Decorating a living room

Your living room is one of the hubs of your home. Giving it a fresh lick of paint can make it a more enjoyable space to spend time in and add value to your property.

Painting and decorating costs for a living room

The cost of painting a living room will depend on its size, how much prep work it needs and where you are in the country, but these are the average costs to expect:

These average costs are based on the entire UK, so labour costs in your area may differ. Take a look at the table further down the page for a more accurate idea of labour costs where you live thanks to HaMuch's large database of hourly and daily rates for painters and decorators.

What is the average day rate for a decorator?

The average day rate for a decorator is around £325. You'll probably pay more than this if you live in central London or other major cities, but if you live in other areas of the UK that are more remote expect to pay less.

What affects the cost of painting a living room?

Size of your living room

The bigger your living room, the longer it will take to paint, so your painter and decorator will charge you more. Most decorators will estimate how long it will take them to paint your lounge and give you a fixed cost based on this.

Condition of your walls and woodwork

If your living room walls and woodwork are in poor condition, it will take the painter longer to decorate. The more prep work required, the more they will charge.

One way to reduce the cost of decorating your living room is to do the prep work yourself. Wash your walls with a diluted sugar soap solution and then rinse with warm water. If there is lots of peeling paint, use sandpaper to sand the areas down until smooth.

Woodwork needs to have a smooth, non-shiny surface to be painted. Sand your skirting boards, window frames, dado rails or picture rails with sandpaper and remove any thick gloss paint to allow the new gloss, satinwood or eggshell paint to adhere to the woodwork easily.

Brand and quality of paint

The brand of paint you choose will affect the cost of decorating your living room. Premium brands like Farrow & Ball or Lick will cost around £20-£40 per litre, while mid-range brands like Dulux, Crown or Leyland cost as little as £5-£8 per litre.

While it might be tempting to pick up a DIY store's own brand of paint, that could cost less than £5 per litre, it could cost you more in the long term. If the paint is low-quality, your decorator might need to apply more coats to get the right finish, costing you more in labour.

Get a range of quotes from different painters and decorators and ask for their advice about the paint they recommend for your lounge.

Your location

Where you live in the country will affect the cost of decorating your living room. Decorators in the south east and London will charge more than those in the north of England, Scotland or Wales because the cost of living is higher there.

Can I paint my living room myself?

Of course you can paint your living room yourself, but you might not get the best finish. Although it's relatively easy to do an OK job at painting a room, it takes years of training and experience to get a perfect finish.

It can be easy to miss patches when you paint a living room yourself, especially on ceilings when you're painting white over white. A decorator will know all the tricks to ensure they never miss a spot, and they’ll do a much faster job than you too.

While a decorator might seem expensive on the face of it, it's worth considering how much it would cost if you took time off work to do the decorating yourself. If you value your annual leave for holidays rather than DIY jobs, it might be worth hiring a painter and decorator instead!

In what order should you paint a room?

A painter and decorator will always tell you to start at the top and work down. That means you should start at your ceiling and coving before moving onto the walls. Once the walls are dry, you can finish off with your skirting boards and woodwork.

Decorators work this way because it means they won’t get any drips of paint on your freshly painted woodwork. If you get any drips from your ceiling on the walls or skirting boards, you can wipe them away or sand them before you paint over them.

Get a range of quotes

To get the best price for your living room decoration, make sure you get quotes from various painters and decorators in your area. Post your job on HaMuch now and we'll put you in touch with reliable decorators that are available to do the work.

Estimates for common painter and decorator jobs;

Rates for other trades