When to paint your home’s interior

We all know what the exterior paint on homes in the Reno area is up against with rain, wind, sun, heat, and cold affecting the life of the paint job. On the interior it’s a different story, here it’s a question of fading, scuffing, fingerprints, wall dings, scratched-up trim, pets, cooking, smoke, etc.

When you paint the outside of your house you almost always paint the entire house. With the interior, you have flexibility and can paint as needed in groups of rooms or areas based on the amount of wear they experience.

So which rooms get the worst of it?

Children’s bedrooms – Does this even need explaining? Think crayons, makers, hurled toys, wrestling and dancing moves gone wrong, etc. and you get the picture. As a result, kids’ bedrooms take the top spot. Kids don’t just sleep in their rooms, they are playrooms and hangout rooms as well, so they get a lot of use.

One thing about painting children’s bedrooms to remember is that by the time they have done the most damage to their walls they are probably ready to have the room repainted in a color they might want a say in choosing. As they get older the pink and light blue may be outgrown and ready for a tween or teenage makeover anyway.

The upside is that these rooms aren’t really public and so it’s easy to just pull the door shut when company comes, which is not something you can do in a family room.

Over the life of your kid’s room as it goes from nursery to little kid’s room to big kid’s room it’s normal to repaint it 3 times. You should use wall paint made for easy clean-up, with an eggshell or satin finish that can withstand scrubbing.

Bathrooms – Bathroom painting takes second place on the list simply because of the amount of moisture a bathroom gets exposed to. There is a reason that most newer bathrooms are clad in moisture and mold-resistant sheetrock. Having a good bathroom vent helps but the paint in the bathroom is constantly being pried off the walls by high humidity. How often should you paint a bathroom? Every 3-5 years is a good range if you want to keep it looking nice.

Kitchens – between the food, the fumes, the traffic, and the fingerprints kitchen walls take a pounding. How bad is it? Most people now tile the space between counters and cabinets to protect the walls from food flying during meal prep. Not only are the walls subject to more abuse but the ceilings get discolored more rapidly in the kitchen than anywhere else. Kitchen Painting is recommended just as often with 3-5 years being a good time frame.

Hallways and entranceways – wherever there is traffic there are going to be scuffs and dings. It isn’t any more complicated than that. Hallway walls and hallway trim aren’t protected by furniture, you are in motion, carrying things right next to the walls, and over time the scuffs and scratches build up. Painting hallways, entranceways, and stairways is something you would normally include with another painting project so plan to treat these areas as add-ons to another paint job rather than a separate project unless you have had some real damage occur.

Family rooms – painting a family room or a living room every 5-7 years is probably called for given that at least some of the walls are protected by furniture but it’s also where everyone gathers, pets included, so it’s a high-traffic area.

Adult bedrooms – painting bedrooms is called for less frequently than almost any room so it’s likely to get painted when you no longer care for the color as often as it’s painted as a requirement due to wear.

Formal dining rooms and formal living rooms. Do you have these two rooms in your house? The ones for company and special occasions only? Since they get little use, dining room painting and living room painting are more for decoration than necessity but like hallways, you might add them into another painting project simply for a style change.

Any room that admits a lot of light through large windows (dining rooms, family rooms, living rooms, and even some kitchens) is subject to uneven paint fading from constant exposure to sunlight. Not sure if your paint has faded? Just move a picture or piece of furniture to see how bad you have it.

Note that whenever you paint a room you should always paint the trim at the same time. Any room that has walls in need of fresh paint probably needs trim painting at the same time. Trim, especially door and baseboard trim, literally exists to protect the walls and entrances to each room. Without baseboard trim, your walls would be a target for every mop, broom, and vacuum cleaner that comes along, right?

Last but not least are your ceilings – These are subject to less denting and dinging but can take an occasional hit from an exploding soda or broom handle. The biggest challenge for ceilings comes from slow discoloration due to cooking fumes and indoor air pollution. You should consider ceiling painting every other time you paint a room or about every ten years. The most common choice is flat white and after ten years your rooms will look dramatically brighter once a fresh coat is applied.

If this seems like a lot of different age ranges and you think it would require nearly annual visits from professional house painters it doesn’t have to be. A good approach is to do rooms in groups. This limits the disruption and saves you money because you are likely to get a better deal from a painter when you are offering up a larger job.

Find a happy medium and consider painting your house by halves or by floors if it’s a two-story home. You can group all the bedrooms, bathrooms, and the hallway together or group the kitchen, family room, and bathrooms together. Walk through your house and see which walls you would draw the line at. That can be a single project. Can you have the entire interior painted in one go? Sure, but it isn’t the only approach so don’t let the idea of interior house painting grow into a home improvement mega-project in your mind when it can be two or more quick projects over a decade.

To get professional advice about dividing up your house to conquer its painting requirements contact the pros at CertaPro of Reno. We are happy to give your house a look and add in the rooms that make the most sense to paint as a group and at different price points.  Call us at 775-851-8575 or fill out our online form to schedule a free estimate today.