This depends on many factors:
1. How much furniture is in the room? If the room is full of furniture its difficult for the painter to maneuver around the room. An empty room is much easier to navigate.
2. How high are the ceilings? Lower ceilings, such as 8 foot, are much easier to paint- some bedrooms can be as much or more than 12 feet high.
3. How much wall preparation is needed? Some walls are ready to paint, no spackling or preparation needed. On the other extreme are walls with major drywall or plaster repairs.
4. How much trim and how many/what kind of windows are in the room? More trim, such as crown molding or chair railing, adds more time. If the windows are wood windows that need to be painted, that adds more time than if they are vinyl replacement windows.
5. What colors will be used? Generally, white or medium base colors cover in one coat. Reds, yellow, orange and other similar colors, especially those mixed in a neutral base, require 3 or more coats of paint.
6. Will drywall blemishes be addressed? Some homeowners will want the walls skim coated prior to painting, as this will help to make the walls smooth. Others are not concerned about small imperfections as long as cracks and holes are spackled.
7. What care will be used to cover the floor and furniture? Some painters will put one drop cloth down and start painting while other painters will take the time to cover all floors with butyl backed drop cloths and cover all furniture with brand new plastic.
8. What brand and quality of paint will be used? If cheap builder paint will be used, it will lower the cost. If a more expensive, durable paint will be used, it will cost more but will hold up better.
9. Who will be doing the actual paint work? This is the MOST IMPORTANT piece of the price puzzle. In general, if a novice or inexperienced painter is used, this will help keep the cost down- but more times than not, this ends up with a dissatisfied customer. Another option is a professional painter, one who has painted hundreds of rooms. That will be costly but will give a much crisper final product and the room will be neater and cleaner than when the job was started.
10. Other factors not mentioned above– How fast does the project need to be done? Does painting need to be done at night or on weekends? How is the access to the property? (example: some projects in downtown areas are challenging because our vans don’t fit in some of the garages)
Taking some of the above factors into account, a 12×12 bedroom, walls, ceiling, doors and trim on the low end would be about $550 labor and materials, on the high end (with crown molding, moving of furniture, drywall preparation) would be about $970 labor and materials. Even with this, there are exceptions, such as homes with plaster walls and wood windows, which would add more to the cost.