5 Questions to Ask About Interior Painting or Staining

Painting the interior of your home, whether an accent wall, one room, the whole thing, or anything in between, brings new life to the space while staining trim work and accents polishes the space. Interior painting and staining are excellent projects for those looking to transform their home's interior without a huge budget. Hiring a pro to help will ensure everything looks perfect and is done correctly. Here are the painting questions to discuss with a pro before starting a painting or staining project.

1. When do you need this work done?

Interior painting projects require some planning before the work begins, especially if you’re hiring a painting pro near you. You'll have to give up access to some or all of the rooms involved during the project to make sure you’re not in the painter’s way. While most modern interior paints are low-VOC or don’t contain any VOCs, sleeping in a bedroom with new paint on the walls can be unpleasant. Talk with your contractor to develop a timeline for the work if you're updating many rooms in the home and coordinate your schedule accordingly.

2. Which rooms need to be painted?

The cost to paint or stain the interior of a house depends on volume. The square footage your project covers will determine much of the overall job cost. However, if you plan to paint multiple rooms, you can often take advantage of price breaks and timing conveniences by doing several rooms simultaneously. The same is true for staining projects, like doing trim work in several rooms. While the total job cost increases as you add square feet, the cost on a percentage basis will be lower because your professional is already onsite.

3. What needs to be painted or stained?

The cost to paint a room is influenced by the type of room you’re working with and even the elements within the space. It also affects the timeline and specifics of the project. For example, painting a kitchen takes more time and labor than painting a wide-open living room simply due to the number of items your painter must work around or move during the process. For this reason, painting a kitchen will cost more than a living room, with all other factors being equal. Include every paintable or stainable surface in the rooms you're updating in the discussion with your painter. 

4. What is your budget for the project?

Many factors go into determining how much your painting project costs. That’s good news for homeowners looking to make a project budget work. You can help manage job costs by discussing the pricing variables involved in your project with your painting contractor well before work starts. Go over each line item, if possible, to determine a project scope that works for you and your wallet.

5. Are there any extras you want to add to the project?

While interior painting and staining alone can give your home a massive facelift, consider discussing other features you may wish to add to the space to make it pop even more. If your painting project is part of a larger vision, consider discussing the addition of new fixtures, trim work, and accents like crown molding with your contractor. You can even work with your painter's schedule and coordinate the best times to remove old fixtures and install new ones.