What does it cost to paint a room in Baltimore County?
The average cost to paint a 12'x12' room in Baltimore County can range from $350, to just paint the walls, up to around $1,200 to paint the room in its entirety. Obviously, there are several reasons why these numbers might go up or down. Let's go through a number of those reasons and see if we can’t also save a couple of bucks along the way!
Don't worry, these same pricing principles apply to all parts of Maryland, so if you live in Harford County, Carrol County, or Howard County there's no need to feel left out.
(And for my DIY'ers out there, here are my 7 best time-saving steps for painting a room like a pro!)
Reasons to Paint
First things first. Why do you want to paint your room in the first place? If you're like me, you’ve just moved into a new home and while there are many things to love about your new place, the colors on the walls aren’t one of them. I mean come on, pink walls went out of style in the ’80s. Painting the walls can have a dramatic effect on the feel of your home and the best part is that the turnaround time is almost immediate. Let’s be honest, we all love instant gratification.
Another scenario you might find yourself in is one where the colors are already perfect for you, but it’s been 8 years since you painted last. Now, instead of relaxing in your home, your eyes are constantly being drawn to scuff marks running down your stairwell. Or worse yet the dreaded fingerprints on the wall! We’ve all been there before and at the end of it all, every one of us is wondering the same question: what is it going to cost to have someone paint my house?
Factors that Affect the Price
At this point, the first thing you probably did was grab your phone so that you can ask Google the age-old question, “what does it cost to paint a room?” To your dissatisfaction, you probably got a ton of really confusing articles that gave you a tiny bit of information about the actual cost and a ton of information about who you should hire. Let’s try to clear up some of that, and put it into a concise article that is easy to follow.
As a general rule of thumb the more surfaces you would like to paint, the more expensive your project is going to be. Surfaces include:
Walls
Ceilings
Baseboards
Window trim
Doors and trim
Chair rail molding
Crown molding
A standard room typically has only 2 windows, 2 doors (entry and closet), and will not have things like crown molding and chair rail molding.
Now that we've established what a typical room looks like, we can begin to get a sense of what your actual room is going to cost to paint. Let’s take a standard 12’x12’ bedroom with little to no damage on the wall and ceiling. If you were looking to paint that bedroom from top to bottom you could expect to pay in the ballpark of $1100. Wrapped into that price will include all of your paint and materials such as rollers, tape, and the plastic needed to cover any furniture left in the room. For this price, you can expect to use high-end paint, such as Sherwin-Williams Emerald or Duration, that will stand the test of time and more importantly, kids.
By comparison, if you simply needed someone to come and paint the walls, you could expect to pay around $450 for a similarly high-end paint.
Other factors that can affect the price are:
How damaged the surfaces are; will they need repairs?
How intricate the trim work is
Quality of the paint
Extra doors and windows
How high the ceilings are
If your room is sporting extra trim work, such as crown molding, and has extra doors and windows, a similar project as the one mentioned above could run in the ballpark of $1,400.
How to Save Some Money
Let get to the good stuff. How can we actually save some money when painting a bedroom? I’ve got several tips that can help you save a pretty significant amount of money on your project and they all follow the same principle: time is money! We’ve all heard that saying and I’m sure we’ve all learned just how true it actually is. The best way to save money when hiring a painting contractor is to do everything you can to save them some time on your project. Here are several things you can do and the best thing is they are all really simple.
- Remove all lamps and trinkets from dresser tops to a safe place outside of the room
- Remove any picture frames or paintings from walls to a safe place outside of the room
- Remove curtains and curtain rods as well as blinds if possible
- Push large furniture to the middle of the room (if you can)
- Clean baseboards, doors, and window sills to remove dust
- Remove electrical outlet and light switch covers
If you go out of your way to do these things, you can expect to save around 10% on your project. The next thing you should do is take a good look at your room, more specifically, take a look at the ceilings and trim. Generally speaking, unless there has been a leak in the roof or some other uncommon incident, the ceilings are usually clean. If you decide that your ceilings are clean you may have just saved yourself $250. The same thing is true about the trim. For $10 you could get a box of magic erasers and you might find that all your trim needed was a good old-fashioned scrub down. And just like that, you saved another $200. If you take these steps, you will find that you can stretch your dollar to the maximum when hiring a painter.
Lastly, one great way to save money is to do more than one room at a time. An entire room might cost $1100, but two similar rooms could run you around $1,800 which saves you $300 ($150 per room).
1 room | $1100 |
2 room | $1,800 | save $300
4 room | $3600 | save $800
A Word of Warning
I want to take a moment to give a word of warning. We all love getting a good deal. But always keep in mind what we mentioned earlier: time is money. If the price you receive from a contractor seems exceptionally low, remember to tell yourself, time is money. In general, an estimate is a direct reflection of the amount of time and effort the painter is intending to spend on your project. Be careful about asking for direct discounts on the work, since depending on the contractor, you may be unknowingly agreeing to have the contractor do less work or rush through your project.
Summary
In summary, there are a lot of factors that can affect the price of your project such as how much of the room you would like to paint, the height of the ceilings, and how intricate the trim work is. But there are also a lot of things you can do to save money on your project. After considering these tips, I'm sure you have a better idea of the cost to paint a room!
Looking for help with your paint project? If you live in Maryland and you're looking to work with one of the best painters in Baltimore County, feel free to reach out to us at Aurora Painting! Schedule a call below!