Interior painting in Del Mar

Walls inside a Del Mar home come to $3 to $7 a square foot. A single room by itself typically lands between $400 and $1,200, and a ceiling adds its own $1 to $2.50 per square foot on top. Tall ceilings, lots of trim, several colours in one room and a lot of patching push a job toward the top of the range. A freshly vacated rental with sound walls sits nearer the bottom. These match our interior painting rates for San Diego County, and each quote is fixed in writing.

• Walls: $3 to $7 per sq ft
• Single room: $400 to $1,200 typical
• Ceilings: $1 to $2.50 per sq ft

Yes, small holes are part of the prep on every interior job. Nail and screw holes, anchor holes left by a TV mount, door-handle dents and small dings are filled, sanded flush and spot-primed before any paint goes on. Primer matters here, because an unprimed patch soaks up paint and shows as a dull spot. Anything bigger, such as a fist-sized hole, a cracked section of wallboard or water damage, is repair work rather than paint prep, so we point it out at the estimate and it needs fixing before we paint.

• Nail, screw and anchor holes: included
• Dings and small dents: included
• Large holes or water damage: flagged at the estimate, fixed before painting

Yes, and in Del Mar that is a common size of job. About half the homes in town have two bedrooms or fewer, so a refresh is often a living room, a bedroom or a hallway rather than a whole house. A single room is usually $400 to $1,200, depending on its size, ceiling height and how much trim and how many doors it has. A small job gets the same prep as a large one: furniture moved and covered, floors protected, holes filled and spot-primed. One room can often be finished in a day.

Yes. Nearly half of Del Mar's occupied homes are rented, and a turnover repaint is a common interior job here. Turnovers are usually about wear more than colour: scuffed hallways, holes left by pictures and TV mounts, and marked doors and frames. Those are filled, sanded and spot-primed before the walls are repainted, so the patches do not flash through the new coat. Tell us the move-in date at the estimate and we will schedule the work to fit the gap between tenants.

Softer, slightly muted colours and lower sheens usually work best in Del Mar's bright ocean light. Strong daylight can make pure whites glare and saturated colours look louder than the chip suggested. Raking light from big windows also picks out every bump in a glossy wall. A matte or eggshell finish on walls hides texture and old repairs better. Bathrooms and kitchens still need a scrubbable finish. Paint a sample on two walls and check it morning and evening. See how to choose a paint colour that suits your home.

Mostly the trim and the prep. About 1 in 10 Del Mar homes were built in 1939 or earlier, and many more before 1978, so original trim, doors and walls may carry old lead-based layers. Sanding or scraping those layers is covered by the EPA renovation, repair and painting rule, which is why our certified crews contain the room and check the cleanup before it is handed back. Older wood trim also takes more filling and priming to look crisp. For the outside of the house or the kitchen cabinets, see all our services in Del Mar.