How Long Does It Take To Paint A Room

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How Long Does It Take To Paint A Room? We just did a family painting project. We painted my son’s room and I’ll share the entire process and pass along tips, and answer some questions along the way. This is a project the average homeowner can accomplish with just a little prep work and the right equipment. For best results, you will need painter’s tape, a paint roller and paint brush, canvas drop cloths, and perhaps an extension pole or extension rod if you have high ceilings.

This post is in collaboration with Behr.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.  A big thanks to Behr for providing me with the Behr Ultra Scuff Defense Interior Satin Enamel Paint

This is my son’s room, and as you can see it still has the nursery accent wall I painted.

How Long Does It Take To Paint A Room Video

The first step is to decide on a paint color and how many different colors you want to use. We started by talking with him about what he was envisioning. He was requesting an accent wall, and my husband was hoping for all white. Even if we went with all white I knew we’d have to paint the entire room because matching the paint would be really difficult.

How do I choose the right paint? 

Next we headed over to our hardware store to grab some paint samples. It’s a good idea to see the color in the space. We brought the samples home so we could see what they looked like in the light of my son’s room. You can also buy small samples of paint and paint it onto the walls to see what it looks like.

How do I start painting a room?

Before we started the painting process we moved my son’s bed and desk to the middle of the room and covered it with a drop cloth. We moved everything else out. Next we covered the floor with drop cloths as well.

I used painter’s tape to tape the baseboards, molding, and anything we didn’t want the paint to get on.

What order do you paint a room?

My husband painted the Behr Ultra Scuff Defense Vibrant White Paint in a diagonal line on the wall that would become our accent wall. We would need this to dry before we could do more to that wall so we did that first.

Look at that original wall color! Those walls were supposed to be white, I always said they looked white with a brown tinge. Now you can totally see it, and so did the rest of my family (finally lol). This is why I said we’d have to paint everything with a new white color, it would have been so hard to match.

My husband started painting the ceiling. This amazing Behr Ultra Scuff Defense has a primer built in and it went on nicely. This type of paint is meant to hold up against wall scuffs too, which is great for kids. We picked the satin finish.

While my husband was painting the ceiling my son and I started the next step, painting all of the edges. This would be the area the roller couldn’t quite reach, like above baseboards, around closets and doors, corners, and the creases between the ceiling and walls.

After the ceiling was done we started painting the walls. We painted 3 of the walls with vibrant white paint.

How long should you wait between coats?

We followed the Behr paint recommendation of 2 hours of dry time before we put on the second coat.

After the second coat of paint was done the light was fading in the room. We spent between 4-6 hours in the room and stopped for the day.

On the second day, we were ready to tackle our accent wall. I used Frog tape to tape the edges and the diagonal line.

My son had picked firecracker red for part of the accent wall. Red is his favorite color. My husband rolled it on while I painted the edges.

My son picked blackout black for his other accent color. My husband rolled it on while I painted the edges.

While the first coat of those colors was drying we touched up spots we missed with the vibrant white.

We waited 2 hours and then did the second coat of the firecracker red and blackout black.

How do you remove painters tape without peeling paint?

We waited until both coats of the painting were done and the paint was dry to the touch. Pulling at a 45-90 degree angle helps.

There were a few spots where the paint bled under the tape. We touched it up with vibrant white paint. I was a little nervous it would take a few coats but the primer was so good that it only took 1 round of touch-ups.

The accent wall and touch-ups took most of the second day and again the light was moving out of the room so we stopped for the day.

How long should paint dry before hanging?

We moved my son’s furniture in on day 3. Following the paint instructions, we will wait 4 weeks before we put up a couple of pictures he wants to hang on the white walls. He’s also hoping for a strip of LED lights around the top perimeter of his room.

He is so happy with how the room turned out.

Thank you Behr paint for supplying the paint to do this project. We were able to do something as a family, and we could teach him life skills in the process.

Other room painting tips:trong>

• You can sometimes speed up the process if you hire professional painters for a paint job. You’ll need to calculate labor costs over time.
• I prefer water-based paints over oil-based paint. Oil-based paints are harder to clean up.
• The size of the room and surface area will affect the length of time it takes to paint a room. (smaller room vs larger rooms)
• Eliminating things like painting doors, baseboards, and window frames as we did makes painting the room take less time.
• You’ll need to calculate the square feet of a room to determine how much paint you’ll need.
• The number of coats will affect the amount of time to paint a standard room.
• The total time it takes to dry a new coat of paint is determined by how big the room is, airflow, etc.
• Darker colors need more coats.
• If you’re comfortable with a paint sprayer you can speed up the process.
• Painting the house interior isn’t as hard as it might seem, it’s the painting time that you need to allow for, and the extra time between coats.
• Removing outlet covers and wall items like picture frames first will help save you time later.
• I like to keep the extra paint in gallons of paint for touch-ups, or missed spots.
• A small brush can help with little details.
• The humidity levels can affect the dry time.
• Place paint chips inside the room to see what the color of the paint will actually look like.
• Use a drop cloth in case of paint spills from a gallon of paint.

How Long Does It Take To Paint A Room Video

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Learn more about “Why to Deep Clean and Organize Your Home” to save money, function better, and keep your sanity. 

Check out some of my other painting projects!

• How To Paint A Bookshelf DIY
• Easy DIY Painted Sideboard
• Easy and Awesome How To Paint A Bench with Video

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