Short answer: interior painting cost in Ontario is priced in named packages: a Colour Change (walls only) at $2.50–3.00 per square foot of floor area, a Complete room — walls, ceilings, trim and doors — at $4.75–5.75 with standard-quality paints, $6.50–8.00 with premium lines, and showpiece work from $9.50 by consultation, before HST. Per room, that works out to roughly $350–600 for a bedroom, $500–900 for a living room, and from about $4,500 for a three-bedroom interior with walls throughout — done Complete room by room, it lands closer to $5,700 and up, figured for a roughly 1,200 sq ft interior with standard 8-ft ceilings; larger homes, extra doors and taller ceilings scale it up. Those per-room figures assume the room is part of a larger project — book one room on its own and the package minimum applies instead ($750 for a Colour Change, $1,200 for a Complete). Painters who quote by the hour are guessing; the honest unit is floor area plus a clear list of what is being painted. Here is how the three ways of pricing relate, what each tier includes, and what pushes a specific house up or down the band.
Per square foot, per room, or per hour?
You will see all three. Per square foot of floor area is the one to compare on: it scales with the size of the home, it is easy to verify with a tape measure, and it forces the painter to say what is included — a Colour Change covers the walls; a Complete room covers walls, ceilings, trim and doors, with one door per 150 sq ft of floor area built into the rate. Per room is a convenient shorthand for one or two rooms and is what the ranges below are built on. Per hour sounds cheap and rarely is, because the hours are unknown until the job is done and nobody is on the hook if prep takes twice as long. Ask for one written price for the whole job and treat hourly quotes as an estimate, not a commitment.
Interior painting cost by tier (2026)
Every package is priced on floor area. The two core scopes are a Colour Change — walls only — and a Complete room: walls, ceilings, trim and doors, with one door per 150 sq ft of floor area included (closet and bifold doors count toward the allowance). Extra doors, closet interiors and wood-framed windows are priced per piece.
| Package | What it covers | Per sq ft of floor area | Minimum project |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall Refresh | One fresh coat in the colour already on the walls, 2+ rooms | $1.75–2.25 | $600 (from 300 sq ft) |
| Colour Change | Walls only, two coats, basic prep | $2.50–3.00 | $750 |
| Complete | Walls, ceilings, trim and doors — one door per 150 sq ft included | $4.75–5.75 | $1,200 |
| Premium | A Complete room in premium paint lines, tinted primer, colour consultation | $6.50–8.00 | $1,200 |
| Signature | Showpiece interiors, by consultation | $9.50–13.00 (by consultation) | $2,500 |
A Wall Refresh is the honest budget option with strict eligibility: the same colour that is on the walls now, paint in decent shape (roughly seven years old or newer), no more than a handful of patches per room, and at least two rooms — one coat brings the surface back for a fraction of a repaint. A Colour Change is two-coat coverage with basic prep in a quality standard paint — the right choice for rentals and pre-sale work where the ceilings and trim are fine. Complete is the whole room, doors included up to the allowance. Premium runs the same scope in lines like Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams or Dulux, with stronger coverage on darker shades and a free colour consultation by our team. Signature is scoped by consultation for projects where the finish is the point. Warranties follow the package: 2 years on Colour Change and Complete, 5 on Premium, 7 on Signature, and a limited 1-year on a Wall Refresh; the full scope of each is on the interior painting page.
Cost to paint a room in Ontario
Room prices come from the same per-square-foot rates, adjusted for how much of the room is not wall — ceiling, trim, doors and windows — and how much prep the surfaces need.
- Bedroom: $350–600. A typical 10×12 to 12×14 room, walls and ceiling, Standard to Premium tier.
- Living room: $500–900 as a Complete room. Larger footprint, often a taller ceiling and more trim.
- Kitchen: usually less wall than you expect once cabinets and backsplash are subtracted, but more cutting-in around them, so it prices like a mid-size bedroom rather than a small one.
- Bathroom: small area, slow work — every edge is a fixture, mirror or tile line. Expect it to sit near the low end of the bedroom range despite the size, and to be quoted with a moisture-resistant paint.
- Hallway and stairwell: priced on wall area rather than floor area, because a two-storey stairwell has very little floor and a great deal of wall that needs a ladder or scaffold.
- Whole three-bedroom home: from about $4,500 with standard-quality paints for walls throughout. Taking every room Complete — ceilings, trim and doors — starts closer to $5,700 on the same basis, and premium paint lines move it up from there.
All of these are before HST and assume the walls are in reasonable shape. The next section is about when they are not.
What moves interior painting cost up or down
Prep: holes, cracks and old repairs
Basic prep — filling nail holes, light sanding, caulking gaps — is built into every tier. Larger damage is not: a cracked corner, water staining, a patch that never got feathered out, or a wall that was painted over wallpaper. Those get fixed before paint, and it is worth doing them properly because paint highlights bad patches rather than hiding them. If the walls need real work, see what that costs in our drywall repair guide; it is often quoted together with the painting so there is one crew and one invoice.
