How much paint will you need when painting a room?

I love to paint! We have painted many homes over the years and I find it very theraputic. It always freshens up a room, changes the mood in a home, brightens a dark room or darkens a room to change from drab to a romantic room. Some say it’s tedious work with cutting lines at the ceilings, baseboards, around doors and windows but there is something very satisfying about admiring your work after a room is freshly painted, cleaned and the furnishings & artwork is put back in place. Maybe you decide to rearrange the room and change the flow of the room. Whatever you are trying to achieve, try it and see if it becomes theraputic for you after a hectic or stressful week.

Looking to update your home with a new paint color? Check out this article to determine how much paint you’ll actually need so you don’t end up overbuying! I have also included the formula below for a quick referrance.

Calculate the number of cans to avoid buying too much or too little

Painting multiple walls in a room? Here are the steps to calculate the square footage of a sample room that measures 12 feet by 20 feet with 8-foot ceilings and door openings that measure 6 feet wide by 7 feet high:

1. Add together the width of each wall to be painted:
12 + 20 + 12 + 20 = 64 feet

2. Multiply this sum by the height of the walls:
64 x 8 = 512 square feet

3. Multiply the width and height of the door:
6 x 7 = 42 square feet

4. Subtract the door openings from the area of the wall:
512 square feet – 42 square feet = 470 square feet

5. Divide this figure by the estimated square footage coverage of our paint. Again, in this example, we are going with 350 square feet per gallon:
470 ÷ 350 = 1.34

6. Round up to the nearest whole number, in this case 2. You would need 2 gallons to paint one coat.

Note: Again, for two coats of paint, you double the square footage to be painted:
470 + 470 = 940

Then divide by the coverage per gallon:
940 ÷ 350 = 2.69
(Round up to 3. You would need 3 gallons of paint to apply two coats.)