Painting Vaulted Ceilings, Stairwells and Two-Story Foyers

Why are high walls and stairwells harder to paint?

Because almost all of the difficulty is getting there safely, not putting paint on the wall. A standard 8-foot room is painted from the floor with a roller pole and a short step ladder. A two-story foyer, a vaulted family room or the wall above a staircase is 16 to 20 feet tall, and part of the floor under it is stairs. That changes everything about the job:

• Access. The ladder or platform has to stand level on uneven stair treads, often next to a railing and an open drop.
• Cut lines. The line where the wall meets a vaulted ceiling can run 20 feet up at an angle. Every inch of it is cut by hand.
• Lighting. Big walls with tall windows get raking light all afternoon. Roller marks and patchy sheen that you'd never notice in a bedroom show up on a 300 square foot foyer wall.
• Drywall seams. Tall walls and ceiling peaks are where tape joints and corner cracks show up first. They need repair before paint, or the crack comes back through.

That's why many homeowners in Highlands Ranch, Parker, Castle Rock and Aurora paint every other room themselves and call a painter for the foyer, the stairwell and the vaulted great room.

How do professional painters reach a two-story wall?

There are three common setups, and a good crew will tell you which one they plan to use before the job starts.

Extension poles do a lot of the rolling, but cutting in the top line, the window returns and the ceiling edge still means someone up at that height. Railings and spindles get wrapped, and the stairs get a drop cloth that won't slide. If an estimate doesn't mention how the crew will reach the top of your wall, ask before you sign.

Should you paint a two-story wall yourself?

Think hard about it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 43% of fatal falls in the decade before its 2014 study involved a ladder, and that about 81% of fall injuries among construction workers treated in emergency rooms involved a ladder. Its first prevention advice is to plan the work to cut down on ladder use and to use scaffolds or lifts for extended work at height. Those are numbers about people who climb ladders for a living.

A practical rule we give homeowners: if you can't reach the top of the wall with a roller pole while standing on the floor or a sturdy step ladder on a flat floor, that part of the job is worth handing off. You can still save money by painting the regular rooms yourself and having the foyer and stairwell done professionally. Our estimates can be split that way.

What does it cost to paint a foyer, stairwell or vaulted ceiling?

There's no single Denver price for a tall wall, because the cost depends on square footage and access. Here's how to get a realistic number before anyone comes out:

1. Measure the wall area, not the floor. Multiply the distance around the room by the wall height. A 12 by 12 foot foyer that's 18 feet tall has 48 feet of wall around it, so about 864 square feet of wall before you subtract doors and windows. That's more wall than many whole bedrooms.
2. Use per-square-foot rates for walls painted. Fixr's national cost guide lists $2 to $6 per square foot for walls and $1 to $2.50 per square foot for ceilings, labor included. For that 864 square foot foyer, that's roughly $1,700 to $5,200 depending on prep, colors and access.
3. Add for ceilings and stairs. Angi's Denver room-painting data says ceilings add $2.50 to $6 per square foot. Fixr puts a typical straight staircase (walls, handrail and balusters) at $350 to $450 nationally, and notes that a staircase spanning two floors under a vaulted ceiling costs more.

For the rest of the house, our Denver painting cost guide has whole-house and per-room ranges, and the estimate request form lets you send photos for a written price.

Is winter a good time to paint tall interior spaces?

Often, yes. It's the slow season for exterior work, so scheduling is easier, and the job is all indoors. Two things to plan for:

• Keep the house warm. Paint makers give a minimum temperature for application (50°F on the interior paint data sheet we checked), and a cold front entry by the door can sit below that on a January morning. Keep the furnace at a normal setting.
• Watch the wet edge. Warm air collects near the top of a tall room, and Colorado air is dry, so paint can set up faster up high than down low. Crews work in full top-to-bottom sections so each section blends while it's still wet, which is what prevents lap marks on big walls.

Living at home during the work? Our guide to staying home during interior painting covers scheduling, fresh air with the windows closed, and dry times.

Color tips for tall spaces

• One color, floor to ceiling peak, usually looks best in a foyer. Changing color at a random height on a two-story wall rarely looks intentional.
• Pick the ceiling-to-wall break before the crew arrives. On a vaulted ceiling, decide whether the slope is "ceiling" (ceiling color) or "wall" (wall color). Both work, but switching mid-job costs time.
• Go a shade lighter than your sample. A large wall with afternoon sun reads lighter and brighter than a swatch in your hand, and hallways and stairwells read darker. Test a large sample board at the top of the stairs, not just at eye level.
• Choose the sheen for touch-ups. On a wall you can't easily reach again, a flatter finish hides touch-ups better. Our Denver paint colors guide has more on light and sheen.

Where we see these rooms most

Two-story entries and vaulted great rooms are common in the newer suburbs around Denver. If that's your neighborhood, our local pages have the details: painters in Aurora, Highlands Ranch, Parker and Castle Rock. For everything else inside the house, start with our interior painting page.