ContractorHandbook

How Much Paint for a 12x14 Room?

Paint needed

2.25 gallons

A 12 by 14 room with eight foot walls, one door, two windows, two coats.

It does not stop at a number.

When the figures look right, the paint material list downloads as a real PDF with your business details on it, built inside your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.

doorwindowwindowheightperimeter of the room, ftnet wall area x coats / coverage per gallon = gallons
A room painted is its perimeter multiplied by its height, laid out flat, with the doors and windows taken out. Multiply by the number of coats before dividing by the coverage on the can, because two coats is two full areas of paint.

How that number is worked out

These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.

  • Room perimeter, add all walls52 ft
  • Wall height8 ft
  • Doors1
  • Windows2
  • Coats2
  • Coverage per gallon350 sq ft

Paint needed2.25 gallons

Gross wall area416 sq ft
Less doors and windows-51 sq ft
Net wall area365 sq ft
Area over 2 coats730 sq ft
Gallons, exact2.09
Buy3 gallonsor 1 five gallon pail

The material list this produces

Paint, gallons3
Primer, gallons (if bare or color change)2
Painter's tape, rolls1

Coats compared

Same room, one coat to three.

CoatsPaint needed
1 coat1.25 gallons
2 coats2.25 gallons
3 coats3.25 gallons

What else matters here

Just over two gallons, so the calculator says buy three. Two gallons would leave about 30 square feet of the last coat unpainted, and the leftover from the third is the repair kit for later touch ups.

What this calculator assumes

  • A door is taken as 21 sq ft and a window as 15 sq ft. Deducting them matters on a small room and barely moves a big one.
  • 350 sq ft per gallon is the usual figure on a smooth primed wall. Bare drywall, textured walls and deep color changes all drink more, so drop it to 300 if any of those apply.
  • Ceilings and trim are not included. Run the ceiling as its own area.

Questions people ask

How much paint for a 12x14 room?

About 2.09 gallons for two coats on eight foot walls, so the calculator rounds up to three gallons.

Different numbers?

The paint calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.

Other common sizes

15 more sizes are answered on the paint calculator page