How much paint do you need? Work out litres, tins and cost for any room – walls, ceiling and woodwork – in metres or feet.
Room dimensions
Frequently Asked Questions
As a rule of thumb, 1 litre of emulsion covers about 12 m² in a single coat. For a typical 4m × 3m bedroom with 2.4m ceilings (no ceiling painted, two coats, one door and one window) you need roughly 5 litres. Use the calculator above for an exact figure.
Two coats is standard for most situations. Use three coats when painting a light colour over a dark one, or when applying paint to bare plaster (which usually also needs a thinned mist coat first).
Matt and silk emulsions typically cover 12–16 m² per litre. Eggshell covers around 12 m²/L, gloss/satinwood about 11 m²/L. Bare plaster, textured walls and very absorbent surfaces reduce coverage by 20–30%.
No. Subtract roughly 1.5 m² per standard door and 1.4 m² per standard window. This calculator deducts these automatically when you tell it how many there are.
Common UK tin sizes are 1 L, 2.5 L, 5 L and 10 L. The 5 L tin almost always gives the best value per litre. For most single rooms a 5 L tin is enough for two coats; 10 L is better for whole-house projects.