Homes aren’t museums in which no one gets near a wall to touch it. Hands balance on a wall when the other arm is full of grocery bags. Little hands balance on a wall just because it’s a child’s nature to bounce off the walls. Furry friends climb the walls when they can’t find a window as they await your homecoming.
This means the paint needs re-doing every now and then. Opinions vary as to time periods; painters know best, however, because they paint every day. Repainting in certain time frames depends upon which room and which traffic area takes the worst beating.
Ceilings, Trim, And Baseboards: Two To Three Years
The trim and baseboards catch the most damage due to kids’ toys, pets’ nails, and plain dirt and dust. Ceilings and crown molding don’t deal with all this. When you paint the walls a new color or refresh the one you have, then paint the ceiling to match the sheen on the walls.
Halls And Foyers: Two To Three Years
These are high traffic areas, however, not only people touch the walls. Furniture is moved, bumping along the walls. Toys are thrown against them, and animals jump on them every day. If the damage is consistently rough, painting every other year isn’t a bad idea.
Homeowners without children, or they only have pets, should need to paint their hallways and foyers every two to three years. It might be more if you keep your walls pristine.
Living Rooms And Dining Rooms: Five To Seven Years
In these rooms, you’ll find built-ins, fireplaces, curio cabinets, sofas, chairs, and occasional tables, china cabinets, buffets, and extra dining room chairs against the walls. No one has a chance to get near a wall, so painting the walls should only occur when you want to switch colors.
Kitchens: Three To Four Years
Kitchens are vastly important to the life of a house. People gather there, making it the most popular room in any house. It’s warm, it’s a cozy gathering place, and it’s where the food is. People use the heart of the home for dozens of reasons, a few of which are:
- Doing homework
- Running a home business
- Visiting with neighbors and friends over coffee
- Doing lunch with colleagues
- Telecommuting to a job
- Gathering to Facetime Grandma and Grandpa
This means the kitchen walls suffer from grease and cooking splatters, splashes from spills, handprints, dust, and dirt. We have backsplashes to protect against some of this, but the rest is all paint. We suggest easily cleanable, durable paint with an eggshell finish.
Bathrooms: Three To Five Years
Also high traffic areas, people put their hands on the walls for balance, especially the elderly and children. This is especially true in half-baths or powder rooms. Bigger bathrooms suffer from not only handprints but the humidity. Moisture does in a paint job faster than anything we know. The eggshell finish we recommended above goes well in bathrooms.
Bedrooms: Three To Five Years
Two schools of thought govern painting bedrooms. One is that adult bedrooms won’t need painting for seven to ten years. Adults don’t touch the walls, nor do they have humidity damaging the paint (unless you live on the water.) Only if you change your mind regarding color would you repaint a bedroom before the seven to ten-year marker is up.
The second school of thought regards children’s bedrooms. They touch everything. Adults made their rooms more fun and adventurous, so kids’ rooms should be painted every three to five years, preferably using paint with an eggshell finish.
Are you nearing the end of your interior paint’s lifespan? Call us today at 831-269-2837. We have the perfect paint ready for your rooms.