Interior & Exterior Painting in Baltimore

Interior painting and exterior wood

We paint the inside of homes from ceiling to baseboard, and we paint and stain exterior railings, steps and decks. Interior work covers walls, ceilings, trim, doors and painted brick. Most painting jobs come with prep work, so we patch drywall and plaster, caulk trim gaps and prime stains before the finish coats.

We take on painting by itself and as part of larger renovations. Recent work includes a family room with a white-painted brick fireplace and gray walls, and living rooms and hallways in light gray with crisp white baseboards. We’ve also repainted a kitchen with drop cloths over the counters and floor, and rolled a gray coating onto a concrete basement floor.

Prep before paint

The prep under the paint decides how the finished wall looks. Fresh paint over a nail hole, a hairline crack or an old water stain makes the flaw stand out. We fill and sand every hole and crack and repair dented corners. Then we spot-prime patches and stains so they don’t flash through the finish.

In older Baltimore homes, prep often means plaster repair, gaps where trim has pulled away from the wall, and ceilings with old stains from past leaks. When a wall or ceiling is too damaged to patch, we replace that section first. Our drywall installation and repair page covers that work in more detail.

Painted brick fireplaces

Painting a dark or dated brick fireplace is one of the most noticeable changes you can make in a living room or family room. In one family room we painted the brick fireplace white. It now reads as a clean, bright feature against the gray walls, wood-look floor and recessed lights.

Brick takes more work than drywall. We clean off dust and soot, prime the brick so the finish bonds, and work the paint into the mortar joints. Skipping any of those steps leaves a fireplace that looks patchy or peels near the firebox.

Do you paint ceilings, trim and doors?

Yes, we paint ceilings, trim and doors, and we usually recommend doing them together with the walls. Ceilings that have yellowed or have patched areas look worse next to freshly painted walls. Trim and doors take the most wear in a house, and a fresh coat on baseboards and casings makes a room look finished.

We paint in a set order: ceilings first, then walls, then trim and doors. That way drips and lap marks land on surfaces that haven’t been finished yet, and the cut lines between colors stay sharp. Our living room refresh shows that combination of gray walls and white baseboards.

Exterior railings, steps and decks

Our exterior work covers railings, wood steps and decks. We paint stair and balcony railings, stain or paint pressure-treated steps and landings, and refinish existing decks. The old finish gets cleaned, sanded or scraped first so the new coat bonds. One client had every room in the house painted along with the outside railing as part of a larger renovation.

For decks, refinishing starts with sanding or cleaning the old surface so the new stain soaks in evenly. On one job we stained a wood deck and its railings a reddish brown. If the deck or stairs need repairs before they’re painted, our deck repair and refinishing page covers that work.

Does painting need a permit in Baltimore?

Interior painting doesn’t need a permit in Baltimore City, where it’s on the list of work exempt from permits. Exterior painting is the exception in historic districts. In a Baltimore City CHAP local historic district, exterior painting needs a permit and CHAP review even though it’s exempt elsewhere in the City. (City exempt-work list) Baltimore County’s historic review, by contrast, does not cover paint color. Confirm for your address.

What affects the cost of painting?

Surface area and prep set most of the cost of a paint job. Rooms with sound walls go quickly, while rooms with cracks, stains and loose plaster need patching and priming before the first finish coat. The other main drivers:

• Surfaces. Walls only, or ceilings, trim, doors and baseboards as well.
• Colors. Strong color changes and accent walls take extra coats.
• Height. Stairwells and tall ceilings need ladders or staging.
• Brick. Fireplaces need cleaning, masonry primer and work into every joint.
• Occupied rooms. Moving and covering furniture takes time.
• Exterior wood. Peeling or gray railings and decks need scraping or sanding first.

We give a written price after we’ve seen every surface in the scope.

How do you keep the house clean while painting?

We cover floors and furniture before we open a can, and we clean each area as soon as it’s finished. That keeps rooms usable during a multi-room job. One client noted in their Google review that cleanup was done as soon as each area was painted.

When painting is part of a whole-home renovation, we schedule it after drywall and before flooring and trim where possible, so new floors don’t need to be protected from drips.