Painting a Single Room in Phoenix

Prep is most of the job

A good paint job is mostly what happens before the paint. Nail holes and dings get filled and sanded. Cracks get taped, not just filled, so they stay closed. Gaps between the trim and the wall get caulked. Stains get a stain-blocking primer so they don't bleed through. Glossy trim gets sanded so the new paint grips. Outlets and switch plates come off rather than get painted around.

Then the floors and furniture get covered, the edges get cut in by hand, and the walls get rolled. Two coats on the walls is standard. One coat looks fine the day it's done and shows roller marks a month later.

Accent walls

An accent wall is a quick way to change a room, and a quick way to make it look wrong. Dark colors need a tinted primer or they take three or four coats. The edge where the accent color meets the neighboring wall has to be sharp, and that's a taping and cutting-in job. We'll tell you which wall makes sense as an accent: usually the one you see first from the door, with no windows or doors breaking it up.

Ceilings

Ceilings get painted less often than walls and show it. A ceiling that's gone yellow or gray makes the walls look dull. Flat white ceiling paint, rolled in one direction, is the standard. A ceiling with water stains gets the stains primed first. A ceiling with a lot of patches may need the texture matched before paint.

Hallways and stairwells

Hallways take the most wear in the house and have the most doors and trim to cut around. Stairwells have the tall wall that needs a ladder or a plank to reach.

Picking a color and sheen

Flat or matte on ceilings. Eggshell on bedroom and living room walls, because it hides imperfections and still wipes clean. Satin in kitchens, bathrooms and hallways, where walls get washed. Semi-gloss on trim and doors. Bring us a swatch, or tell us the room and we'll bring a few.

Phoenix light is strong, and a color that looks right on a chip looks lighter and warmer on a wall in afternoon sun. A sample patch on the wall for a day is worth the wait.

How it starts

Send a few photos of the room, tell us the color if you've picked one, and say whether the ceiling and trim are included. We send back a fixed price, you say go, and Levi shows up to do it.