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Repainting one room in a house built before 1978

By Szeto Handyman · Updated · 3 min read

The quick take

Look at the old paint before buying new. Sound walls only need filling, priming and two coats. In a house built before 1978, peeling or chipping paint is a reason to call or text us first, before anyone disturbs it. Local rules keep wall paint low in VOCs.

Hand rolling gray paint onto a textured interior wall

Roughly four in five Monterey Park homes were built before 1980, per the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey (homes by year built). That matters for paint because the federal ban on lead paint for homes took effect in 1978 (CPSC announcement of the 1977 ban). This guide covers repainting one room in a house that old: what to look at first, the paint rules in our air district, sheen, color and the order the work goes in.

Start with the condition of the old paint

Walls that are sound, with scuffs, faded patches and nail holes, take paint well. Paint that is peeling, flaking, chipping or bubbling is a different starting point, especially on windowsills, door edges and trim, where layers have built up the longest.

The low-VOC rule in our air district

Monterey Park is inside the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which covers large areas of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and regulates house paint along with other sources. Its Rule 1113 table of standards limits volatile organic compounds to 50 grams per liter for flat and non-flat coatings, the categories most wall paint falls under, and 100 grams per liter for primers, sealers and undercoaters.

Low VOC still has an odor while it cures. Open windows, run a box fan pointed out, and keep the room aired out until the smell fades.

Sheen, room by room

  • Ceilings: flat hides bumps and patching. If the ceiling has popcorn texture, read the popcorn ceiling guide before painting or patching it.
  • Bedrooms and living rooms: eggshell gives a soft look that still takes a damp cloth.
  • Hallways and kids' rooms: satin stands up to hands and backpacks.
  • Bathrooms and kitchens: satin or semi-gloss sheds moisture and grease. If bathroom paint keeps peeling, the exhaust fan is usually the fix; see the bathroom fan guide.
  • Trim and doors: semi-gloss. Shiny trim from decades back may be oil-based, which needs the right primer before latex goes on. New trim is covered in the baseboard and crown molding guide.

Choosing a color in the room's own light

Two people holding a small paint swatch against a white wall

Chip cards are tiny and lit by store lighting. A large painted sample, or a peel-and-stick sample sheet, on two different walls shows how a color shifts with the window light through the day. Look at it in the evening too, with the bulbs you actually use; warm and cool LEDs change the same paint a lot.

The order of work

Person pressing blue painter's tape along the line where a wall meets the ceiling
  1. Furniture moves to the middle of the room and gets covered; floors get drop cloths.
  2. Switch plates and outlet covers come off. It's a good time to replace a cracked plate or a worn outlet; see the outlets and switches guide.
  3. Nail holes and dents in sound walls get filled, and drywall cracks get taped.
  4. Kitchen walls get washed where grease has built up, then rinsed and dried.
  5. Patches get primer so they don't show through as dull spots.
  6. Tape goes on at the ceiling line and trim, edges get cut in by brush, then the walls get rolled.
  7. The second coat goes on after the recoat time printed on the can.

Leftover paint

Keep a labeled quart for touch-ups, with the room and date on the lid. For the rest, California's PaintCare program, running since October 2012 and paid for by a fee on new paint, takes house paint, primers, stains, sealers and clear coatings at drop-off sites for free.

What a room repaint with us includes

We repaint one room or a few walls, including ceiling, trim and doors, with the small patching done first. A whole house or the outside is a better fit for a painting contractor, and we can handle the drywall and trim repairs before they start. See painting touch-ups and drywall repair.

Our painting touch-ups page lists what’s included, plus which photos make the quote easy. For the background on these houses, read Monterey Park homes and their common repairs.

Hand this one to us

Call or text (626) 684-3505 (Mon–Sat, 8:30 AM–7 PM). Send a photo and your ZIP code, and we’ll quote it before we pick a day.

Call or text (626) 684-3505