited budget.
Painting your room is no doubt a worth-trying DIY project that once it is done, it will bring a huge freshness to your house. How much money you need to paint a room or whether or not you should hire a professional shouldn’t be hectic enough to hold you back from giving it a try. Hope you get what you need from reading this post.
Peter Levick
ArchitectI am a licensed architect who is passionate about all things home improvement industries, I have been doing DIY painting projects and have developed lots of experience around home improvement over the 10 years.
