Ok, I have been agonizing over choosing paint colors for my condo in phx, I think I am almost set. I picked a neutral “sand dollar” color from dunn edwards, after buying 30 different cans of beige. I am planning on painting most of the hall/living room that color but worry about it being too “beige” I will eventually pull the carpet out and put hardwood which will help. So here are a few pictures, and a few questions on my incertity if anyone is good with that stuff. I definitly like warm colors and plan to accessorize with curtain and pillow in the red/gold family.
On this picture you can see the ugly green that will be cover up. The kitchen in the back. So if I do the kitchen mustard (or keep it sand dollar?) what color do i print the pole? And the back of the breakfast bar area? I am thinking of that back wall there being red like shown but more of a brick red.
Do I leave the bookcase white or paint it beinge? What about the back of it? a darker ebige? The mustard or red?
This is the kitchen. will the mustard be too bold?
Look how crazy i went with the beige. sand dollar is in on the leftnot too dark but brighter thatn the lightest color
I have more pictures to upload, does anyone have any input?
BID: The place is 1724 sp ft, my bid is 2500$ with 2 coats of paint including garage but not trim and door stay. with trim and door stay it’s 2955$. does that seem reasonnable? He will clean before and after as well and supply all the supplies.
I wouldn’t put mustard near beige, not enough contrast. I, myself, am a fan of rich color. I painted most of my apartment chocolate brown. Its beautiful and I get compliments on it all the time.
The place is 1724 sp ft, my bid is 2500$ with 2 coats of paint including garage but not trim and door stay.
I have no idea if that’s expensive or not…I do know that I’m in the wrong business once again. I need to become a plumber or painter or something.
~Matt
Edit to add: On a side note my Brother and Sister in law has had some painting done. Not quite to that extent and they supplied the paint, but it didn’t strike me as being that expensive. At 2500$ and 500$ on supplies that leaves 2K. At 60$ an hour thats 33hrs. Then again maybe that’s not too crazy, two people two days.
Edit also to add: 60$ and hour for painting seems crazy to me, but I guess that depends on the area you’re in.
Soph, to give you an idea on the bid from up here in Dayton. Our new house is 2900 sq ft. Our neighbor owns a painting business. He told me yesterday that single coat on a house like ours would be almost 5K for every room, not including the garage or celing. I thought that seemed high and talked to some guys at work who said that was “slightly high”, but still right in line with what they were paying.
Which is why I am now painting our house while the wife and baby are in TX over Labor Day.
And I’m colorblind, so don’t ask me about the colors.
hey eric, this is scottsdale, not ohio:-) I was worried about the cabinet and the mustard. I will dowload a bigger picture from home tonight. I wanted to paint a darker beige all around but chickened out because it tends to be dark in there (not much lighting) but I worry that with a beige couch, beige wall and beige carpet (carpet will go away and get replaced with darker wood floor)
should I leave the kitchen the same beige color? what about the back wall a brick color is that a good idea?
what about the back of the book case? that same beige colors? a shade darker? I appreciate the input as I seriously have spent too much time worrying and too much money buying 12$ sample of cans of paint to mess it all up.
do the back of the bookcase beige. you should think of the bookcase as you would think of trim in a room or crown molding in a room, generally leave it white, it looks much better and then if you do the beige in the back it will give it depth and definition. also, using a neutral color such as beige will enable you to change out things within the bookcases and it wont’ clash…you can go for different styles depending on what you put in the bookcases.
also, in regards to the mustard close to the beige, i would say you should rethink that. the colors are similar and also when you put a beige type next to a more yellow color, sometimes they bring out different looks in one another and you may not be pleased. i personally like a Navajo White type color which is a Benjamin Moore color. Regardless, paint the mustard next to the beige and see what you think of how the light brings out the different facets of each color. Just my personal opinion, take it or leave it and good luck, I’m sure whatever you do will look great!!!
How does this work? What does the 2$ a square foot include? Do they come in move everything out, move everything back etc?
Like I said I’m in the wrong business…again. I know this is not a “Real world” example but take a 12 x 16ft room including ceiling at 8’. Total square footage you have 640 sq ft, less windows, doors etc. so lets call it 600 sq foot. That’s 1200$. A quick estimation says around 4 gallons of paint for 2 coats. Let’s say 30$ a gallon so 120$ in paint. So labor cost is around 1080$.
I’ve done a fair amount of painting and there’s little doubt in my mind that I could paint this size of room including ceiling, taping etc in 8 hours, by myself. Granted there’s some drying time and travel etc., but I’d also guess a company that does painting would have multiple jobs so they are doing one while the paint is drying, come back etc so loss of time is minimal or minimized. IOW if 2 guys can’t paint, tape a room like this in 5 hours I’d be shocked. So 10 working hours total…which means 108.00$ an hour for painting?
Now obviously this is a bit high as your average room isn’t square, easy to paint etc., but I’d also hope that a “painter” would be faster than a non professional.
