How to Find and Hire Affordable Painters


Disclaimer: We have partnered with Paintzenย to bring you this post. All opinions and photography are our own and are not influenced by Paintzen (we just really love them!). Thank you for supporting the brands that support this blog.

To DIY Or Not To DIY?

You guys know we LOVE all things DIY around here. We’re all about diving in to learn new things in order to save money by doing projects around our home ourselves. But lately, it hasn’t been realistic for me to think we can do everything on our to-do list ourselves.

With the looming baby timeline on the horizon, running a full-time job, running a full-time blog, and working on a renovation of our entire house (all while being 6 months pregnant!), hasn’t left me with a lot of time to do all the projects I wish we could do ourselves.

The Struggle is Real

The good news is that I think a lot of you can relate to this struggle. Like me, you want to DIY as much as possible in your homes, but the demands of life prevent this and force you to hire some of these projects out. When I learned about the company we have partnered with today, I was SO excited to work with them and share my experience with others who are in the same boat as me.

Meet Paintzen

Paintzen is the company we hired to paint almost our entire first floor. The bathrooms, closets, trim, doors and ceilings were already done thanks to the help of my amazing dad (the guy is a saint). But time was running out before we were getting the floors done and the kitchen, family room, dining room, and bedrooms still needed paint. Plus, my dad has been working with us almost every night and weekend for the past 2 months (!!) so hiring out this last paint project was the least I could do to give the poor guy a break.

But I had no idea where to start to find and hire affordable painters to get the job done. That’s until I learned about Paintzenย from our friends Kim & Scott at Yellow Brick Home. They recently used this company to have their entire garden apartment painted and raved about the experience so we knew they were a great company to get the job done.

How to Hire Paintzen Painters

What I loved about Paintzen is that hiring the painters was so easy… especially for someone like me who has never hired a painter. All I did was visitย their website and was able to get a free quote based on my specific space. I filled out a quick questionnaire (it took maybe 10 minutes) about what rooms needed painting and was even able to get ALL of the paint included in our quote. Quickly after, I received an email with the exact quote for this project (all supplies and paint included!) for $1,900. From there all I had to do was book the painters — done and done!

The BIG Day!

I was literally counting down the days until it was time to paint. I let the Paintzenย team know what paint colors I wanted in which rooms and two painters arrived on the big day ready to work. They worked the entire day and were able to finish EVERYTHING in one day!!! Can you even?

I honestly didn’t have to worry about a thing. They brought dropcloths, painter’s tape, ladders, all of the brushes, rollers, paint, caulk — literally everything. At the end of the day, they took all of their garbage and supplies with them and left the extra paint with me. It was such a stress-free process and saved us so. much. time!

This investment was worth every penny. I would highly recommend this service to anyone else looking to lessen theirย workload and hire out their next painting project. The end result is gorgeous, but most importantly, the process was so easy.

Paint Details

Now let’s chat about the paint colors because boy oh boy, finding the perfect paint color was SO hard. You’d think I’d get better at this process but I swear that finding gray paint is tough because it looks completely different in each space.

Gray paint is like a chameleon that will look different based on its surroundings. The types of lighting, the amount of natural light, the floors, the trim, the other colors around the paint, there are so many factors that make paint colors unique to your specific space.

Using these tips, we looked at a ton of paint swatches and inspiration online but it’s important to bring each color home and sample them on your own walls to get a true read of what the paint will look like in your space. I bought and sampled 10 different light gray paint colors. I painted them in all different areas and looked at them at all different times of the day and night. Some were immediately ruled out because they were too dark or looked too purple/blue/green/etc. I wanted a light gray that had warm undertones and couldn’t seem to find the perfect option.

Mixing it Up

The color I kept coming back to was Benjamin Moore’s Silver Satin. I used it in our basement and loved the light gray, subtle color. It plays a “supporting role” downstairs instead of being the “star of the show” and that’s exactly what I wanted in the paint upstairs too. But after sampling it upstairs, the color almost disappeared on the walls because of all of the natural light. I loved the tone of the paint, but it just didn’t seem like enough color and got lost on the walls.

That’s when I tried something I have never done before. I went back to the paint store and got a sample of this exact color but at 150% (or 1.5) intensity. When I put that sample on the walls in the family room and dining room, it was PERFECT. The color was exactly what I wanted, but just a tad darker so it didn’t get lost in the bright natural light.

A Smooth Transition

I want the house to “flow” so I purposely wanted similar paint colors in all of the rooms. The two back bedrooms don’t get as much natural light as the rest of the house so the 150% Silver Satin blend looked too dark in those rooms. So for the bedroom and nursery, I went with the traditional blend of Benjamin Moore’s Silver Satin.

Because this color seems to be such a chameleon, those two rooms look different… even with the exact same paint color! I’m sure I’ll eventually switch up the master bedroom paint color when I have an idea of how I want to decorate it, but for now, the neutral base is PERFECT and will be a great supporting role for whatever direction I take the design.

It’s Done!

After I finally decided on colors, I let Paintzen know and they brought all of the paint on the big day. Now that the colors are up, I could not be more in love. I think the paint color is perfect and can’t wait to see how it works with the furniture, decor and other colors we add to each space.

But for now, I’m just happy that it’s done and looks so gorgeous. Thank you Paintzen, I appreciate your stress-free process more than you can even imagine. #lifesavers

P.S. If you have an upcoming painting project, use code “DIYPLAYBOOK” to get $100 off your first order with Paintzen!

Bridget

Other Paint Color Resources


The Year of Casey

Hey there!

Iโ€™m Casey Finn, the voice behind The DIY Playbook. I’m a Chicago gal teaching you how to design, DIY, and maintain your home…by yourself! Learn more about me right here.