Peeling cornices, cracked plaster and tired rooms are the jobs we take on every week across the District.
We prep the surface properly, paint it cleanly and leave each room ready to live in at the end of the day.
Paint and tools we reach for on DC jobs, from Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore to Farrow & Ball and Romabio limewash.
Most houses in the District are older than the people living in them. That changes the job. A Petworth porch front built in the 1920s, a Capitol Hill rowhouse with layers of paint on its cornice, a Chevy Chase Colonial with original wood windows: each one needs prep that a quick roll-and-go crew skips, and skipped prep is why paint peels within two summers.
Muller Painting works out of Brookland, a few blocks from the Brookland-CUA Metro, and paints across DC and the close-in suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. We scrape and sand before we prime, fix cracked plaster instead of hiding it under caulk, and treat pre-1978 paint with lead-safe work practices. Rooms are covered, furniture is moved and put back, and you know each evening what happens tomorrow.
The phone is answered around the clock. Painting happens on a normal work schedule, but if a leak has stained a ceiling or a tenant moves out on short notice, you can reach a person at 2 a.m. and have a walkthrough on the calendar by morning.
Muller Painting paints interiors, exteriors, cabinets and rowhouse facades across Washington, DC from a Brookland office on Edgewood St NE. A walkthrough comes first, then a written price. Typical DC jobs run $485 to $860 for a bedroom and $2,350 to $6,900 for a rowhouse front, depending on prep and access.
Thirty-seven services grouped by the way DC homeowners usually describe the job. Each page explains the work step by step, lists typical prices and answers the questions we hear on walkthroughs.
Most of the prep on a DC job is decided by when the house was built. Pick the era closest to yours to see what we usually find under the old paint and what we plan for before the first coat.
Typical on Capitol Hill, in Georgetown and along the older blocks of Shaw and Bloomingdale.
Typical in Petworth, Brookland, Takoma, Michigan Park and Chevy Chase DC.
Typical in Brightwood, Woodridge, Shepherd Park and the close-in Maryland suburbs.
Typical in the Palisades, parts of Fairfax and Montgomery counties and many DC condo buildings.
Typical in newer townhome rows, NoMa and Navy Yard condos and recent renovations everywhere.
Age, climate and city rules all shape a paint job here. These are the six things we plan around on almost every DC house.
Pre-war walls are lime or horsehair plaster on lath. Cracks need re-anchoring and skim coats, so plaster repair comes before the first coat of paint.
Homes built before 1978 often have lead somewhere under newer coats. We contain, wet scrape and HEPA clean when we disturb it. See lead-safe painting.
July humidity slows drying and traps moisture under fresh film. We watch dew points, schedule exterior coats for drier windows and give paint the hours it needs.
Painting unpainted brick in a historic district generally needs a look from the DC Historic Preservation Office. We flag it during the walkthrough so you can check first.
Stoop railings rust and brick fronts hold water. Each needs its own primer and coating, covered on our iron railing and brick pages.
Condos ask for insurance certificates, elevator bookings and quiet hours. We plan around them so a condo repaint does not stall at the front desk.
Every job follows the same order, whether it is one bedroom or a three-story facade. Each step is its own layer, and the finish coat only looks as good as the layers under it.
We look at every surface, test old paint where it matters, take notes on access and parking, and send a written price with the scope spelled out.
Floors, furniture, plants and neighbors' steps get covered. In pre-1978 homes we set up plastic containment before anything is scraped.
Loose paint comes off, edges get feathered, cracks are filled and joints are caulked. This is where most of the hours go.
Bare wood, stains, patches and rusted iron get a primer matched to the surface, from oil-based stain blockers to rust converters.
We cut in by hand and roll or spray two coats, letting each dry fully. Color and sheen are confirmed in your light before the first one.
We walk the job with you in daylight, mark anything you want touched up and fix it before the drop cloths leave.
Our office sits in Brookland, and we paint across all of DC plus nearby Silver Spring, Bethesda, Alexandria and the counties around them. Pick your area for local details, or check your ZIP.
Real DC ranges for the jobs we price most. Older houses with more prep land at the higher end.
| Job | Typical range | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Bedroom walls, two coats | $485 to $860 | Room size, wall repairs, color change |
| Kitchen cabinets | $4,350 to $8,900 | Number of doors and drawers, condition, glazed or plain |
| Rowhouse front facade | $2,350 to $6,900 | Cornice repair, height, lead-safe setup |
| Detached house exterior | $5,600 to $14,800 | Size, siding type, rot repair, number of colors |
| Plaster crack or patch area | $185 to $640 | Loose plaster, lath damage, ceiling vs wall |
| Deck staining | $1.90 to $4.30 per sq ft | Board age, stripping, solid vs penetrating stain |
Typical ranges for planning only, not a quote. A walkthrough sets the price.
Yes. We paint in all eight wards, from Georgetown and the Palisades to Capitol Hill, Brookland and Congress Heights, and in nearby Maryland and Virginia. Our office is in Brookland, so Northeast and Northwest jobs are the shortest drive, but we schedule work across the whole District.
Most walkthroughs happen within a few days of your call, often sooner for small interior jobs. Calls are answered 24/7, so you can call at night and have a time set by morning. Larger exterior projects are booked by season, so spring and early fall fill up first.
Not for the whole job. We need access at the start of each day and someone to walk the finished work with us. Many clients leave a key or a lockbox code. For condos we coordinate with the front desk or building manager.
Yes, and most of the houses we paint are that old. We assume older layers may contain lead, set up containment, wet scrape and clean with HEPA vacuums when old paint is disturbed. Our lead-safe painting page walks through it.
We do. A color consultation visit puts large samples on your walls in your own light, and we talk through sheen for each room. Many people find the color that looked right in the store reads very differently in a north-facing DC rowhouse.
Roughly April through October, with late spring and early fall being the easiest. Midsummer works with early starts and careful timing around humidity and storms. Our guide on the DC exterior painting season covers temperatures and dry times.
Mid-April through October is the DC exterior painting window, but the best weeks are narrower. Here is how temperature, dew point and humidity decide each painting day, and when to book yours.
Painted or unpainted brick, historic district or not, mortar and moisture: the checks that decide whether a DC rowhouse facade should be painted, limewashed or left alone, with typical costs.
Most pre-war DC homes still have plaster on wood lath. Here is how to read the cracks, when re-anchoring and skim coating beat replacement, and when drywall really is the better call.
Tell us about the rooms, the facade or the trim that needs work. We answer 24/7, set a time to see it, and give you a written price before anything is scheduled.