Ceilings
The gap between a Colour Change and a Complete room in the table is mostly ceilings. Overhead rolling is slower, needs full masking below, and shows every lap mark under pot lights. If a ceiling is still bright white and unmarked, leaving it alone is a legitimate way to save money; if it is yellowed or has been touched up in a different white, painting it is the difference between a room that looks fresh and one that looks half done.
Trim, doors and baseboards
Trim is painted by the linear foot in practice and takes more time per square foot of coverage than anything else in the room — sanding, priming over old oil-based paint, and two coats of a harder enamel. Six-panel doors and windows with many mullions are the slow ones. A house with painted trim throughout can see trim account for a third of a Complete price.
Dark and saturated colours
Deep blues, greens, reds and charcoals need a tinted primer or a third coat to cover evenly, and going from a dark colour back to a light one needs the same. Premium tier includes stronger coverage on darker shades for exactly this reason; on Standard, expect an extra-coat line on the quote.
Furnished versus empty
An empty house lets a crew roll room to room without moving or covering anything. A furnished home means moving pieces to the centre, draping everything and working around it, which adds time in every room. Clearing what you can before the crew arrives is the easiest saving there is.
Condo rules
Toronto condos add a layer: booking the service elevator, working within permitted hours (often 9 to 5 on weekdays), signing in with security, and sometimes a damage deposit. None of it is difficult, but it stretches a two-day job into three and is why condo painting sits at the top of each band.
Why a quote under $2 per square foot is a red flag
In Southern Ontario, expect roughly $2.50–3.00 per sq ft for walls-only work and $4.75–5.75 for a complete room (walls, ceilings, trim & doors) with standard-quality paints; premium paint lines run $6.50–8.00. A quote under $2 per square foot means something has been taken out — usually prep, the second coat, or the paint quality. Contractor-grade paint covers poorly, scuffs in months and cannot be wiped; skipped prep shows through by the first winter. The savings also tend to evaporate once “extras” for ceilings, trim or moving furniture appear on the invoice. Compare quotes on the same scope, the same tier and the same paint line, and a low number will usually explain itself.
Interior painting across the GTA and Southern Ontario
The tier rates are the same across our service area — there is no travel fee, so a house in Niagara is priced the same way as one in Mississauga. The house itself is what differs.
- Toronto — condos with board rules and elevator bookings, plus century semis with plaster walls and tall baseboards. See interior painting in Toronto.
- Mississauga — mostly detached and semi-detached houses from the 1970s onward with drywall throughout, nine-foot ceilings in newer areas, and open-plan main floors that paint efficiently. See interior painting in Mississauga.
- Brampton — newer semis and towns with builder-grade flat paint that needs a proper primer before a quality finish will stick. See interior painting in Brampton.
- Oakville — larger homes, more trim and more Premium and Signature work. See interior painting in Oakville.
- Hamilton — century homes with lath-and-plaster walls that need crack repair and a bonding primer before paint; the prep line is where these quotes differ. See interior painting in Hamilton.
How to get a painting quote that will not change
- Measure the floor area of each room being painted and note the ceiling height. Send it with photos, or let the estimator measure on site.
- Decide the scope room by room: a Colour Change, a Complete room, or — if you are keeping the colour — a Wall Refresh; count the doors so the allowance can be checked. Say which rooms get dark colours.
- Point out the damage — cracks, stains, peeling, old wallpaper — so repairs are on the quote rather than discovered on day one.
- Ask for a written price that lists the tier, the paint line, prep, any repairs and HST as separate lines. Two quotes broken out that way can be compared; two lump sums cannot.
IntraBuild quotes painting this way across the GTA and Southern Ontario: one insured crew, a written price, the paint brand named on the quote, no travel fee. Get an interior painting quote or call (647) 558-8723.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to paint the interior of a 1,000 sq ft house?
A Colour Change on 1,000 sq ft runs roughly $2,500–3,000; a Complete job — walls, ceilings, trim and doors — roughly $4,750–5,750 with standard paints or $6,500–8,000 in premium lines, before HST. Prep and dark colours are the usual reasons a specific home lands above those ranges.
Is it better to pay painters per hour or per job?
Per job. An hourly rate leaves you carrying the risk of slow work and surprise prep; a written per-job price built on floor area and a defined scope puts that risk on the painter, where it belongs.
Do painters include ceilings in the price?
Only if the quote says so. A Colour Change means walls only. A Complete job includes ceilings, trim and doors up to the one-door-per-150-sq-ft allowance; extra doors and closet interiors are per piece. The difference is visible in the package table above. Always confirm which scope a number refers to before comparing it.
How much does it cost to paint a 3-bedroom house in Ontario?
From about $4,500 for walls throughout with standard-quality paints, before HST; done Complete room by room — ceilings, trim and doors — from about $5,700 on the same basis. Adding trim and doors, choosing Premium paint, or fixing plaster walls in an older house moves it up from there. A written quote after a site visit is the only reliable number for a specific home.
Are these prices before or after HST?
Before HST. Every figure on this page and every IntraBuild quote shows HST as a separate line.