Walls, ceilings, cornices and joinery finished to a furniture standard.
The short answer
A professional interior repaint in Melbourne means the substrate is made flat before any colour goes on: cracks raked and filled, patches sanded level, walls sealed, then two full topcoats rolled wet-edge with hand-cut lines. Most three-bedroom homes take four to seven working days.
Interior painting is judged from thirty centimetres away, under afternoon light, by people who live with it every day. That is the standard we work to: filled and sanded flat, cut lines you could measure with a ruler, and enamel joinery with no brush drag or roller stipple.
Our interior crews work room by room so your home stays liveable. Dust barriers seal the work zone, floors are covered edge to edge, furniture is wrapped or relocated, and every surface is wiped down before we leave for the day.
Typical specification: Dulux Wash&Wear ceilings and walls, Aquanamel semi-gloss to joinery, zero-VOC options on request.
Tell us a little about your painting project and we'll get back to you.
How we prepare
Preparation is where the money either goes or gets saved, and it is the part you cannot see once the job is finished. This is exactly what happens before colour goes on.
Floors are covered edge to edge, furniture is wrapped or moved to the centre of the room, and doorways are sealed with zip barriers so sanding dust stays in the work zone rather than travelling through the house.
Walls are sugar-soaped to remove cooking film and hand oils, settlement cracks are raked open so filler has something to key into, and every patch is built slightly proud then sanded flat rather than feathered thin.
Filled areas are flat-sanded to 180 grit and spot-sealed. New plaster gets a full tinted sealer coat so suction is even and the topcoats dry to one consistent sheen instead of a patchwork.
Doors, frames and skirtings are de-glossed, gaps caulked, and nail holes filled with two-part filler where movement is likely. Waterborne enamel is laid off in one direction so there is no brush drag.
Walls — washable low-sheen acrylic
Dulux Wash&Wear or Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen. Both take repeated cleaning around hallways, kids' rooms and kitchens without polishing up a shiny patch.
Ceilings — dead flat, high-hide
A true ceiling flat hides roller lap and plaster undulation under downlights, where a low sheen would telegraph every join.
Joinery — waterborne enamel
Dulux Aquanamel or Resene Lustacryl. They stay white instead of ambering like solvent enamel, and they are low odour so bedrooms are usable the same night.
Problem areas — purpose primers
Stain-blocking primer over water marks and nicotine, adhesion primer over previously oil-painted trim, and mould-resistant systems in bathrooms and laundries.
Hold us to these. They are written into every interior painting proposal we issue.
Every interior painting proposal we issue names the products, the number of coats and the preparation steps above, so you can compare it line by line against any other quote.
Request a written specificationCompare the options
Sheen decides how washable a surface is and how much it shows imperfection. This is the guide we use when specifying a home room by room.
| Sheen | Best used on | Washability | Hides imperfection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat / ceiling flat | Ceilings, low-traffic bedrooms | Low | Excellent |
| Low sheen | Most walls, living areas, bedrooms | Good | Good |
| Matt washable | Hallways and kids' rooms wanting a flat look | Good | Very good |
| Semi-gloss | Doors, skirtings, window frames | Excellent | Poor |
| Gloss | Feature joinery, heritage front doors | Excellent | Very poor |
Bathrooms and laundries take a low sheen or semi-gloss from a moisture-resistant range regardless of the rest of the house.
Recent projects
Each case study documents the condition we started with, the preparation, the products, the colours and the finished result.
InteriorBrighton · Apartment · 2025
A three-bedroom bayside apartment turned around in six days between tenancies, including salt-affected window reveals and a warm greige living zone.
InteriorCamberwell · Period Home · 2025
Twenty-two rooms repainted over three weeks with the family in residence, including Level 5 feature walls and full water-based enamel to original Edwardian joinery.
CommercialGlen Waverley · Commercial · 2024
Eight consulting rooms and a waiting area repainted over two weekends in an anti-bacterial, wipe-down system with zero clinic downtime.
Related articles
Our Knowledge Centre explains the decisions behind this work in full — costs, products, preparation and the mistakes that cause early failure.
Painting Costs · 3 min read
A standard 3.5m × 3.5m Melbourne bedroom costs $550–$950 to paint professionally including ceiling, walls and trim; kitchens and bathrooms run $700–$1,400 because of cutting-in density, and stairwells $1,200–$2,600 because of access.
Read the guideInterior Painting · 3 min read
Professionals paint interiors in a fixed order: protect and mask, repair and sand, spot prime, then paint ceilings first, walls second and trim last — because each stage can safely be cut into by the next one.
Read the guideInterior Painting · 3 min read
Use flat or matt on ceilings, low sheen on general walls, washable low sheen or satin in kitchens, bathrooms and hallways, and semi-gloss or gloss enamel on doors, skirtings and architraves — the higher the sheen, the more washable the surface and the more it reveals imperfections.
Read the guidePaint Brands · 3 min read
Washability describes a paint's ability to survive gentle sponging without burnishing, while scrubbability is a measured laboratory standard counting abrasion cycles before film failure — premium interior acrylics typically survive 5,000–10,000 cycles versus 500–1,500 for economy lines.
Read the guideSurface Preparation · 3 min read
Wash every surface with sugar soap and rinse it before sanding, then sand with 120–180 grit on walls and 180–240 grit on enamel trim — skipping either step is the leading cause of adhesion failure in repaints.
Read the guideQuestions
Real questions from Melbourne homeowners, answered the way we answer them at the kitchen table.
Question we have not covered? Send us photos with your enquiry and we will answer it against your actual surfaces, not a general case.
Ask us with photosWhere we work
Choose your suburb for local detail on housing stock, exposure and typical scope.
Also consider
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Offices, retail, strata and hospitality painted around your trading hours.
Restoration-grade coatings that reset your roof's next twenty years.
Boundary fences, gates and screens brought back to a crisp line.
Tell us about your painting project and a project manager will be in touch.