How Much Does Interior Painting Cost in 2026? (Per Room & Per Sq Ft)
How Much Does Interior Painting Cost in 2026? Interior painting costs $3.75 per square foot for walls only and $6.75 per square foot for walls, trim, and ceilings in 2026. A whole-house repaint for a typical 2,000 sq ft home runs $4,200-$11,500 depending on scope, paint quality, and your regional labor market. Labor accounts for 70-80% of every professional painting quote, which means the painter you hire matters far more than the paint you pick. Last fall I managed a full interior repaint on a 1960s colonial in suburban Philadelphia -- 2,400 square feet of living space, 9-foot ceilings on the first floor, 8-foot on the second. The painter's quote came in at $7,800 for walls, trim, and ceilings throughout. Paint alone was $1,100 (22 gallons of Sherwin-Williams Duration at $52/gallon). The remaining $6,700 was pure labor, and $1,400 of that went to wall prep alone because plaster walls in...
Drywall Calculator Guide: Sheets, Mud, Tape & Cost for Any Room
Drywall Calculator Guide: Sheets, Mud, Tape & Cost for Any Room A standard 12x12 room needs approximately 18 sheets of 4x8 drywall for walls and ceiling. Each 4x8 sheet covers 32 square feet, and a typical room with 8-foot ceilings requires about 576 square feet of wall area plus 144 square feet of ceiling. Factor in 10-15% waste for cuts around doors, windows, and outlets, and you get a reliable material estimate before heading to the lumberyard. When I drywalled my first basement two years ago -- 850 square feet of open space with a drop ceiling grid -- I ordered 22 sheets of 4x8 and thought I had plenty. I was wrong about the joint compound. I ran through 3 gallons in two days and had to make an emergency run for 2 more, which set me back half a day and $45. That project taught me that accurate...