How Long Does It Take To Paint A Room
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.
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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.
If you’re only painting it one color you can do it in 1 day
If you’re painting molding, doors, or an accent wall it will take 2-3 days.
If you have an accent wall it’ll add on a day.
Other factors that might make it take longer include
How many people are helping paint the room.
How big the room is
How tall the ceilings are
Is the wall a dark color, then it might take more coats to cover.
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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Love the way it turned out.
Thank you so much Pamela 🙂
wow amazing job i liked how it turned out
Thank you so much Faith, I really appreciate it. Our son absolutely loves it.
Chas, this looks great! I think your son’s smile says it all…
Thank you so much Kim, we are so proud of him and his accomplishment in this project.
Love the way it turned out.Love from South Africa
Thank you so very much Maggie, I really appreciate it. Sending hugs to you too!
The room looks great; I’m sure your son is thrilled. Just a thought, it might look good to paint the switch plate so it blends in with the wall.
Thank you so much Lauren, and he is so very happy. Thank you so much for sharing your tip of painting the switch plates, great suggestion.
Awesome accent wall. I agree cover plate should match.
You’re so sweet, thank you so much Alice 🙂
It Looks AWESOME! Great job!
Thank you SO much Bonnie, he is thrilled with how it turned out 🙂
FYI… many years ago I bought a bedspread and matching curtains that were plaid. I figured out how to paint an accent wall in that plaid!!! It took three different roller widths and 3 colors in addition to the white background. I took one of the curtains to the paint store and they matched the paint exactly for me. I regret not taking a photo of the finished project. It was awesome!
Thank you so much for sharing Alice, I would have loved to see that – sounds amazing!
Looks amazing! I was a little concerned when I first saw the red color but I really like the diagonal design! Great Job! Everyone looks so happy!
Thank you so much Leota. My husband was afraid of the project too, and we’re thrilled with how it turned out.
Fantastic job! The colors were very intense, but they work so well with the diagonal white stripe. Excellent!
Thank you so much Kay, and this is what my husband was resisting too. I reminded him, it’s just paint and my son loves it.
Chas, I am so happy you involved your son in the process. It’s such a great life skill to do your own work. So much of successful painting is the prep-taping, edge work, etc. The room looks so fresh and cheerful. I agree, what you think is white paint is some duller version. Thanks for sharing all the great tips. I also didn’t know you had to wait 4 weeks to put things on the wall. I guess I should read labels more often!
Thank you so much Mary, and we are so glad he learned this life skill as well. Wasn’t that original paint something??? It has made me really want to paint the rest of our house and get rid of that old white. Every paint has a different wait time for hanging, and I don’t always remember to read that either.
Wow! What a difference. His room looks awesome! The best part is that you did it as a family and he’s learning something that he’ll have the rest of his life. I love how you explained everything in precise detail. Those things are important. I can see that your Colin is loving the new look of his room. Great job!
Thank you so much Linda. We are so proud of him for helping and learning what it takes to paint. Collin is loving his room, and that brings joy to my heart. Sending hugs friend.
Yes the best part is you did it as a family. It looks greatl!!! You have to teach kids, I think its wonderful wish I had more time with my Dad he knew everything great advice he was very smart, good lessons and he likes it, even better!!!
Thank you so much Debbie, and I’m so glad we spent the family time together doing this. Building memories is what it’s all about and the skill learning is a bonus 🙂
Love the room and what a great family project. Looks like a teenage boy’s bedroom! Awesome!
Thank you so much Susan, he is so thrilled with how it turned out. In fact he loves it so much, it’s hard to get him out of there…. or is that just teenager thing lol.
Excellent job you guys! I love the diagonal lines and blocks of color! Really cool!!
Thank you so much Barbara, it was so great doing this project together and building memories. I am so pleased that you like the look too 🙂
I really love the way it turned out. The room is transformed from a little boy’s room into a teenage guy’s room. Awesome! I love the colors chosen for the room. Congratulations to you all for making it a family project.
Thank you so much Loren for your kind words. We really enjoyed this project and how it turned out. My son is so very happy and we loved building the memories with him.
Hi Colin and Chas,
Who says bold colors cannot work together? I think it’s terrific that you trusted yourself enough to give this a try and as your Mom said, it’s only paint, so you can paint over it. In this case however, you went from a child’s room to a hip, masculine teenagers room! Many teens get embarrassed by letting their family help with a project, but not you and I bet you will fondly remember this make-over for years to come – Brilliant!
Rich
Maine
Thank you so much for your very kind words Rich. We are so very proud of Collin and his accomplishments. Learning a life skill and building memories, I couldn’t ask for more. He is so very happy with how it turned out and we are too. Hugs to you
A really impressive outcome that I would have been very hesitant to try. Kudos to all involved and all the trust/love it took to get the job done. I believe in contrast walls… we even call the rooms by the color of the contrast wall color. but it never crossed my mind to have a wall like this. Very stylish, very well imagined and brought to fruition.
Thank you so much Tiana. I love that you call rooms by their color, what a great idea. We are so proud of him and he loves how it turned out.
What a great job and transformation Chas! I love that your son was part of it, I’m sure it made him appreciate it even more. Looks like he likes how it turned out too.
Thank you so much Kim, it was great building memories with him 🙂