Ellwanger Painting’s pricing guide explains how much it costs to paint a house in Bellingham, WA, using real numbers from projects we complete every season. Below, you’ll see interior and exterior house painting prices, cost per paintable square foot, and typical ranges for trim, new construction, and commercial work so you can budget with realistic local figures.
Pricing is based on paintable wall and ceiling surface area, not house square footage. Condition, level of prep, and scope (walls only vs walls + ceilings + trim) move projects toward the higher or lower end of the range.
Example: bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, full-interior repaints.Exterior pricing varies with story height, access, prep needed, detailed trim, number of colors used, and siding type.
examples: two story, 100 yr home, with detail trim work, and 4 different colors will be on the 9$ sq ft side.Use these ranges as a starting point. Final pricing always depends on onsite inspection, prep level, and the written scope of work in your estimate.
| Scope | Typical size | Typical range | Typical scope |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Interior repaint Single bedroom |
~120–180 sq ft room | $600–$1,200 | Walls 2 coats + light repairs + priming + ceilings if same sheen and color. |
|
Interior repaint Living room / family room |
~200–350 sq ft room | $800–$1,800 | Open floor plans, height, and repairs increase cost. |
|
Interior per sq ft Whole-house repaint |
Priced by paintable sq ft | $4–$6 / paintable sq ft | walls + ceiling + trim + heavy prep + cleaning |
|
Interior repaint Bathroom repaint |
Typical full or half bath | $400–$600 | Moisture-resistant wall & ceiling paint, light repairs, caulking at trim, and two coats on walls (ceilings as needed). |
|
Interior trim Baseboards, casing, doors |
Linear footage or per opening | $1–$5/ linear ft | 5 would be restoring very old beat up trim- 1 would be 2 coats with a brush. average door is gonna be 200$ |
|
Cabinet painting Kitchen cabinets (doors & drawers) |
Priced per door/drawer front | $100–$250 / piece | Remove doors & drawer fronts, clean/degrease, sand, fill, bonding primer, 2–3 coats enamel, then reinstall hardware. |
|
Exterior repaint Small house |
~800–1,050 sq ft home | $5,000–$7,000 | Includes wash, full prep, and 2 coats on siding & trim. |
|
Exterior repaint Medium house |
~1,100–1,500 sq ft home | $7,000–$12,000 | More elevation, more trim, more prep time. |
|
Exterior repaint Large house |
~1,500–2,500 sq ft home | $12,000–$22,000 | Two-story, complex elevations, extensive prep. |
|
Exterior per sq ft Whole exterior system |
Priced by per sq ft | $6–$9 / footprint sq ft | Masking furniture/decking, spraying two coats of top coat paint. hand brushing and rolling of trim. |
|
New construction Interior – residential |
By plan / paintable sq ft | $2–$3/ paintable sq ft | One coat primer, two coats builder grade paint. |
|
Commercial repaint Offices, clinics, small retail |
By sq ft + conditions | $2–$4 / footprint sq ft | usually includes dust containment and working after hours. |
Most national cost guides quote a broad range of $2–$6 per square foot for interior painting. What they rarely explain is what that number includes: are you paying for walls only, walls and ceilings, trim and doors, light touch-ups, or full repairs? On this page, “square foot” means paintable surface area (walls and ceilings), not the floor square footage from your real estate listing.
To make that range useful, here’s how a professional, lead-safe painter in Bellingham like Ellwanger Painting thinks about the low, middle, and high ends of the spectrum—starting with a real 10' × 12' bedroom example.
At around $2 per paintable square foot, you’re usually talking about a walls-only repaint in a room that’s already in good shape. Think of it as a single-day scope for one painter: mask, make small spackle repairs, sand the walls, apply two coats, and clean up the space.
For example, a 10' × 12' bedroom with 8' ceilings has about 352 paintable sq ft of wall surface:
At $2 per sq ft, that room totals 352 × $2 = $704. At my current labor rate of $65/hour, a full day of work is about $520, which leaves roughly $184 for paint and materials—enough for two gallons of quality paint (around $75 each) plus tape, paper, plastic, and sundries. That’s how the math actually works on a real job.
In this $2/sq ft scenario, the scope and assumptions are:
You can sometimes add the ceiling into this kind of one-day scope if it’s the same color as the walls and the room condition is excellent, but any extra repairs or additional colors quickly push the project out of the $2/sq ft range.
On the rest of this page, when we talk about $4–$5 per paintable sq ft for interior repaints in Bellingham, that typically means more prep, more surfaces (walls, ceilings, and some trim), and more reliability and longevity than a bare-minimum $2/sq ft job.
Paint is a major factor in whether a project lands closer to $2, $4, or $6 per paintable square foot. Here’s a simple good / better / best breakdown for typical interior wall paints in Bellingham.
| Tier | Typical Use | Typical Retail Price / Gallon* | Impact on Project Price |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Good Standard professional |
Rental repaints, light-wear bedrooms, Large commercial jobs, New construction, basic refreshes where budget is the priority. |
≈ $30–$45 / gal Contractor-grade wall paint, such as Ultra Spec 500 by BM and Pro mar by SW |
Often used on simpler projects in the ~$2–$3 per paintable sq ft range when prep is light and walls are in good shape. |
|
Better Premium |
Most occupied homes, living rooms, hallways, kids’ rooms—better washability and color depth. |
≈ $50–$75 / gal Mid-tier paints such as SuperPaint by SW or Regal Select by BM. |
Common on projects in the ~$3–$4.50 per paintable sq ft range, where you want tougher finishes and smoother coverage without going all-out luxury. |
|
Best Top-tier |
High-end homes, feature spaces, and demanding areas (kitchens, baths, heavy-use trim) where maximum durability and appearance matter. |
≈ $75–$98+ / gal Flagship lines such as ARUA by BM and specialty enamels such as Emerald by SW. |
Typically used on projects closer to ~$4.50–$6+ per paintable sq ft, especially when combined with higher prep standards and detailed finish work. |
*Approximate Bellingham retail ranges. Actual pricing varies by brand, product line, and current promotions; your final estimate reflects both coating choice and the prep level required for your home.
These aren’t national averages pulled from a calculator—they’re real-world examples based on the type of homes and buildings we paint in Bellingham. Use them as ballpark ranges, then request a walkthrough for an exact quote.
Full exterior repaint including pressure washing, spot-priming bare wood, two coats on siding and trim, and minor carpentry repairs. A project like this typically lands in the $12,000 range depending paint quaility, difficulty getting places, as well as the amount of masking. If I remember correctly this one had a huge deck in the backyard.
Walls and ceilings repainted in a living room, hallway, and one bedroom, including light drywall repairs, caulking gaps at trim, full scuff-sanding, and two coats of premium wall and ceiling paint. Projects like this typically fall in the $3,500–$5,500 range depending on repairs and the paint system selected.
Commercial interior repaint of offices, corridors, and a reception area, including dust control, patching wall damage, repainting doors and frames, and using low-odor coatings suitable for occupied buildings. Typical range: $6,000–$12,000 depending on layout, access, and how much repair is required.
