We bought our house in 2013, it was about 9 years old then. We painted the bedrooms and left the rest as-is. It had some bold colors in some areas and the neutral beige was too peachy but we could live with it over the effort of painting it, plus we had a 1yr old and were planning on more. Fast forward to today and the kids are now about 3/4 through their destructive years and the colors are starting to get tiring and the walls are starting to show their wear. We aren't smokers so the ceilings look fine. There is a two story open foyer so I got an estimate for that because the proper scaffolding is unobtanium and its not worth the hassle for the estimate we received. Wife threw out the idea of having them paint the ceiling while they were at it. Looks fine to me as-is.

The interwebs say paint your ceiling every 10 years and walls every 2-3 years. Yeesh. Growing up we went 20 years on the original ceiling paint (38 years on the part with popcorn) and 10 years on the walls.

Our current house has "orange peel" walls and "executive knockdown" on the ceiling. What says ye SigForum house paint picassos? How often do you paint? Should I leave the ceiling alone if it looks fine?

I'd say 10-15 years, with quality paint in non-faddish colors. (That "bold accent wall" that looks so cool and trendy today might have you feeling differently in a few years.)

My last house was 15 years old, and only just getting to the point where the interior needed to be repainted. And that was even with a teenager and two dogs putting extra wear and tear on the walls...

My current house is 1 year old, and actually still just has the white primer and texture on the walls and ceiling. I'm waiting 2-3 years for the walls to get a bit grungy (which will be much faster than painted walls since you can't really clean it without melting the texture), and only then will have the walls painted. The ceiling will probably stay white primer for quite some time.

We finished our basement 4 years ago, I painted all of that myself, only because it needed done before the carpeting was put in. The doors are still white primer. I've found more fun things to do with my time over the last 4 years.

When the wife says so

I built our house 20 years ago, used quality paint that still looks great.

Back when I was a 3 pack a day smoker paint was only good for 2-3 years. Now that I've been quit 25 years paint lasts about forever.

Only when Mrs Mike wants a new color. There’s no need to paint every few years-that sounds like paint companies trying to sell paint.

Never. Maybe when we move - touch up here and there. Never paint unless something breaks.

Outside, after 15 years.

Whenever I go hunting for the weekend.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
When the wife says so

Yep. I’d keep everything white myself. I paint when she decides a room needs a color change.

No matter the quality of the paint, colors, especially bold colors will fade over the years. You don't notice it as it happens slowly. Color preferences change over the years and it's amazing what a fresh coat of paint with a different hue does to brighten a room. We recently had our master bath remodeled and went with a bold gray from the soft earth tone beige that was there for 18 some years. It looks great.

I have my hands full trying to keep the outside painted. Our climate is really hard on paint. The outside wood trim needs paint about every 4 years. The Hardi Plank about every 8-10 years.

The inside of our shack is currently sporting 20 year old paint.

Paint the ceilings, you don't realize how dinghy it gets in 10+ years. Painting it will really brighten the rooms and make it pop. Walls depends on wear, but I did mine at 7 years. Again you don't realize the little marks and such until it's freshly painted.

Our house is 20 years old. We painted interior walls once, outside once and have ignored the ceiling.

Yesterday, we did some touchup on a couple walls as we replaced all of our countertops. Interestingly enough, our saved, 17 year old paint blended in perfectly.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mcrimm,

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
When the wife says so

Yup. I was fine with everything white as it came. Then many years later she wanted to give each room different colors. Well now, those colors are out of style to her so we are slowly re-painting again. About 3 times in 20 years all at my wife’s request. I do have to admit that it does look good each time.

My wife burned ten candles a day. So yeah, ceilings about every two years.
good lord I hate candles!

We just painted our interior, after 17 years. We had to remove some wallpaper. I HATE wallpaper.

I am hoping we are good to go for another 17.

After around the third time my wife asks.

Fortunately this house has good, neutral colors.

I painted the interior of our home about 8-9 years ago and it still looks good today. It pays to use a good quality paint.

Never.