How Much Paint for a 9x10 Room?
Paint needed
1.75 gallons
A 9 by 10 room with eight foot walls, one door, one window, two coats.
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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 walls38 ft
- Wall height8 ft
- Doors1
- Windows1
- Coats2
- Coverage per gallon350 sq ft
Paint needed1.75 gallons
| Gross wall area | 304 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Less doors and windows | -36 sq ft |
| Net wall area | 268 sq ft |
| Area over 2 coats | 536 sq ft |
| Gallons, exact | 1.53 |
| Buy | 2 gallonsor 1 five gallon pail |
The material list this produces
| Paint, gallons | 2 |
|---|---|
| Primer, gallons (if bare or color change) | 1 |
| Painter's tape, rolls | 1 |
Coats compared
Coats is the input people get wrong, usually by hoping. Same room, one coat to three.
| Coats | Paint needed |
|---|---|
| 1 coat | 1 gallon |
| 2 coats | 1.75 gallons |
| 3 coats | 2.5 gallons |
What else matters here
One and a half gallons, so two on the receipt. What changes the answer on a room this size is not the dimensions but the ceiling: at nine feet rather than eight the walls gain 38 square feet per coat, which pushes two coats to 1.72 gallons.
Height is the input worth measuring rather than assuming. Eight foot ceilings are standard in older housing, nine has been common in new construction for thirty years, and a room in a converted attic or a basement may be seven and a half.
The other thing that moves this number is the color. Coverage of 350 square feet per gallon assumes a light color on a primed wall. Deep reds, strong blues and anything with a heavy pigment load drop to nearer 300 and often need a tinted primer underneath to avoid a third coat.
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 9x10 room?
About 1.53 gallons for two coats on eight foot walls, so two gallons.
How much more paint do 9 foot ceilings need?
On this room, about an eighth of a gallon more per coat. Across a whole house that difference adds up to several gallons.
Do dark colors need more paint?
Yes. Heavily pigmented colors cover nearer 300 square feet per gallon instead of 350, and often want a gray tinted primer to avoid needing a third coat.
The paint calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.