Full property repainting

When a whole-property repaint makes sense

Painting everything at once is usually more economical per room than doing the same rooms one at a time over several years. Materials are bought together, sheeting goes down once, and colours can be planned across the whole home so halls, landings and rooms work together.

The common triggers are buying a home and wanting it done before you unpack, preparing a property for sale or letting, and finishing a renovation or extension. It is also worth considering when every room is showing wear at the same time; our guide on how often to repaint a house covers the signs.

Moving in or moving out

An empty property is the quickest to paint. With no furniture to move, a decorator can work across several rooms, letting coats dry in one while working in the next. If you are between exchange and moving day, share your dates; the work can be planned back from when the removal van arrives.

When you are selling, neutral walls and fresh woodwork photograph well and hide the marks left by pictures and furniture. When you are buying a period house in Ealing, the weeks before you move in are often the only time it is completely clear, so it is the moment to tackle tall stairwells, ceilings and joinery that are awkward to reach once you are living there. If you are leaving a rented home instead, painting rooms back to their original colour is covered under end-of-tenancy painting.

Painting after renovation or building work

New plaster must dry fully before it is painted. As a rough guide that takes several days to a few weeks, depending on thickness, heating and ventilation. It should be an even, pale pink with no darker damp patches. Painting too early traps moisture, which leads to peeling and blistering.

Bare plaster then needs a mist coat: a thinned first coat of a breathable matt emulsion that soaks in and gives the following coats something to grip. Vinyl and silk emulsions are not suitable for this, as they sit on the surface and can peel away.

Building dust is the other problem. It settles on every surface, so walls are wiped down and woodwork is sanded and dusted before painting. If other trades are still sanding or cutting in the house, the final coats should wait until they have finished.

How the rooms are sequenced

1. Ceilings first, so drips and spatter land on walls that have not yet been painted.
2. Walls next, with filling and a mist coat where needed.
3. Woodwork last in each room, so the cut-in lines are crisp and nothing is marked by later work.
4. Hall, stairs and landing at the end, because they carry the most traffic while everything else is being done.

In an occupied home, rooms are grouped so that at least one bedroom and the bathroom are usable each night.

Living in the property during a full repaint

You can live at home while the whole place is painted. Water-based paints are low in odour and dry quickly, and furniture is moved from room to room rather than into storage. What helps most is agreeing the order of rooms in advance and clearing cupboards, bookshelves and ornaments from the next room before the decorator reaches it.

Oil-based woodwork paint is the exception. It smells for longer and takes most of a day to dry, so if you choose it, bedrooms are best done when you can sleep elsewhere for a night.

What does a full repaint cost?

A full repaint is priced from the rooms, not a flat rate. As an example, repainting the whole interior of a two-bedroom flat typically costs £3,400–£5,150, and a three-bedroom house typically £6,440–£9,990. Victorian and Edwardian houses in Ealing, with tall ceilings, cornicing and a lot of original joinery, tend to sit at the top of those ranges, while a 1930s semi in Greenford or Perivale often sits lower. The prices page explains how figures like these are built up.

Use the Instant Quote to add each room and upload photos. You get an indicative range straight away, and a decorator follows up with a fixed quote.