Interior and exterior painting in Logan and Cache Valley
Rooms, ceilings, trim and the patch that needs covering, plus exterior doors, trim and caulking before the weather turns. Furniture moved and covered, edges cut in by hand, two coats on the walls, and your house put back the way it was before I leave.
Interior painting, at handyman scale
I am a one man shop working out of Logan, not a six man crew, and that shapes what I take on. Rooms, ceilings and trim are the work. A full house repaint from empty is better suited to a dedicated painting company, and I will point you at one rather than string you along.
A single room
The most common call. A bedroom, an office, a nursery before the baby turns up. One room, done properly, in a day.
Ceilings
Flat white over a ceiling that has gone dingy, or a fresh one after a repair. Worth doing with the walls rather than after them.
Trim, doors and baseboards
The part most people put off because it is slow and fiddly. Brushed by hand, not sprayed over everything else in the room.
Accent walls and color changes
Going dark over light, or light over dark. Both want a primer coat first, and I will tell you that before you buy the paint.
Patch and paint
A hole gets cut out, backed, mudded, sanded, primed and painted. One person, one visit sequence, no handing off halfway.
Touch ups and scuffs
Hallways, stairwells, the wall behind a sofa. Small jobs are fine. No job too small is not a slogan, it is most of my week.
Painting is mostly prep
Anybody can roll paint on a wall. The difference between a room that looks professionally done and one that looks like a weekend is almost entirely what happened before the paint came out of the can.
Furniture out and covered
Everything light moves to the middle of the room and gets sheeted. Floors get covered properly, not with a newspaper and good intentions.
Walls washed where they need it
Kitchens, bathrooms and anywhere near a doorway pick up grease and hand marks. Paint does not stick to that, it sits on it and peels later.
Holes filled, cracks opened and filled
A hairline crack painted over is a hairline crack again by spring. It gets opened up, filled and sanded flat first.
Caulk where the trim meets the wall
This is the line that makes a room look done instead of nearly done, and it is the step that gets skipped most.
Cut in by hand
Edges, corners and the line along the ceiling, brushed. Tape helps but tape alone does not give you a clean line on a textured wall.
Then the cleanup
Covers up, switch plates back on, edges checked, no tape left on anything, furniture where it started, and the trash out of your house rather than left in the bin by the door.
One coat looks fine until the sun comes round
Wet paint covers beautifully. That is the problem. A single coat looks perfectly good the afternoon it goes on, and then the light rakes across the wall a few days later and you can see every roller mark, every spot where the old color is still showing through, and a sheen that changes depending on where you stand.
So walls get two, and the second one goes on after the first is actually dry rather than when I am ready to leave. The exception is going over the same color with the same paint, where one genuinely does it. You will hear that from me rather than getting charged for a coat the wall did not need.
If it needs fixing first
Repairs and paint, same person, same week.
Most painting calls I get start with damage. An anchor hole behind a TV that came down, a crack over a doorway, a patch somebody else already tried that you can still see. Plenty of painters will paint over it and plenty of drywall guys will leave you with bare patches and tell you to find a painter.
I do both ends, so the hole gets cut back, backed, mudded in coats, sanded, textured to match, primed and painted without anybody handing the job over halfway. There is more on how the repair side works on the drywall repair page.
Why a patch shows through paint
The thing people call me back about.
- Fresh joint compound is thirstier than the wall around it, so it drinks the paint and dries duller
- That dull shape showing through the finish is called flashing, and it is a primer problem, not a paint problem
- Primer over every patch first, then paint, and it disappears
- Touching up one patch with the original can rarely matches, because paint on a wall fades over the years and paint in a can does not
- Painting wall to wall, corner to corner, is how a repair actually vanishes
Winter is the right time to paint inside
Two things about painting in Logan that are not true everywhere else, and both of them work in your favor between November and March.
Nobody in Logan is opening a window in January
Cache Valley sits in an inversion for days at a time from November through March, cold air pooled on the valley floor with some of the worst winter air in the country sitting in it, and January lows around sixteen degrees on top of that. That is exactly when you do not want to be airing a room out. So I use low odor paint, keep air moving inside the house rather than pulling it in from outside, and work in a sequence that means you are not sleeping in a room that was painted that afternoon.
Dry air makes paint behave differently
Cache Valley is high desert, sitting at about forty five hundred feet, and humidity is low here year round. Paint skins over faster than the back of the can assumes. Work too slowly across a wall and the edge you are rolling into has already started to set, which leaves lap marks you will see every time the afternoon light comes across it. The fix is keeping a wet edge and not stretching a wall over a lunch break, and that is a thing you learn painting houses in Logan rather than reading a label.
The flip side: exterior work here really is a warm month job. Trim, doors and exterior caulking want doing before the weather turns, not during it.
Two kinds of house, two different jobs
Older Logan
Center Street, the Island, the streets around Utah State. Plaster and older drywall, trim that has been painted five or six times already, and walls that want washing and filling before anything else happens. These take longer in prep and less time rolling. A lot of them are student rentals, so make ready work between tenants lands in a rush every August when the leases turn over.
The newer builds
Nibley, Hyde Park, North Logan, Providence, Smithfield. Builder grade flat white, usually one thin coat sprayed before anybody moved in, which is why it scuffs if you look at it and will not wipe clean. Walls are straight and prep is quick, but they genuinely need two coats of something better to stop marking.
Sheen matters more than brand
People agonize over the color and then let somebody else pick the sheen, which is backwards. The color is what you see. The sheen is what decides whether the wall wipes clean or marks forever, and whether every bump in the drywall gets lit up.
