For years I did all my own painting. I'm now 69 and find it's one of my guilty pleasures to hire a painter. I am also very short which means many trips up and down a ladder.

I've done most of the interior and exterior painting of my house. Just finishing up my ceilings this weekend as a matter of fact. Like another commenter I find it strangely relaxing. I only hire someone else if I can't comfortably reach the top/ceiling from my four step ladder. Looked into buying a taller ladder, but nixed it when I found the cheap ones started at almost $300! For that price I'll hire someone else!

I actually enjoy painting. I love the process of putting color on a wall (or canvas). However, I do know some paint jobs are beyond my capabilities, and will probably be hiring a pro to paint the walls in the stairway going to the basement.

Ceilings? Hire a pro......everything else?? Definitely DIY....I know my limitations and my capabilities...LOL...I'd hire a pro for wallpapering, also, even though I've done my share of it in past years....being a Senior Citizen, I like all my bones in one piece, so high up on ladders is NOT something I would do now....but interior painting is not only relaxing for me to do, but gives that feeling of accomplishment when done...win / win situation!!!

Painting has always been my forte. I've painted the exterior, and many times the interiors, of my homes. The last time one of my homes needed exterior paint (10 years ago) I hired a crew because it was a big job and I was very busy. Pleased with my color choices, I got validation from those who drove by giving positive comments when I was out in front working in the yard. Even the crew loved what I had chosen!

Recently, I painted a hall bath with a wall treatment I hadn't used previously (I was being brave with treatment and color choice!). Unfortunately, the color on the can was much different than what ended up on the walls (I wanted dark taupe, it was actually a dark chocolate brown). After much thought, I changed the color on Friday to a true dark taupe, that made all the difference. I'm very pleased with the outcome. Total cost? $2 for the paint and a couple more for rollers. : )

Have very much enjoyed painting the entire interior of our home, especially picking out the various colors. Next year, though, we will hire professionals to do the exterior--I know my limitations!

We do all of the inside painting as well as outside doors and door trim. But we hired a company to paint the outside of the house; way too tall for us to tackle!

I have also been doing all the painting of rooms with decorative finishes and also sometimes get inspired and paint murals on the walls. I love it and do find it relaxing as long as the job is on my own terms and time :). The prep can be intense especially if you have bought a house where people think it is acceptable to paint pet hair and dust onto the baseboards and walls - then out comes the mouse sander. But all in all it can be very rewarding. Looking forward to doing an Ombre wall in my new "beach cottage" inspired guest room. Happy painting all!

My attempts at painting, especially around the ceiling and baseboards (even using painters tape) make me a poster child of what it should not look like. Because of that, I hire professionals. I wish I had the painting gene you all have....I hear the joy you get out of it in your posts!

Used to do all my own painting including the ceilings, but these days I won't do any painting unless it is a small room, or a feature wall. Prefer to hire a pro for those large areas and I have great pro (father & son business) available whenever I need them. They are professional, very skilled at what they do, and are done much faster than I could do on my own.

Hate the prep, but it's not something I feel we need to hire someone. I am super messy myself ("Paint clothes"), but long ago learned how to cut an edge from helping my mom/grand pap, so generally it's a pretty good finish. Only time we will hire is for the exterior, and only because we don't have the scaffolding readily available to do it our selves!

We do it ourselves, and we're 70. Actually, we're pretty good at it. Our last house was a two-story plus attic 1890 Queen Anne Victorian. My husband spent months removing layers of old paint with a 3-inch scraper, then priming and painting two coats. There were two separate body colors and three accent colors! After painting one section, he'd dismantle the scaffold, move and rebuild it. I have to admit the project took over three months, but the results are stunning, authentic, and the house was subsequently placed on the National Historic Register! A professional might have used the spray-paint get-'er-done in a day method.

My Dad was a builder and did everything around our home also, and my Mum didn't mind painting, so a brush was put in my hand very early in life. I'm so glad as it enabled me to do something around my homes that would have cost heaps to have a pro do. I still paint at 64 and, like many others, get great satisfaction from a good finish on a job. If anything I find some aspects of painting get easier, as the products involved in the process are improving all the time - eg I love micro-fibre rollers on interior wall (Australia) through to better, lighter ladders and extension poles. I hope I can paint on for many years yet!

I did all of my own painting until a year or so ago. After I turned 70 I decided I should not be up 20 ft on a ladder. Some things are worth hiring a pro at this stage in life.

