Want to paint your home but don’t have a ton of room in the budget? Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to bring down the price of an interior or exterior paint job. Here’s how to paint your home on a tight budget.
How Much Does Painting a Home Cost?
It’s important to know the average costs of painting a home. These figures will help you temper your expectations and set a reasonable budget and goals.
On average, you should expect to spend:
- $350 for one room
- $1,896 for the entire interior
- $3,042 for the exterior
These numbers assume that you own a home that’s roughly 2,000 square feet. Smaller homes cost less to paint, and bigger homes will cost more.
What To Do To Save Money
Saving thousands of dollars for a paint job isn’t easy. Luckily, there are several ways to bring the cost of a paint job down without sacrificing quality. Here’s how to paint your home on a tight budget.
DO Hire a Contractor
A lot of people will try to convince you that DIY is the way to go if you want to save money, but in reality, using a contractor is a much better choice. Why?
DIY painters are more prone to making expensive mistakes. And even if you don’t make any mistakes, it’s unlikely your work will match the quality of a professional’s. A quality paint job can last ten years. An amateur one may only last you one or two. Ultimately, it’s less expensive to paint your home once and be done for a decade than to repaint it every other year.
DO Your Own Prep Work and Cleanup
So you’ve decided to hire a professional? You might be able to knock a couple hundred bucks off their quote by doing the prep work and cleanup yourself.
DO Use Paint Samples
Colors look different, depending on the lighting. Most paint stores use bright, fluorescent lights that are very different from the light sources you have in your home. Take paint samples home to see what they look like under your house’s natural lighting before committing to a color. It will help you avoid costly repaints.
What Not To Do
Of course, some things can cost you money instead. Here’s what not to do if you need to paint your home on a budget.
DON’T Skimp on Materials
Cheaper materials don’t last as long as high-quality ones; they crack, chip, and discolor much more quickly. Skimping on materials now could mean spending a lot of money on touch-ups and resealing later.
DON’T Discard Leftover Paint
Don’t discard leftover paint once the job is over! Instead, store it so that you can use it for future touch-ups.
DON’T Take On More Than You Can Handle
Remember: even if your whole home could use a fresh coat, you don’t need to paint it all at once. If you only have enough in your budget to do one or two rooms, that’s totally fine! Don’t stretch your budget too far and stress yourself out by trying to take on too much at once.