Ideas and Tips for Saving Money When You Paint Your Home

Painting your home is often an affordable way to change the look of something or renew its lifespan. Even still, some projects can become expensive over time without the proper considerations or planning. Otherwise what was supposed to be a simple weekend task can balloon into a costly project.

To help you keep costs and stress levels favorably low, here is some advice as well as inspiration to keep your project and your budget grounded.

Consider Painting Only a Portion of the Surface

As long as the surface in question is in good shape, painting can be mostly a cosmetic change. If that is the case, you can often harness your creativity to paint a smaller portion of your original project than you intended.

For instance, accent walls are becoming increasingly popular in Philadelphia homes. These walls use vibrant colors or patterns to draw the eye and liven up a drab room without the need to repaint every wall. In fact, the contrast between the areas can make the room feel more dynamic than a room painted a single bright color.

Painting only an accent can have a similar effect. For instance, a door’s edge in a bright yellow color can set off a sky blue room wonderfully and renew your impression of the entire room. This phenomenon is called the “simultaneous contrast effect,” and it can be seen by looking at diagrams such as this one where a single shade of grey can look dramatically different by altering the surrounding color.

Use Reverse Stencils to Reduce Workload and Draw the Eye

Like the above ideas, a reverse stencil allows you to reduce the amount of work you need to do. Simply tape off a portion of the wall with painter’s tape to create a design, such as fluffy clouds, flowers, or a train. Paint over the surface with a contrasting or complimentary color, remove the tape then voila! You have an instant, eye-catching design. It can help you save on the paint and labor needed, and it can also steer vision away from any mistakes you may have happened to make.

Paint Walls a Similar Shade or Use Tinted Primer

One of the biggest cost factors of painting is that homeowners end up putting down more coats than they expected. This problem can come about in force if the color you are using is quite different than the original color, or if the surface has not been primed properly.

Adding coats that are close to the original shade can help you update the wall quickly using only one or two coats. Tinted primer can offer the same benefits for base colors that are wildly different from the new color, such as a light eggshell taking the place of a red.

Hire a Professional to Get It Done at Once

Part of the problem with DIY jobs is that they can involve much more effort than expected. The time spent performing the job and the stress involved can create opportunity costs that quickly become real costs. For instance, instead of cooking dinner you ended up eating out every night of the weekend. Maybe you spent money on a babysitter to take the kids to a theme park so you can get them out of the house long enough to get painting done distraction-free.

Scenarios like this make professional work seem cheap by comparison. Let ServiceWhale help you find an affordable painter in the Greater Philadelphia Area who can finish your project in a timely manner and within your desired budget. Their skill and expertise can reduce the material costs you would have accrued while delivering better results that usually last longer and add more appeal.

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