I have always done all my own painting except this past year I hired a pro to paint my living room ceiling, the ceiling in an upstairs guest room and that room's walls. I probably shouldn't have because it pointed out how poorly I painted the rest of the living room! Recently I removed carpeting from that upstairs guest rooms and sanded and painted the floors white. I'm pretty proud of myself.

I would probably hire a painter if I hadn't had such bad experience with the "pro" we hired in the past.

Painting is something my husband and I do together. He even repairs our, old plaster walls with skimming prior to painting. A skill he's perfecting. DIY painting makes redecorating our home affordable and on budget.

My husband and I do the painting -- he does the walls and ceilings and I do the trim. I also find it relaxing, a time to meditate on life. I sometimes do walls too, but he's more efficient than I, so it's a better use of our time for me to stick to trim unless it's a small job like a bathroom.

Normally I do the painting but we have all ceilings at our cottage that are wood. They need to be sealed and primed to keep the knots from showing THEN painted (likely sprayed) so we're going to hire a pro.

I used to do my own and then hired someone once and I couldn't believe the difference in the finished room. A builder friend then told me that people always underestimate the skill involved in painting. he was right!

Both!

Both -- depends on size of project, any deadlines, and whatever else is going on at the same time. I'm a pretty OK painter, but I don't love the process, and sometimes I'll hire somebody to work with me, just to keep myself motivated!

I love painting the interior of my home. I have painted from one end to the the other (9 rooms and a long hall) all in one painting session. It generally takes me a month. When younger I found it relaxing and a time when the family left me alone, so a bit of a refreshing and temporary change. Now that I am getting older I only tackle a room at a time. At 74 I just removed wallpaper from the master bath which had never had paint under the wallpaper. I mudded the entire room and sanded. Then 2 coats of primer and two coats of paint one of which has texture. If that wasn't enough I then stenciled the walls. Easier to change than wall paper.

First of all, I hate all the prep work. However, if it is a small area I will paint it myself. But, I have cathedral ceilings and getting on scaffolding is beyond my fear level. Then it's time for a professional.

I used to do all our painting, interior and exterior including the 2+-story high surfaces, for which I had to rent scaffolding. That's a lot of fun when one doesn't have a helper! Now I'm 70-y.o. so I paint some but hire pros for other work. For instance, we're just completing a reno on the front bath, which I prepped, painted, ceilings and walls. A year ago I had a pro paint our LR b/c of its cathedral ceilings. I'm also going to have a pro caulk & paint our eaves and stucco on the front of the house now that our new custom windows and entry doors have been installed. I caulked and painted the eaves on 3/4's of the house a few years ago, but now I pay someone to work upside-down. I caulk them b/c they're T&G & the seam is an easy entry point for termites. Proper prep work is the most important and labor-intensive part of painting, and in the past I couldn't afford to pay someone to do it properly due to the man-hours required. Now I bite the bullet for the more difficult work.

I worked as a painter when in my 20's so do my own interior painting. I agree with other comments, that prep is the most important step (including washing walls) and that is something the pros generally don't do.

I really enjoy painting, from the prep work to the last clean up. That's a little odd, because I'm truly not a neatnik in any other way!

Still, I not only enjoy the process, but the chance to do precisely what I want without someone fighting me on it. When I tell people I want to paint the bedroom purple, I usually get advised to go for the palest possible shade of lavender trim on an off-white or grey wall. Nope, that isn't what I want. When I say purple, I mean PURPLE. And no, I don't care about resale value. I care about having what I want in my home. If we ever decide we need to sell up and move on, it won't be such a big deal to tone down our wilder color choices or paint over the Blue Meanies I'm creating in my office.

And right now I'm enjoying the heck out of my orange kitchen... which is actually the color it was when we moved in.

I don't want to fight with a pro over my outlandish tastes. I just want my home to look the way I want it to look. When I do things myself, I don't have to fight for my right to be bold or even tacky. And if I don't like it, I know I have nobody to blame but me... but I also have the solution in my own hands.

I'm not a control freak. I'm a control enthusiast.

DIY depending on the complexity, have painted the living room and bathrooms but leave rooms with high ceilings to the pros.

As others said: it depends. We just painted our new outdoor shed this afternoon, and we did the last round of painting in our home. But when we strip and repaint the 2nd floor porch on our new vacation home...I'm getting a pro.

