Pricing, in the open
What interior painting costs in Chicago and the suburbs.
Most painting companies will not give you a number until someone is standing in your living room. We publish ours. Per room, per square foot, and for a whole home, from the same engine that prices our written quotes.
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Start with one room
Cost by room.
A new color, smooth walls in sound condition, eight foot ceilings. Each room priced as a job on its own.
| Room | Walls only | Walls and ceiling | Walls, ceiling, trim and doors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bedroom about 12 by 14 feet | about $770 | about $1,070 | about $1,570 |
| Living or family room about 15 by 20 feet | about $950 | about $1,500 | about $1,850 |
| Dining room about 12 by 14 feet | about $770 | about $1,070 | about $1,360 |
| Kitchen about 12 by 14 feet | about $770 | about $1,070 | about $1,450 |
| Bathroom about 8 by 10 feet | about $520 | about $710 | about $1,040 |
| Hallway and stairs about 6 by 20 feet | about $760 | about $1,000 | about $1,630 |
| Home office about 10 by 12 feet | about $590 | about $830 | about $1,190 |
| Finished basement about 20 by 30 feet | about $1,370 | about $2,370 | about $2,900 |
Two rooms cost less than twice one room, because setup and paint are shared across a job. The estimator applies that as you add rooms.
Or price the whole floor plan
Whole-home interior painting.
Walls and ceilings in a new color, walls in sound condition. The low end is the scope as stated; the high end adds the patching a walkthrough usually finds.
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Small home
under 1,500 sq ft, 6 rooms
$5,880 to $6,660
$5.85 to $6.64 per square foot of floor
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Medium home
1,500 to 2,500 sq ft, 9 rooms
$8,410 to $9,550
$5.92 to $6.73 per square foot of floor
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Large home
2,500 to 4,000 sq ft, 13 rooms
$11,500 to $13,120
$6.03 to $6.88 per square foot of floor
Per square foot of floor area is the figure most cost guides quote, so it is here for comparison. It is also the least useful number on this page: a home with tall ceilings and a lot of trim is not the same job as one without, at the same floor area.
The rate card
Add-ons, and a standard room.
Rounded to the nearest ten, because a painting price is a measurement, not a barcode. A door on its own costs roughly twice what the same door costs inside a room we are already painting: a visit for one door still needs a painter, a trip, and a full can of paint.
What the standard room assumes
- A 10 by 10 room with 8 foot ceilings
- Smooth walls in sound condition
- A color change, so two coats
- Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint on walls, ProMar 200 on ceilings and trim
Bedroom walls, new color
Walls only. Prep, patching, two coats.
Bedroom walls, ceiling, and baseboards
Walls, ceiling, and baseboards. Prep, patching, two coats.
One door, both sides, as a job on its own
One door, both sides, as a visit on its own.
Add a door, both sides
Added to a room we are already painting.
Add a door frame, both sides
Added to a room we are already painting.
Small drywall patch (about 1 sq ft)
Added to a room we are already painting.
Why two rooms the same size differ
What moves the price.
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Ceiling height
A ten foot ceiling is not 25 percent more wall than an eight foot ceiling by accident, and everything above ladder height slows down.
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Texture
Textured walls and ceilings drink more paint and take longer to cut. Popcorn ceilings are their own job.
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Dark to light
Going lighter over a strong color can mean an extra coat. Staying in the same color family is the least expensive change you can make.
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Repairs
Patching is priced by the square foot of repair, not per hole. A wall with twenty nail holes is quick. A water-damaged corner is not.
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Doors, trim and windows
Trim is the slowest surface in a house. A room with four doors and two wood windows is a different job from the same room with none.
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Occupied or empty
An empty house is faster. In an occupied home we move and cover furniture, work room by room, and put things back each evening.
Two homes we measured
Real scopes, priced.
Scopes from real walkthroughs, run through the engine. These are what it says those jobs cost, not the invoices.
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$8,360
Nine-room home, north suburbs
Walls recolored in every room, ceilings and baseboards refreshed, four door frames, and four square feet of drywall repair.
About 101 hours on site.
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$4,800
Four-room condo, Chicago
Walls and ceilings recolored throughout, baseboards refreshed, four doors and four frames, two square feet of drywall repair. The owner supplied the wall and ceiling paint.
About 79 hours on site.
The number we will not invent
Exterior painting cost.
We are not publishing exterior ranges yet. We do this work every season, but siding material, stories, and access change an exterior number so much that publishing one figure would mislead more people than it helped. Call us and we will talk through your house.
Your rooms, not a standard one
Get a number for your own home.
The tables above price a standard room. Yours are not standard. Tap the rooms you have, choose what is included, and see the range in about a minute. Nothing is sent and nobody calls until you ask.
Before you budget
Interior painting cost questions.
The ones we are asked on nearly every walkthrough, answered with the same numbers that are on this page.
Call (773) 899-7215How much does it cost to paint a bedroom in Chicago?
For a standard bedroom with a new color, walls only run about $770, walls and ceiling about $1,070, and walls, ceiling, baseboards, doors and frames about $1,570. Those are our own prices, from the same engine that produces our written quotes.
How much does it cost to paint the interior of a whole house?
$5,880 to $6,660 for a small home and $11,500 to $13,120 for a large one, walls and ceilings in a new color. That is $5.92 to $6.73 per square foot of floor, which is the figure most cost guides quote. Ten rooms cost less than ten times one room because setup and paint are shared.
Are these prices real, or a starting point to get me on the phone?
They are what the same job costs when we quote it. They assume a standard room, so your number will differ. What will not happen is a number on this page turning into a much larger number once someone is in your kitchen.
Why is one door on its own more than a door added to a room?
A visit for one door still needs a painter, a trip, and a full can of paint that job cannot use up. Added to a room we are already painting, it is mostly labor, which is why it costs about half as much.
Do I pay for paint separately?
No. The prices here include materials. If you would rather supply your own paint, we will price it that way, and the second measured scope below is an example of exactly that.
Is the estimate a quote?
No. It is a range for the scope you describe, from typical Chicagoland room sizes. The walkthrough turns it into a written price, and we tell you what moved and why rather than handing you a new total.
What about exterior painting cost?
We do a lot of exterior work, but we are not publishing exterior ranges yet. Exterior pricing depends on siding material, stories, and access in ways a single number would misrepresent. Call and we will walk through it.
How long does interior painting take?
A single room is usually a day or two. A full floor runs most of a week. The estimator gives a painter-day count for your own rooms.
A fresh start, with Bold Coat
Ready for a number on your own home?
Price your rooms in about a minute, then we confirm it at a free walkthrough.