Painting an interior is a great idea if you are selling your home or want to increase it’s value without breaking the bank.
If you’re not selling and you plan on making it your “forever home”, then you may be wondering…
How often should you paint your home’s interior if you want to get the best out of your home and live your best life?
The answer is more complicated than only one number for your entire interior. Let’s look at it on a room-by-room basis.
How Often Should I Paint My Living Room?
This is one of the most commonly used rooms in your home, and you are definitely going to benefit from painting it more often than some others. When a room looks good, it does wonders for your stress levels and helps you to better relax.
A living room is going to need more durable paint to deal with the daily wear and tear that a living room will deal with. You also want to choose a higher quality paint that will look amazing to both you and your guests.
How often: every 5-7 years.
How Often Should I Paint My Dining Room?
If you have a separate dining room, then you want to ensure that it looks great, as you are going to be using it as a focal point in your home where guests are going to spend a lot of time. The more time that someone spends in a room, the more that they are going to notice any imperfections.
Even if you use lower-quality paint in this room, it is still going to survive longer than many other rooms in your home, but even the slightest crack or fading can detract from the overall experience of the room, so we recommend painting it at the same time as your living room.
How often: every 5-7 years.
How Often Should I Paint My Bathrooms?
Bathrooms need durable paint or you are going to have to paint them every year. While you do not need to use waterproof paint for the entire room, it is recommended to do so to protect the walls. Some walls are going to be splashed, and others are going to be covered in condensation at times.
Bathrooms are not the most used room in the house, but they are the one that takes the most wear due to their use, so be prepared to paint them more frequently.
How often: every 3-4 years.
How Often Should I Paint My Kitchen?
Along with bathrooms, kitchens are rooms that are not used extensively but there are many factors that contribute to them needing to be painted more frequently. Because there is always food in your kitchen, there is a greater chance of walls becoming stained, and more moisture means more fading and damage, even on the ceiling.
Opt for durable paint to paint less frequently, but plan to paint at the same time as the bathroom.
How often: every 3-4 years.
How Often Should I Paint My Hallways?
Hallways connect all of your rooms, so they do have high traffic at times, but they are not in constant use. Yet, that food traffic means a lot of movement and when people are moving quickly through rooms, there is more chance of the walls becoming dinged, scratched, and scuffed. Even thinking about how everything is moved through your home, you can see how easily hallway walls can become damaged.
Hallways are painted often because of damage more than wear and tear.
How often: every 2-3 years.
How Often Should I Paint My Ceilings?
Ceilings are not going to suffer from foot traffic, damage, spills, or almost anything else. A kitchen ceiling can start to become stained if you do a lot of cooking, so pay particular attention above your stove, but you should be able to touch up parts if it’s stained.
Ceilings get dirty from rising air that moves dust and dirt. Ceilings will become dirty over time but not quite at the rate of the other surfaces in your home, and all of the rooms in your house can have their ceilings painted at the same time.
How often: every 10 years.
How Often Should I Paint My Interior Trim?
Baseboards are easily scuffed, and they are there both to protect the joining of the wall and floor, while also remaining decorative. Both features promote regular painting. As they are regularly painted white, dirt, scuffs, scratches, stains, and everything else shows up very easily. For this reason, they are painted often.
You can judge baseboards by the room that they are in, but we still recommended painting them all at the same time just for ease and so that you do not forget to do some parts and create a stark contrast.
How often: every 2-4 years.
Three Things To Keep In Mind When Interior Painting
Painting your home should be easy, and it can be with our three simple tips. Follow one, or follow them all to take the difficulty out of painting your home.
Know How Much Paint You Need
Before you begin to paint your home, check to see how much paint you need. It might also be a good idea to compromise on color choices so that you can use the same colors in different rooms and cut down on any potential waste.
There is nothing worse than getting halfway through the job and having to go out and buy more paint. Second to that is finishing the job and realizing that you have too much.
Take the extra time to calculate how much paint you need, and add 10% just in case.
Go For Quality
While cheaper paint may seem like a good deal, you are only costing yourself more money in the long run.
Cheaper paint is cheaper for a reason. It will usually take more coats of cheaper paint to cover a wall, so you will need more of it, and it will not last as long, so you are going to have to repaint more frequently.
Always Consider Hiring Professionals
The ultimate tip to ensure that interior painting always goes smoothly is to hire a professional contractor. By investing a little money in labor, you will be receiving a flawless finish, attention to detail, and painted surfaces that will last.
If any problems arise as the interior is being painted, professionals can solve them easily as they have probably done so a thousand times before.
Final Thoughts
Painting your home interior is definitely a job when you should consider the professionals, but it is also a job that you can do by yourself if you put in the time, effort, and money.
By painting multiple rooms at the same time and sticking to a schedule, you are going to make the job a lot easier. And, always invest in quality over quantity.
