Interior painting
Interior painting, room by room
Six kinds of work, each with the prep that goes before the paint.
Walls and ceilings
Living areas, bedrooms and hallways, rolled in two coats unless the estimate says otherwise.
Holes and cracks patched
Stains sealed before color
Floors and furniture covered
Trim, doors and casings
Baseboards, window casings and doors, counted one by one in the estimate.
Caulked at the gaps
Sanded between coats
Hinges and hardware masked
Accent walls and two-tones
One strong wall, a color above a chair rail, a ceiling that picks up the trim.
Sample board first
Edges taped sharp
Sheen chosen with the color
Stairwells and tall rooms
Height changes the work, so the estimate says how we reach it.
Ladders and planks set safely
Rails and treads protected
Priced separately from flat rooms
Built-ins and shelves
Bookcases, mantels and window seats, emptied and masked before they are coated.
Cleaned and scuff-sanded
Primed for the new color
Back panels included if you ask
Move-in repaints
Whole rooms or whole houses while the rooms are bare, timed to your closing.
See the move-in weekWalk-through at the new house
Colors chosen before we start
Finished before the movers
Before the gallons
A sample board goes on your wall before we order paint
Paint looks different on a wall than in a can. We paint a two-foot board in each short-listed color and tape it up where you live, so you can see it in the morning and in the evening.
What you get
Boards stay with you for a week
We note the light in each room
The final color goes in the written estimate by name
The order of work
How a room gets painted
Five steps, in the same order in every room. Day counts are in the estimate.
- 01
Step 1: Cover
Floors, windows and vents are covered, and furniture is wrapped or moved to the middle.
- 02
Step 2: Repair
Holes patched, cracks filled, loose paint scraped and edges sanded smooth.
- 03
Step 3: Prime
Stains, patches and big color changes get a coat of primer first.
- 04
Step 4: Cut in and roll
Edges first, then the walls. Usually two coats; a dark color can take more.
- 05
Step 5: Walk through
We lift the tape with you, touch up what you point out and clean up.
Finishes
Sheens, in plain words
The estimate names a sheen for every surface. This is what the words mean.
- Ceilings
Flat
Hides bumps and flaws, and marks easily. Ceilings and low-traffic rooms.
- Most walls
Eggshell
A soft, low shine that wipes clean enough. Our usual choice for living rooms and bedrooms.
- Busy rooms
Satin
A little more shine and easier to wash. Hallways, kitchens and kids' rooms.
- Trim and doors
Semi-gloss
Hard and shiny. Trim, doors and anything that gets wiped often.
Questions about interior work
Do you move the furniture?
We move what's light and wrap what stays, and we ask you to clear shelves, walls and anything fragile. The estimate says what we'll move.
Can we stay in the house?
Yes. We work room by room and keep the kitchen and a bathroom usable where the plan allows. Paint smell fades as it dries; ask us about the product data sheet for the paint we choose.
Who buys the paint?
We do, in the colors and sheens written in the estimate. You can ask to see the product data sheet for any of them.
What's not in the estimate?
Repairs we find after the walls are open, extra colors added later and anything not listed. We tell you before doing any of it.
Start with the colors
An hour at the house, and a short list on boards you can live with.