Flat hides a wall's flaws and does not wipe. Eggshell and satin wipe down and are what you want in a hallway, a kid's room, a kitchen or a bathroom. Semi gloss belongs on trim and doors. Those builder grade walls in the newer subdivisions are flat, which is exactly why they scuff and will not come clean.
If you already have a brand you trust, I will use it. If you do not, I will tell you what the room actually needs rather than reaching for the most expensive can on the shelf.
Caulking, which usually comes with it
Caulk is the cheapest thing in the van and the one that makes the biggest difference to whether a room looks finished. It is also the step that gets skipped most, because it is slow and nobody notices it when it is done right.
The line that makes a room look done
Where the trim meets the wall, around door casings, along the top of the baseboard. Old caulk shrinks and cracks and leaves a dark line that reads as grubby even on a freshly painted wall.
- Old cracked caulk cut out rather than painted over
- New bead run and tooled before the paint goes on
- Painted over so it disappears instead of sitting there white
Jobs that are just caulk
You do not need a paint job to call about these, and they are small enough that I will come out for them on their own.
- Tub and shower surrounds where the bead has gone black or pulled away
- Kitchen counter to backsplash, and around the sink
- Windows and exterior doors before the first hard freeze, which in Cache Valley means getting it done in October rather than thinking about it in December
- Gaps that are letting cold air into a room you cannot keep warm
How I price a painting job
No hourly meter running while you watch. A flat number, agreed before I start.
What moves the number
- Square footage of wall, and whether the ceiling is going too
- Ceiling height, because a stairwell is slower and needs more setup than a bedroom
- How much trim, and how many doors and windows break the walls up
- Whether the walls need repairs or washing before paint
- Whether the color change needs a primer coat underneath
- Who is buying the paint, you or me
How it works
- I come and look at the actual room, free
- You get one flat number, in writing, before anything starts
- If I find something behind the furniture that changes it, you hear about it then, not on the invoice
- If the job is small enough that you would be better off doing it yourself, I will say so
What people say about the finish
Real Google reviews from homeowners around Cache Valley.
I needed a some shelving put into my house and Brendan was so kind, and made sure it was just how I wanted it. I'm so grateful to have found a company that is reliable and trustworthy, he was so professional and did such a nice job, left everything spotless and ready for me to decorate! I will absolutely give him a call next time I need some help.
Brenden is awesome to work with! I had him install a couple of ceiling fans and he did an incredible job. I really appreciate his attention to detail. For example one of the blades wobbled a little and he wasn't ok with that, so he took a few extra minutes to look it over, figure out what happened, and made sure it was fixed before he left.
We can't say enough good things about Brendan! He was knowledgeable, hardworking, and went above and beyond to make sure everything was done right. Great communication, fair pricing, and excellent workmanship. We'll definitely be calling him again!
Interior painting FAQs
How much does it cost to paint a room?+
It depends on the size, the ceiling height, how much trim there is and what shape the walls are in. A bedroom with clean walls is a different job to a stairwell with a cracked corner and three doors. I come and look, then give you a flat number before I start. The estimate is free and I will tell you if you are better off doing it yourself.
Do you paint ceilings?+
Yes, and they are worth doing at the same time as the walls if the room has not been painted in a while. Ceilings go dingy slowly so you stop noticing, and then the walls get done and the ceiling suddenly looks yellow next to them. Doing both at once costs less than coming back for the ceiling later.
Will you move my furniture?+
I move what needs moving to the middle of the room and cover it. If you have got something heavy, fragile or genuinely valuable, I would rather you move that one yourself or we talk about it first. Everything else I handle.
How many coats do you do?+
Two, on walls, unless we are going over the same color with the same paint and one genuinely covers. One coat looks fine the day it goes on and then you see roller marks the first sunny afternoon. Dark colors and big color changes sometimes want a primer coat underneath as well, and I will tell you up front if yours does.
Can you paint over a repair?+
That is most of what I do. A patch needs primer before paint or it soaks up differently and you can see the shape of it through the finish, which is called flashing. If I have done the repair I already know where every patch is, so the painting goes on top properly the same week.
Is winter a bad time to paint inside?+
No, it is actually the better time. Inside work does not care about the snow, and most people want it done before the holidays rather than in July when everybody is outside. The only thing winter changes is ventilation, because nobody in Cache Valley is opening windows in January. I use low odor paint and keep air moving so you are not shut in with the smell.
How long does a room take?+
Most single rooms are a day, sometimes two if there is a lot of trim, a color change that needs priming, or repairs to do first. I would rather take the extra day than rush the second coat on over paint that is not dry.
What paint do you use?+
Whatever suits the room. Kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms want something that wipes down, hallways and kids' rooms the same, and ceilings are usually flat. If you have a brand or a color you already like I will use it. If you are not sure, I will talk you through it rather than just picking the most expensive one on the shelf.
Do you do exterior painting?+
Yes, at the same scale as the inside work. Trim, a front door, shutters, a railing, touch ups, and caulking around windows and doors before the weather turns. What I do not take on is a whole house exterior from scaffolding, because that is a different job with different equipment and a dedicated crew will do it better. Either way, exterior work here is a warm month job. If you are asking in February the honest answer is wait until spring.
Do you do caulking on its own?+
Yes. A tub surround where the bead has gone black, the gap at the kitchen backsplash, windows and doors before the first hard freeze. It is a small job and small jobs are most of my week, so you do not need to bundle it with anything else to get me out there.
Are you licensed and insured?+
Yes. Utah B100 General Contractor license, number 142481980, and I carry insurance.
Got a room that needs doing?
Call or text and you get me, Brendan. Tell me which room and I will come and look at it. Free estimate, flat number before I start.