Paint Coverage Chart: Gallons by Room Size
Fifteen room sizes with the gallons to buy at one, two and three coats, and a second table that works straight off a wall area if you already have one.
A gallon of interior wall paint covers about 350 square feet on a smooth primed surface. Bare drywall, a heavy texture or a dark color going light all pull that number down, sometimes to 250.
The first table assumes a 9 foot ceiling, one door and two windows taken out, and 350 square feet a gallon. Both tables round up to the whole gallons you would actually buy, because paint is not sold by the tenth.
Gallons by room size
| Room | Perimeter | Wall area | 1 coat | 2 coats | 3 coats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 x 8 ft | 32 ft | 237 sq ft | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 8 x 10 ft | 36 ft | 273 sq ft | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 10 x 10 ft | 40 ft | 309 sq ft | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 10 x 12 ft | 44 ft | 345 sq ft | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 11 x 13 ft | 48 ft | 381 sq ft | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 12 x 12 ft | 48 ft | 381 sq ft | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 12 x 14 ft | 52 ft | 417 sq ft | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 12 x 16 ft | 56 ft | 453 sq ft | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 13 x 15 ft | 56 ft | 453 sq ft | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 14 x 16 ft | 60 ft | 489 sq ft | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 15 x 18 ft | 66 ft | 543 sq ft | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| 16 x 20 ft | 72 ft | 597 sq ft | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 18 x 20 ft | 76 ft | 633 sq ft | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 20 x 24 ft | 88 ft | 741 sq ft | 3 | 5 | 7 |
| 24 x 30 ft | 108 ft | 921 sq ft | 3 | 6 | 8 |
Gallons by wall area
| Wall area | 1 coat | 2 coats | 3 coats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 sq ft | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 200 sq ft | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 300 sq ft | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 400 sq ft | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 500 sq ft | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 600 sq ft | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 800 sq ft | 3 | 5 | 7 |
| 1,000 sq ft | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| 1,200 sq ft | 4 | 7 | 11 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 5 | 9 | 13 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| 2,500 sq ft | 8 | 15 | 22 |
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The paint calculator takes your own measurements and returns the number for your job, plus the material list as a printable document. Every cell in the table above came out of that same calculator, run at build time.
When 350 square feet a gallon is wrong
It is a finished surface number. New drywall drinks the first coat, so prime it rather than trying to make paint do a primer's job, and expect the primer itself to cover closer to 300. Knockdown and orange peel texture add surface area that the flat measurement does not see, which costs another 10 to 20 percent.
Color changes matter more than most people expect. Going from a dark wall to white is a three coat job no matter what the can says, and going white to dark is usually two coats over a tinted primer rather than three coats of finish.
Buy the gallons, not the quarts
Four quarts cost noticeably more than one gallon of the same paint, and a five gallon bucket is cheaper per gallon again. If a room lands at 1.9 gallons, buy two, because coming back for a quart means a second tinting run and a slightly different batch.
Keep the leftover, label it with the room, and store it somewhere that does not freeze. The touch up you will want in a year is a quarter cup.
Ceilings, trim and the things not in this table
The table is walls only. A ceiling is close to the floor area, so a 12 by 14 room is about 168 square feet of ceiling, half a gallon a coat. Trim and doors are usually a quart to a gallon of enamel for a whole room, and a door takes roughly a quarter of that per side.
The paint calculator adds primer, tape and the ceiling as separate lines, which is the list that stops the second trip to the store.
Questions people ask
How many gallons of paint for a 12 x 14 room?
About 2 gallons for two coats on the walls at a 9 foot ceiling, with a door and two windows deducted. Add roughly a gallon for the ceiling over two coats.
How much does a gallon of paint cover?
About 350 square feet on a smooth, primed, previously painted wall. Figure 250 to 300 on texture, new drywall or a heavy color change.
Do I need to subtract doors and windows?
On a normal room the deduction is small, about 21 square feet for a door and 15 for an average window, and it rarely changes the gallon count. On a wall that is mostly glass it changes everything, so measure the openings.
Is two coats always necessary?
For a color change, yes. Repainting the same color over a clean, sound wall can pass with one coat, but the finish will be less uniform in raking light, which is why most specs say two.