How to Paint an Apartment for Under $80

Painting your apartment for under $80 sounds pretty cheap doesn't it? I recently painted my own apartment which turned out to be a little over 1,600 sq ft of wall after the measurements were taken. It turned out very well! The apartment looks good for my first time painting (and much nicer than the rotten egg shell white it previously was), so I decided to write a little guide detailing everything prospective first time painters need to know to paint their own apartment.

First things first - Go ask your landlord if it's okay to paint! The rules here may vary, and the last thing you'd want is to paint your apartment then get evicted, or be forced to repaint it to whatever color it previously was. So make sure to get permission from your leaseholder. I was lucky enough to actually be able to take the cost of all the paint and materials out of my rent for the month!

Also, if you live with roommates, make sure you have their consent as well since you all have to share the same roof. I live alone and didn't have this problem, however if you do live with people you can recruit them to help out and speed the process up, and maybe even split the costs!

What you'll need to paint your apartment:

A local discount store, such as Wal-Mart or K-Mart that offers cheap materials.

A tape measure.

A paint roller, plus an extra roller brush for each different color you'll paint with.

A paint tray and liners, one liner for each color (easy cleanup, and very cheap).

Newspapers and masking tape.

A paint brush, I used the 1½ inch brush with a nice sharp edge.

Pen and paper, a flat head and philips head screwdriver.

A calculator.

Raggedy cloths suitable for painting.

Step 1: Choose Your Colors

This can be a lengthy process. It took me about two weeks to decide what colors I wanted. I have a living room/kitchen combo, a bedroom, and a small hallway leading to my bathroom. I decided to go with Sunburst Orange for my living room, Cherry Soda (a nice pink) for my bedroom, and Crashing Wave (a vibrant blue) for the hallway and bathroom. I will note my apartment is so colorful now it may just be the happiest place on this earth at the moment. The colors you choose are up to you, and you should take some time to think about them because painting is a process, and once you do it, you will probably not be interested in doing it all over again if you are unhappy with your choices. A good way to make sure you like the colors and that they will look nice in your home is to go get a variety of paint swatches from the store and see how they'll look at your apartment.

Step 2: The Measurements

The next step in painting your apartment is to take proper measurements. To do this, take your pen, paper, and tape measure and go to each wall you plan on painting and measure the height and width of it. Record the numbers in a list, in inches rather than feet in the format "H x W." If you have walls split by windows or other alterations, measure them in sections to get the most accurate assumption of your total painting surface. Do this for an entire room.

Now, take your calculator and multiple every H x W item in your list. This will give you square inches. Divide this number by 12 and it will give you square feet. I recommend rounding up these totals as you will likely get decimals, just as a sort of cushion.

Add up all the square feet values, and then divide the total by 400. This will give you the number of gallons of paint you need to paint that room. Rinse and repeat for all other rooms, being sure to keep the number of gallons separate per room especially if you are painting in different colors.

Step 3: Buying Materials and Paint

Now that you have the colors you want and the number of gallons of paint you'll need to paint your apartment, it's time to go shopping! So grab your measurement list, color swatches, and wallet/purse and head over to Wal-Mart or a similar store that offers paint mixing and supplies.

If you visit Wal-Mart like I did, there is a little paint section where a "paint expert" will tell you everything you need to know about what kind of paint to use (these vary by gloss, and latex or oil based) as well as give you helpful tips to paint. Be sure to ask questions if you have any as they are quite helpful. Once you decide on the type of paint you want to use for your rooms, he'll take the swatches and measurements and mix the appropriate amount of paint for you in the colors you desire.

Wal-Mart brand latex paint semi-gloss, which is what I used, is about 12 bucks per gallon, and it took me four gallons to paint my entire apartment, or about 1600 square feet of wall. I had two gallons of the orange, one gallon of the pink, and one gallon of the blue. I used up all the paint and successfully got two solid coats on in all rooms, and it looks fantastic.

Be sure to pick up the other items while you're there as previously listed. I bought a little painting kit that came with a roller, a roller brush, a roller tray, and a roller liner totaling $7.00. I also got a 1½ inch paint brush which was about $5.00, masking tape which was $2.00, two extra roller brushes that were about $2.00 each, and a set of two spare roller tray liners for $0.99.

Grand total for paint and supplies: ~$68.00

Step 4: Paint Your Apartment!

Okay so now you have your supplies and you have your paint, you're ready to go!

Before you start painting, rearrange everything in the room so there will be nothing blocking your path. I just moved everything to a big pile in the center of the room. Also, cover anything such as the carpet close to the liner of the wall, or pieces of furniture that you wouldn't want paint to drip on. Next, take your screwdrivers and go remove the plastic coverings of your electrical outlets and light switches. Getting paint on these is annoying and looks quite tacky. Lastly, take a lightly damp washcloth and wipe down the trim of your apartment as it's usually quite dusty.

(Note: I didn't do this, but if you have shaky hands or doubt yourself, you may want to put masking tape on all trim to avoid dripping or little accidents.)

You should be ready to start painting at this point so pick a wall to start on. The first thing you'll want to paint is the trim. The idea is to basically outline the wall against the trim and corners with your brush, then go with the roller to get the center bulk.

When you're painting with your roller, it will frequently create visible paint lines, especially when you have to press a little harder to squeeze some paint out so be sure to smooth these out with light rolling motions for an even tone.

Once you finish a whole room with the first coat, I'd recommend starting a new room and getting a first coat there, then coming back to the first and doing a second coat, trimming it first then rolling as done previously. This allows ample time for drying. If you have ceiling fans these help a lot in the drying process.

Rinse and repeat until you're finished. The end result should be a beautiful new look for your apartment, a feeling of accomplishment, and most likely some exhaustion as it is tedious, but fun! Enjoy.