How much does it cost to decorate a room?

If your home is starting to look a bit tired, painting and decorating is a home improvement project that'll be one of your first ports of call. Some of the things you could do include repainting a room, adding wallpaper, painting the doors, skirting boards or coving, or even painting a feature wall or redecorating with furniture. These are all guaranteed ways to freshen up a space that’s starting to get a bit rough around the edges.

But, if you're looking to give your home a bit of love with some decorating projects, it's important to understand the costs involved before you get started. That's why we've written this handy price guide that covers how much it costs to get a room painted, decorated or wallpapered, as well as explaining some of the factors that go into how much you'll pay, so you can make the best decision.

What's the cost of decorating a room?

Firstly, let's look at the actual costs involved in painting and decorating a room. You can see our table to the right showing the costs across the country, adjusted for the changes in tradespeople’s rates in different areas.

When calculating these costs, we’ve assumed a medium sized room of around 30 square metres. The size of the room will of course affect how much you’re likely to pay to get it painted and decorated. For a small room, you could pay as little as £250, but for a large room, expect to pay as much as £1000 for painting and decorating. To understand the pricing of painting a room, it helps to understand all that is involved with decorating a room.

What is the average day rate for a decorator?

The average day rate for a decorator will vary depending on where you are in the country, but generally you should expect to pay between £130-£400 per day. Decorators in London and the south east of England generally charge more than those based in other areas of the UK. This works out at an average of around £20-£60 per hour.

How much does wallpapering a room cost?

Hanging wallpaper is another common painting and decorating job. For wallpapering, the biggest thing that will affect the price is the condition of the surfaces of the walls – so the quotes you get can vary depending on this. For a medium sized room, with old wallpaper that needs to be removed but walls that are in good condition otherwise, you should expect to pay around £400 for wallpapering. For smaller or larger rooms, expect the price to change similarly to painting and decorating; with prices ranging from £200 for a small room up to £1000 for a very large one.

If your room doesn’t already have wallpaper, and the walls are in good condition ready for the new wallpaper to be hung, you could save yourself up to half on the prices mentioned above. However, if the walls are in bad condition with a lot of sanding and preparation required, you could end up paying at least 20-40% more.

Does the type of room affect the price to paint a room?

As we've just mentioned, the size of the room being decorated will have a huge effect on the cost. However, another variable that you might not factor in or consider is the type of the room being decorated. For example, rooms with large, empty walls like living rooms or bedrooms will cost more to decorate than rooms like kitchens or bathrooms, where some of the wall space is covered with tiles. It stands to reason – there’s simply more wall space to be painted.

Of course, if you're replacing the tiles as well, then you’ll need to factor this into the cost of painting and decorating the room. But if you’re just getting a room repainted, then it’s important to think about exactly how much area is actually being painted, rather than simply the size of the room.

How much will materials affect the cost of decorating a room?

With painting and decorating projects, the majority of the cost is in the time and effort of the labour, rather than in the materials used on the job. However, the kind of paint and wallpaper that you choose will of course affect the overall cost of painting and decorating your room. The price difference between cheap and expensive paint is more than you might think, and with expensive paint offering significantly more protection against the elements and other hardwearing benefits, you may want to splash out for this on your next project.

Similarly, with wallpaper projects, the materials themselves make up a relatively small proportion of the overall cost, but choosing more expensive wallpaper can have benefits in terms of how hardwearing the walls will be. In addition, the kinds of colours and patterns that are available will often depend on how expensive the wallpaper is – so if you’re looking for a specific kind of pattern, be prepared to pay more for it.

Can I make my project cheaper by preparing things myself?

Another key factor when it comes to how much it will cost to get your room painted and decorated is the amount of preparation that’s required. This covers the condition of any walls that are being painted, or anything else like skirting boards, doors or coving. So, if you want to reduce the cost, consider doing some preparation work yourself – but be warned, if it’s not up to the right standard, you could end up making things worse for all of your effort.

Preparing these materials could involve sanding them down to a nice smooth surface ready for painting or wallpapering, or even plastering over or sealing cracks and holes in the wall. You could also consider removing wallpaper yourself before getting a painter and decorator in.

What other things should I consider when decorating a room?

Just as every room is different, so too is every painting and decorating project. Because of this, there are a variety of extra things you might want to take into consideration that could affect the cost. This includes things like how much furniture is in the room that needs either covering or taking out or any extra work like painting light switches, skirting boards or doors. Painting and decorating your room could also include other things like hanging curtains, changing light fixtures, or other small decorating tasks. Be sure to speak to the tradespeople you choose about these jobs before they start work.

Estimates for common painter and decorator jobs;

Rates for other trades