Yes, I do my own painting. In fact I've painted every room in our home (ceilings, trim and walls). I may not be as efficient as some pros (I don't have a sprayer for example) but I am just as good as most. In fact, when I tried to hire a couple noted for the quality of their work, to paint some cabinet doors in my living room, they told me that if I was the one who brushed the fireplace molding and cabinets (I was), then I should do it myself and save the money because they wouldn't it it any better. If money were no object, I'd probably hire out, but there are other jobs I dislike and am not good at, so those I do hire out. I do not do outside house painting.

Three things are involved in painting. 1. Putting a coating on the surface. 2. Putting a color on the surface. 3. Doing 1 and 2 in a complementary manor. For example you do not want the nice color to peel off because the surface was not prepared, exposing what is underneath to the elements, eye or senses. So preparing that surface is painting. Putting the room back is painting as is rolling, spraying or brushing on the coating. You get done and someone says either I like the color or asks you why you chose it. Very rarely does anyone ever ask about the coating. I stood next to the last side of my house after washing it, giving it a few days to dry, and was telling someone about what a difficult task it is actually to set the ladder and they commented to me I must be glad that side was finished. I asked them to look up close at this paint job I had done 15 years earlier to see the coating was now thin and they can actually see through almost to the primer and to compare it with the side around the corner that was painted last year. They said they paint when their paint starts peeling and asked me why I was doing it myself. You have to enjoy having nice things and that includes even having a nice paint job. I could not afford a real nice paint job if I even found anyone that would do it because the industry is always dealing with customers that don't want to pay because they have no clue or they absolutely do not know. Ask someone about a paint job and see if you get the same response as you would asking them about a counter top for example. 9 out of 10 times you might just get a shallow comment about a color. If you like and understand coatings, color can make them fun and even more functional and therefore the whole process can make an environment available for all the other efforts and objects. It is allot of work but adds to a home if done right.

I picked "other" because I have done both. Always hired painters in the past, happily. Then, I wanted to save money in a big renovation of the bedroom/bath/hall wing of my house to accommodate a baby and her parents for an extended stay. So I went DYI. I discovered that it took me a long time to learn how to paint a wall. Stupid as that sounds, I just couldn't seem to cover quickly, evenly, without streaks. It was not the quality of the paint, it was my execution. The size of the project was too big for me. I am too old, clumsy and had no one to help me or show me the "how-to". Every painter video seems to disagree with the previous one.

On the upside, the finished project looks very good. I kept doing it over 'til it was as nice as I could achieve. I also discovered how much I like prep work. Amazing huh? It's the part everyone else detests, but I loved it. Maybe because I studied videos on how to caulk, got the right tools, practiced and turned out to be very good at it. My caulking is gorgeous! lol. There's something about caulking that is so soothing and satisfying, that I'd honestly be happy doing it all day long as a real job. I wish I could run about with my caulk gun and advertise myself as "the caulking granny".

Only ever used a pro when I contracted complete remodels of my kitchen and bath. DIY'ed until a few years ago, the younger family members started having paint Parties for us older members. Now everyone is so busy that we hire out. I will be doing that when I have my bedrooms repainted this fall.

Hubby does a good job on the walls but when we do a remodel, he lets the pro do the ceilings!

I recently learned the following: there are some things I do well, and there are some things that I should keep my hands off. Painting falls into the latter. Gee, it looks so easy when you watch the home improvement shows or YouTube videos. And, as I began painting, it did seem so easy. I thought I was doing a pretty good job. Until the next day, that is. Seeing my handiwork in the light of a new day, I realized it was terrible. I hired a painter and was so fortunate to find an amazing one who promised perfection and delivered (and I am a perfectionist). So, for some of us, it's better to leave the painting to the pros.

There are some perfectionist's that can paint like a pro. But usually this takes a great deal of time and energy and a VERY good relationship with the other people living in the house. So if you're not one of these people, go for the Pro! www.judydixoninteriors.com

Bedrooms and bathrooms I usually do myself, but everything else is usually hired out.

When it comes to regular painting, I would recommend you do it yourself.

It's great stress relief and it's easy!

However, when it comes to painting art...

leave that to a professional. Wink, Wink :)

I always hire a professional so it looks like a million bucks!

My husband paints much better than any pro, plus he does all the repair/prep work before painting.