How much does it cost to paint a standard bedroom?

Around £250–£450 with a professional decorator — walls, ceiling and woodwork, standard trade paint included, assuming the room is in reasonable condition. Some directories quote higher averages, and London and the South East run 20–35% above the national range.

What do painters and decorators charge per day?

Most decorators charge £150–£250 a day outside London and £250–£350 in London, typically including standard trade paint. One major directory puts the national average at £325, so quotes genuinely vary — get two or three before committing.

How long does it take to paint a room?

A standard bedroom in good condition takes a professional about one to one-and-a-half days including preparation and clean-up. A box room or bathroom can be done in four to seven hours; heavy prep — stripping wallpaper, filling, priming fresh plaster — pushes any room to two or three days.

How much does it cost to paint a whole house interior?

The guides disagree widely: a 3-bed house interior runs anywhere from around £2,000–£3,000 at the budget end of the estimates to £3,400–£4,800 quoted by working decorators, and higher still on some directories. Expect five to seven days' work for one decorator, or one to two weeks with a bigger property. Painting several rooms in one visit always works out cheaper per room than booking them separately.

Should I pay a decorator a deposit?

For a one-or-two-day decorating job, little or no deposit is the norm — Citizens Advice says never agree to more than 25% on any home improvement work, and consumer guidance is that established traders rarely need money up front for small jobs. If materials are the reason given, offer to buy the paint yourself. Pay by card where you can, and get a written quote — a quote is a binding price, an estimate is not.

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How much does it cost to paint a room? Honest UK prices

13 August 2026 · Robert McLaggan

Having a room professionally painted in the UK typically costs £180–£300 for a box room or bathroom, £250–£450 for a standard bedroom, and £400–£700 for a living room — walls, ceiling and woodwork, with standard trade paint included. Decorators' day rates run £150–£250 outside London and £250–£350 in it, though one major directory quotes a £325 national average, so expect quotes to vary. The price movers are preparation (40–60% of the labour on older walls), colour changes that need a third coat, premium paint brands (£100–£300 extra per room), and whether the room is cleared. A standard room takes a professional one to one-and-a-half days including prep.

Ask three decorators to price the same bedroom and you can get three genuinely different numbers — and the online guides are no more united. Here are the honest 2026 figures, why they vary, and the parts of the quote worth understanding before you compare anyone.

The going rates

For a professional job — walls, ceiling and woodwork, standard trade paint included, room in reasonable condition:

Box room or bathroom: £180–£300
Standard bedroom: £250–£450
Large bedroom: £350–£550
Living room: £400–£700, with large or open-plan spaces £600–£1,000
Kitchen: £250–£600 (less wall, more cutting-in)
Hall, stairs and landing: £875–£1,330 — the access makes it the priciest "room" in the house

Worth knowing: the big directories don't agree with each other. One puts a medium room at £450 average and quotes a £325 national day rate; another puts a standard bedroom at £260–£400 on a £150–£250 day rate. Neither is lying — they're averaging different decorators, different room definitions and different regions. London and the South East run 20–35% above all of these ranges. The practical answer is the boring one: get two or three quotes, for the same clearly-described scope.

What decorators charge per day

Outside London: £150–£250 a day is the going range
London: £250–£350, with the top of the market above £400

A useful benchmark when you're reading a quote: a working decorator covers roughly 40m² of wall a day including prep. A standard bedroom is a day to a day and a half; a box room is an afternoon. If a quote implies much more time than that, ask what prep they've spotted that you haven't.

What actually moves the price

Preparation — the big one. On older properties, prep is 40–60% of the labour: washing down, filling cracks, sanding. Add £50–£150 a room for meaningful filling and sanding, £100–£300 for stripping wallpaper, and £150–£200 per wall if plaster needs a proper skim. Cheap quotes usually mean skipped prep — which is exactly where paint jobs fail a year later.
Fresh plaster. New plaster needs a mist coat (watered-down emulsion) before painting, typically £80–£150 a room. A decorator who plans to paint straight onto fresh plaster without one isn't doing you a favour.
Colour. Deep blues, greens and charcoals often need three coats whatever the tin promises, adding 15–25% to the labour. Going from dark to light does the same.
The paint itself. Trade emulsion runs £5–£18 a litre; premium brands like Farrow & Ball are £40–£70 a litre, adding £100–£300 to a single room. If you want a premium colour on a trade budget, most decorators can colour-match it in trade paint — ask.
Furniture. Decorators price for cleared rooms. Leaving the furniture in adds £20–£50 a room, and slows everything.
Ceiling height. Standard 2.4m ceilings are in every price above; 3m+ period ceilings take longer per coat and sometimes carry an access charge.

If you're doing it yourself, a standard bedroom costs about £65–£135 in paint and kit at trade-paint prices. Paint is only 10–15% of a professional job's price — what you're really buying is the prep and the edges.

How the money should work

For a one-or-two-day job, the norms are simple: little or no deposit, payment on completion, by card where possible. Citizens Advice's ceiling for any home-improvement deposit is 25% — and for a job this size, established decorators rarely ask for anything up front. If materials are the stated reason, offering to buy the paint yourself solves it.

Two pieces of paper matter more than the deposit conversation:

A written quote, not an estimate. A quote is a binding price; an estimate is a guess. For a defined scope — this room, these surfaces, this paint — there's no reason not to have a quote.
A proper invoice at the end. It's your warranty on the work, and paying against it by card gives you chargeback protection a cash-in-hand deal never will.

The red flags are the classics: doorstep "we're in the area" approaches, cash-only pricing, a mobile number and no address, and pressure to decide today. A decorator with a diary worth having doesn't need any of them.

Common questions

How much does it cost to paint a standard bedroom?: Around £250–£450 with a professional decorator — walls, ceiling and woodwork, standard trade paint included, assuming the room is in reasonable condition. Some directories quote higher averages, and London and the South East run 20–35% above the national range.
What do painters and decorators charge per day?: Most decorators charge £150–£250 a day outside London and £250–£350 in London, typically including standard trade paint. One major directory puts the national average at £325, so quotes genuinely vary — get two or three before committing.
How long does it take to paint a room?: A standard bedroom in good condition takes a professional about one to one-and-a-half days including preparation and clean-up. A box room or bathroom can be done in four to seven hours; heavy prep — stripping wallpaper, filling, priming fresh plaster — pushes any room to two or three days.
How much does it cost to paint a whole house interior?: The guides disagree widely: a 3-bed house interior runs anywhere from around £2,000–£3,000 at the budget end of the estimates to £3,400–£4,800 quoted by working decorators, and higher still on some directories. Expect five to seven days' work for one decorator, or one to two weeks with a bigger property. Painting several rooms in one visit always works out cheaper per room than booking them separately.
Should I pay a decorator a deposit?: For a one-or-two-day decorating job, little or no deposit is the norm — Citizens Advice says never agree to more than 25% on any home improvement work, and consumer guidance is that established traders rarely need money up front for small jobs. If materials are the reason given, offer to buy the paint yourself. Pay by card where you can, and get a written quote — a quote is a binding price, an estimate is not.

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