If you get two quotes for the same interior repaint and one is far cheaper, you are almost certainly not being quoted the same job. Rolling paint onto a wall is quick. Everything that happens before it is what takes the time, and it is also everything that decides whether the room still looks right in a year.
It starts with clearing and protecting. Furniture gets moved to the middle of the room or out of it, and whatever stays gets covered properly rather than draped. Floors are protected wall to wall, not just where someone expects to stand — the drip you do not notice is the one that lands three feet from the ladder. Outlet and switch plates come off rather than getting masked around, because a plate painted at the edge always looks like a plate painted at the edge.
Then the surfaces get made good. Nail holes and dents are filled. Cracks are opened up slightly so the filler has something to hold onto, filled, and sanded flush. Any patch of previously glossy paint is scuffed so the new coat has a key. Where trim meets wall, and where wall meets ceiling, the gaps get caulked — this is the single biggest visual difference between a professional interior and a DIY one, and it costs almost nothing but time.
Stains need blocking, not covering. Water marks, smoke, marker, crayon and knots in bare trim will all bleed straight back through a normal topcoat, sometimes within hours and sometimes over a week. They have to be sealed with a stain-blocking primer first. Painting a water stain with three coats of wall paint does not hide it; it just costs you three coats.
Only then does colour go on, and it goes on in a particular order: ceilings first, then walls, then trim and doors last. Edges are cut in by hand with a brush — a steady line at the ceiling and around the trim is the mark of the job — and the fields are rolled to keep the texture even. Two full coats, with real drying time between them. One thick coat is not the same thing as two, and one thin coat over a colour change will look fine while it is wet and patchy by evening.
There are a few things you can do before we arrive that genuinely speed things up. Take down pictures, mirrors, curtains and their rods. Empty shelving and clear the tops of furniture. Move anything fragile or irreplaceable out of the room entirely — we cover everything, but nothing is as safe as being somewhere else. If you have pets, plan where they will be, because doors get propped and rooms get walked through all day.
Have a think about sheen as well as colour, because it matters more than people expect. Flat hides imperfections on a big wall but marks easily. Eggshell and satin wipe clean, which is why they belong in hallways, kitchens and children's rooms. Semi-gloss goes on trim and doors, where it takes the knocks and reads as a deliberate contrast to the walls. And look at your colour samples on the actual wall, at different times of day, before committing — north-facing rooms in particular pull colours much cooler than the chip suggests.
Jireh Painting and Remodeling does interior painting, trim and built-in finishing across Northeast Georgia and Oconee County, South Carolina. Free written quotes — call (678) 365-7004.