Interior painting for houses and flats

What does interior house painting cover?

Interior painting usually means walls, ceilings and woodwork: skirting boards, doors, frames, architraves and windows. Some people want the whole house done, which we plan as a full property repaint; others want one room refreshed before a sale or a new arrival. Both are normal jobs, and the scope is set room by room so you only pay for the surfaces you choose.

If you want more detail on a particular surface, the wall painting and woodwork painting pages go further.

Preparation is most of the job

A good finish depends on what happens before the first coat. On a typical room that means moving and covering furniture, sheeting floors, filling cracks and holes, sanding filler flush, caulking gaps where skirting meets the wall, and spot-priming repairs so they do not show through as dull patches.

Older houses need more of this. Lath-and-plaster walls in Victorian and Edwardian homes move over time, so hairline cracks around door frames and along ceiling joints are common. They are raked out and filled rather than painted over, because a crack that is only bridged with emulsion tends to reappear within months.

Choosing the right paint for each surface

• Walls: a matt emulsion hides imperfections best; a durable or scrubbable matt suits kitchens, children's rooms and hallways.
• Ceilings: a flat-matt emulsion, which reduces glare and shows fewer flaws (see ceiling painting).
• Kitchens and bathrooms: a moisture-resistant emulsion with a slight sheen that copes with steam.
• Woodwork: water-based eggshell or satin stays white and dries quickly; oil-based gloss gives a harder, traditional finish but yellows over time, especially away from daylight.

Paint can be supplied by us, using trade-quality products, or by you if you already have a brand and colour in mind; the paint calculator shows roughly how many litres a room needs.

Painting flats and maisonettes

Flats bring their own logistics. We ask up front about lifts, the number of flights of stairs, where a van can stop and whether the street is in a controlled parking zone. Much of central Ealing, West Ealing and Acton is, so a visitor permit or paid bay is usually needed and is built into the quote.

Inside the flat, work is normally done room by room so you keep a bedroom and bathroom usable. In a maisonette, the internal staircase is often the slowest part because of its height and the woodwork on it.

If your flat is in a block, the communal hallways and the outside face of your front door usually fall under the freeholder or managing agent, so check your lease before changing their colour. Flat entrance doors are often fire doors, so their seals and closers are left untouched. Converted Victorian houses can have split-level rooms and awkward half-landings; these are noted when the job is scoped.

How long does it take, and can you stay at home?

Most interior jobs are done with the household in place. A single room typically takes one to three days depending on preparation and the number of coats; a whole flat or house is planned in stages. Water-based paints are touch-dry in a couple of hours and have little smell, which makes living alongside the work straightforward.

Beds, sofas and wardrobes are moved to the middle of the room and covered rather than taken out, so it helps to clear pictures, ornaments and anything fragile beforehand. Our guide on preparing your home before the painters arrive has a short checklist.

What does interior painting cost?

The price depends on the number of rooms, their size and ceiling height, the condition of the surfaces and how much woodwork is included. As an example, a two-bedroom flat interior typically comes to £3,400–£5,150, and a three-bedroom house interior typically comes to £6,440–£9,990. Period houses with high ceilings, deep skirting and several panelled doors sit towards the upper end.

For a figure based on your own rooms, the Instant Quote gives an indicative range from your answers and photos. A decorator then reviews it and confirms a fixed quote, sometimes after a short video call or visit.