I’m just curious. What additional costs or service is there when hiring a painter that would cause the price to be that high or is the time I’m estimating out of wack?
oh man, it needs more than 8 hours… needs to be cleaned, needs furniture moved, has high ceilings in the steps, closet… the whole house, plus I am using different colors. I aske da patient of mine that is a painter, he thinks around 3000$ is not bad… I think it’s a lot myself but oh well…
Oh no my 8hrs was for my example room of a single square 12 x 16 room with ceiling painted. No doubt you’re job will take longer than that. In fact in another post at 60$ an hour less materials I figured 33 hours, or 2 guys 2 days to do yours.
Eric quoted 2$ a sq ft, which for a 12 x 16 room that takes 2 guys 5 hours to do would net 104$ an hour after materials. IOW 2$ a sq seems high to me…then again 60$ an hour seems a little steep for “painting”. Then agian I had a plumbing company try to charge me 130’ish buck an hour for running a straight line with pieced together bits of pipe he got from Menards so nothing surprises me these days.
The price is fine. There’s room for good quality paint and labor for good attention to detail, but…
A price is only as good as the person who gives it to you. 10 grand is a good price if its worth it to you and they do a good job.
Here’s a few things to look for
The contractor should take you around the entire job, asking questions, pointing out trouble spots, and generally giving you a crystal clear picture as to what they are going to do. From Prep, to the brushes used, sprayers and spray tips used, to paint quality and so on. They should give you a 60-90min tour of the job and the company. Ask questions.“how will you paint this” “does this surface need prep” “what about this dent in the door trim” “Will you be using a primer” on and on and on and on. Be clear on what is happening in your home.
INSURANCE!!! check up on the insurance. call the insurance company. Public Liability, Property Damage, Workmans comp are MUST HAVES!!!
No illegals. Its arizona, with that amount, there is plenty of room to pay a professional painter, not a rag tag crew.
For the love of god, get the best paint you can. People just dont understand how a few extra dollars do WONDERS in a gallon of paint.
With multiple colors, make sure you put the paint color or # on each surface before they start painting. I used to walk around with the costomer with a brush and paint the color # on the wall or surface to be painted. Nother is worse than walking into a job and the colors are reverse what you thought was going to happen.
I’m sure there are a great many things that people can add to this. Just be safe in choosing who does work for you. I’m in the Home Improvement biz here in the valley, and trust me, there is a TON of shitty contractors out there. In fact, there are more bad ones than good ones.
one more thing!
!!!NO MONEY DOWN!!! you can buy paint, but thats it!!! if you do buy the paint, go with the contractor to the store and pay the store, not the contractor -or- have the contractor show you the reciept form the store. They may change you a small bit for the paint, and thats ok, they had to drive to the store, pay the guy in the truck, take time out to get the colors matched and so on, but they should be able to be upfront about it. That, or its worked into the general labor of the job. You’re paying them so you wont have to do it.
If they dont have enough money to pay people to work, and get the job done to your satisfaction, you dont want them in your house.
For $2 a square foot they should move and cover everything.
They will tape everything, patch any or all holes, fix any nail pops in the wall. Any other general drywall or plaster repair that needs to be done. Caulk the entire room to ensure there are no gaps. In addition you have to cover the investment of painting supplies, (brushes, rollers, drop cloths, tape, joint compound, etc…) your analogy of $120 for a $1200 paint job is dead on, as paint cost is usually 10% of the total job cost. Surely as a business owner you know that the remaining labor dollar after materials is rarely 100% profit, as taxes, insurance and general business expenses eat into that money.
Trust me, a professional paint job done by a good painter will be a better job than you or I will ever do.
I have beige and red (more maroon-ish…but still) in my house. Looks great. Use the red as an accent: backsplash above the kitchen counter and above the cabinets. I’d paint the back of the breakfast bar red too. I think I’d use beige around the pantry door and on the “pole”.
Leave the bookcase trim all white. Use beige on the back wall of the bookcase.
good points. This guy is the boyfriend of my real estate agents daughters. He does that on the side, I don’t think he is insured, but he is cheaper apparently. he wants half upfront to buy the supplies, I don’t live there, I can’t go to store with him. I felt more comfortable since I knew the real estate agent so well, am I thinking along the right lines? I feel like it wouldn’t be in her best interest to recommend someone poor or someone that would run with my money but again, I could be naive. This guy is legal, looks very american to me.
We went thru the house and what he was going to do and not do. I know nothing about prices, just got a few quotes, his is in the ball park but I know nothing about the others contractors, and one guy didn’t speak english which i worried about since I am a bit high maintenance and don’t live there.
He said he can email me pictures of the daily progress to see what i think…
Oh… I didn’t think of putting some red in the kitchen. Not a bad idea. I picked “persimmon” which is a old restoration harware color, more like a brick red. Maybe I can add the mustard (i say mustard, but it’s like a gold wheat color) I need some warmed!!! Pillows on the couch? curtains? I dont want to be too bold but still! But that is a very good idea.
