How much to paint a room yourself?

[PrincessPerky]

We were planning on painting the kitchen this year. I cannot stand the walls and I needed something that could come clean. What we have is essentially a primer that wipes off when you try to remove food spills.

So we decided on a color range (this took a LONG time), and found a few samples, then figured we should price stuff, and pick a type of paint. Before we got that far a friend offered to wallpaper it for free (free paper too) it was leftovers from their house project. (apparently real wallpaper comes in giant rolls, buy one to many and you have a whole 'nother medium room!)

Anyway, we would like to offer them the cost of painting since we planned to do that anyway, and can prolly afford it. But we didn't get to the point of pricing.

I don't need exact, just a range assuming we had to buy most of the materials, and all the paint.

Thanks

[NDArmyGrrl]

Because it is primed it will not soak up as much paint as not primed. But you will still need to list the size of the room to figure out how many gallons of paint.

Prices can be very subjective depending on where you buy the items.

________ gallons of paint
Paint brush or two (large & small) Anywhere from $2 -$8 each depending on quality
Drip pan $1 - $5 depending on plastic or metal
Tape $1 - $5 depending on number of rolls and type
paint thinner (clean up, if using latex) $2-$5 (size of bottle)


Do you love the wall paper, Did the neighbor do a good job putting it up in their own house? Because if you are considering just wallpapering to avoid the painting, you may find yourself buying wallpaper stripper and stripping the paper off. Depending on the cost of the wallpaper it can sometimes be cheaper than painting.

[PrincessPerky]

yes they did an excellent job, and an excellent job wallpapering (for free) our bathroom.

size hmm....10ft is the one wall..the other is bigger 12ish?, but there are only 2 walls..cause of counters and the sink side is a 'pass thru' open to the living room (no chance of hiding dirty dishes!)

avg for supples sounds like <20 plus paint. no to find the cost avg for paint.

Oh and no I don't love it, but I like it and I will LOVE the fact that it is washable! odd color clean beats perfect color covered in blueberries!

[TheTexan]

I would paint versus doing wallpaper any day. If you buy an semi-gloss, you can wash that very easily. In fact, our whole house is painted in a flat Behr paint from Home Depot and everything has come off with little scrubbing. We also have a 2 1/2 year old. Paint has made significant imporvements in the past few years. But, purchase a good brand.

[NDArmyGrrl]

With it being only two walls and the fact it is already primed you could possibly get by with only one gallon, you will never know until you actually put the paint to the wall. Plus different colors might need additional coats depending on the color on the wall now and the color you are painting.

One gallon of paint depending on what brand , kind and where you buy can run from $ 10 - $20 . It can run even more but if you are paying more than that in my area you are not price checking. You could call the places where you found the paint sample and ask how much a gallon would run you.

[PrincessPerky]

cool Thanks for the info.

[nanamom]

i get the impression form your initial question that you want to pay them for doing your kitchen in their wallpaper. having just painted a couple rooms I discovered that paint, even really good paint really isn't very expensive. Maybe you could offer free babysitting or take them out to dinner in exchange or to the local science center or....Barter is wonderful.

[anonymous_saver]

Well we painted our large 1-bedroom apartment with high ceilings for about $150 total including all of the supplies. That is, we painted the kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom, bathroom, and hallways for that much. It feels much more like a home, and we love it. Well worth the cost.

I would estimate that it couldn't possibly cost you more than $50 for your kitchen. Could be less though depending on what kind of stuff you buy!

[cicy33]

I am in the middle of painting and definitely for one room around $50 would be fair.

[layla 17]

$50 seems about right for a room IMHO too. That's generally what the price has been to me in the past. I find that painting my rooms gives me more of a sense of accomplishment and makes my home feel...well homier.