Interior Painting in Chicago & the North Shore

Featured interior painting project

A fresh finish for connected living spaces

Light walls and white ceilings give these living and dining rooms a brighter look, with the dark wood trim providing a warm contrast. Explore the rooms before painting and the supplied after views below.

Painted dining and living rooms with light walls and contrasting wood window surrounds — After · Living and dining rooms

Connected rooms benefit from a consistent paint palette. In this interior painting project, the light wall color carries through the wide opening between the dining and living areas, making the spaces feel cohesive.

The photographs show the change from the earlier gray walls to the lighter finished look. Window surrounds and door casings remain a strong visual feature against the painted walls and ceilings.

Dining room · Before & after

Dining room before painting, looking through to the living room — Before · Dining room

Dining room after painting with light walls, a white ceiling and dark wood trim — After · Dining room, reverse view

Living room · Before & after

Living room before painting with gray walls and dark wood window trim — Before · Living room

Living room after painting with light walls, a white ceiling and original dark wood trim — After · Living room

Connecting rooms · Before & after

Connecting rooms before painting, viewed toward the dining room — Before · Looking toward the dining room

Living room after painting, looking through to the bright dining room — After · Looking toward the dining room

Get an interior painting estimate

What's included

Every interior job starts with the same prep, whether it's one accent wall or a full house: furniture moved and covered, floors protected, walls patched and sanded, and trim taped before any paint opens. We use low-VOC paint from established manufacturers, and we do a final walkthrough with you before we call the job done.

Walls, ceilings, trim, doors, and built-ins
Drywall patching and minor repair before painting
Wallpaper, contact paper, and peel-and-stick tile removal
Skim coating to flatten damaged or textured walls
Interior brick and masonry painting
Drywall hanging, taping and finishing before paint
Two-coat coverage as standard, not an upsell
Furniture and flooring fully protected during the job
Final walkthrough and touch-up before we leave

Typical timeline

A single room usually takes one to two days including prep, primer where needed, and two coats. A whole-home interior typically runs three to seven days depending on square footage and how much trim and detail work is involved. You'll get a specific timeline in your written estimate, not a guess.

Chicago & North Shore homes

From vintage courtyard buildings and greystones on the North Side to newer construction in the suburbs, older Chicago-area housing stock often means plaster walls, layered old paint, and trim that needs extra attention before a fresh coat goes on. We factor that into the prep, not just the paint.

Stripping and skim coating

Plenty of rooms have a layer that has to come off first — peel-and-stick tile, old wallpaper, contact paper. Pulling it is the easy part; what's left behind is dried adhesive that will telegraph straight through fresh paint if it isn't dealt with. We scrape and wash off the glue, skim coat the wall flat, sand, and prime before any color goes on.

Recent project: laundry room repaint

Walls covered in peel-and-stick tile, stripped back and skim coated flat before painting.

Laundry room wall with peel-and-stick tile partially removed, showing dried adhesive residue underneath — Before — tile coming off, with hardened adhesive left across the wall.

Finished laundry room with smooth white painted walls and new ceiling light — After — glue scraped, walls skim coated flat, sanded, primed and painted.

Finished laundry room from the opposite end showing clean painted walls and trim — Same room from the other end — trim and ceiling finished to match.

Recent project: sunroom remodeling in Joliet

Everything failing came out — panelling, ceiling tile, old carpet. Window surrounds rebuilt in solid wood, brick and trim painted, floor leveled and replaced.

Sunroom before remodeling in Joliet with dark brick walls, brown wood panelling, ceiling tiles and old carpet — Before — dark brick, brown panelling, a tiled drop ceiling and carpet past saving.

Sunroom after remodeling in Joliet with white painted brick, white trim, light wood-look flooring and a ceiling fan — After — sunroom remodeling in Joliet, with white painted brick and trim, light wood-look flooring and a ceiling fan.

Painting interior brick takes a masonry primer and a coating that lets the wall breathe — ordinary wall paint peels off it within a season or two.

Recent project: basement wall in Wilmette

Old built-in cabinets out, new drywall hung, taped and mudded, then sanded and painted to a flat finish.

Basement wall stripped back to studs and original plank sheathing after cabinets were removed — Cabinets demoed out, back to studs and the original plank sheathing.

New drywall hung on the basement wall with seams taped and coated in joint compound — Drywall hung, seams taped and coated — the stage that decides how flat it ends up.

Finished basement wall sanded flat and painted, with no visible seams under raking light — Sanded and painted. Raking light along a basement wall shows every seam you missed — this one reads flat.

Common questions

How long does interior painting take?

A single room is usually one to two days. A full interior repaint typically takes three to seven days depending on the size of the home and the amount of trim and detail work.

Can you paint over walls that had wallpaper or stick-on tile?

Not directly. Leftover adhesive shows through fresh paint and keeps it from bonding. We scrape and wash the glue off, skim coat the wall flat, sand and prime it first — then it takes paint like any other surface.

Do I need to move my furniture?

We move and cover what we can reach, and protect what stays in place. For a smoother day, clearing small items and valuables ahead of time helps.

What paint do you use?

We use low-VOC paint from established manufacturers, matched to the room's use, light exposure, and finish preference.

Interior Painting