House Interior Painting

Develop a vision. As you tour the house, write down your thoughts on color, keeping sunlight, windows, gloss and trim in mind.

• If you're preparing a house for sale, stay with neutral colors that could match any decoration or furniture.
• If you're e-savvy, take digital photographs of the rooms in question and adjust the colors with your favorite photo editing program. This will ensure you and everyone involved know exactly what the room will look like.
• If you're transforming your home for yourself, live a little. Go nuts. Like a color? Be bold. If you don't like it, guess what? You can paint it again. Feeling artistic? Plan a mural. It's your place. The only person who has to like it is you (and the people who live with you!).
• Complementary colors work well when adjacent rooms open to each other (try two shades of the same color for a neat effect). You can go for bold contrast when crossing a barrier (like a door).
• Carefully consider the gloss level. The shiny gloss paints are easy to clean, but will make any wall blemish stand out. The flat paints will help disguise wall blemishes, but can be difficult to clean. Generally, you'll want glossier paints where there's lots of steam or cooking (baths and kitchens) and in high-traffic areas. Flatter paints are preferred for large walls and ceilings.
• Consult a professional home decorator to guide you.

Come to an agreement. There are probably others in your life who have a vested interest in your home. Get their consensus. Make a very educated guess. Estimate the area you'll need to cover. Measure the height and width of each wall. In the U.S., coverage estimates are given in square feet, everywhere else on the planet uses the metric system. To find the area of a given wall, simply multiply the height by the width.

• Keep a detailed list you and others can make sense of like "Living. Rm. west wall 112 sq. ft."
• Don't forget to subtract for windows and doors.
• As you estimate, err on the high side (round up). It's better to have too much paint than to
  run short.
• Determine the coverage area for each color and estimate the number of gallons you'll need for each.For odd walls with angled ceilings, make your best guess. If you're not comfortable doing this, measure the wall at its highest height and multiply that by its width. Now subtract the lowest height from the highest height, multiply that number by the width, cut that answer in half, and finally subtract that new number from the original height by width. That should give you the wall area.

  Formulae:

  Basic wall: F = B x H

  Wall with windows: F = B x H - (winB x winH)

  Wall with multiple windows: F = B x H - [(winB x winH) + (winB x winH)...]

  Wall with angled ceiling:
  highH x B = a
  (highH - lowH) x B = n
  F = a - n/2

  Wall with angled ceiling and a window: (a - n/2) - (winB x winH)

Costs will vary greatly, depending on price and quality. Choosing mid to upper-grade paint, expect to pay in the area of $350.00 in paint alone for a 2000 sq. ft. house. Add another $100 to $200 in brushes, rollers, pans, tape, and other materials. Don't forget food, if you plan to feed your workforce. When it comes to materials, not all paints are equal. Some truly cover with one coat, some say they do but don't. Your costs will double if you have to apply two coats to everything, so buying the cheaper paint might cost more in the long run. Trust your paint professional salesman (to a certain degree) to tell you which paint to buy. You can generally go cheap on primer, expensive on top coats.

Plan the schedule. Get a grip on the time it will take to bring the project to fruition. Plan for time to move furniture, wall prep, cut in, the painting itself, eating and breaks, and don't forget cleanup and bringing furniture back in. As you plan, err on the side of prudence. Unforeseen events will slow you down, so allow time for these. Remember, this is a multi-day project. Don't try to fit too much into a day. If you move faster than planned, great!

Plan the workforce. If you intend to not hire a professional crew, you'll need lots of help. There are many jobs to be done. First there's the furniture moving, then wall preparation, floor covering, materials gathering and prep, cleaning, and don't forget everyone will have to eat. It can easily take a team of five people a full ten days to paint a two-story (approx 2000 sq.ft.) home. Get as many people to help as you can. If some can only come one or two days, great. Maybe others can fill in. Ensure you plan with your workforce members in mind. They'll need plenty of time to arrange days away from work. Identify a few key personnel: