Trim & Door Painting in Toronto & the GTA

Should trim and doors be sprayed or brushed?

Spray them when the room is empty or being fully repainted, and brush them in a lived-in home. Spraying gives the smoothest finish, but everything nearby has to be masked first. In a furnished room, that masking can take longer than the painting.

Both methods give a smooth finish in two coats when the prep is right. Spray or brush for trim and doors compares the two, including when doors come off their hinges.

Which paint and sheen suit trim and doors?

An enamel in satin or semi-gloss is the usual choice. Trim and doors are touched, bumped and wiped far more than walls, and a harder, shinier film stands up to that. Modern waterborne enamels level out well and stay whiter over time than the oil paints they replaced.

Colour matters too. White and off-white trim is the most forgiving, because touch-ups blend in. A dark or strongly coloured trim shows every chip and brush mark, so it asks more of the prep.

Sheen also changes how trim looks. Semi-gloss shows more of the profile and more of any dents. Satin is quieter and hides small flaws. The paint sheen guide shows where each sheen works.

How do you measure trim for a price?

Measure it in linear feet: the length of each piece, whatever its height. Trim painting costs $2.50–$4.00 per linear ft before HST for baseboard, casing and crown.

Trim	How to measure it
Baseboard	The length of each wall, less the door openings
Door casing	Both sides and the top of each opening, on each face
Window casing	All the way around the window
Crown moulding	The length of each wall at the ceiling

You don't need to measure before you ask for a price. A count of rooms, doors and windows is enough for a range. Your quote is priced on the lengths you give us, and if the crew finds more or less trim, the price changes to match before any work starts.

A living room and hallway with 120 linear feet of trim comes to $300–$480 before HST. A job that fills less than one crew-day is billed at no less than the $750 + HST minimum, so trim is often done with the walls. The interior painting cost guide shows how the two add up.

Why are interior doors quoted with the job?

Because doors differ more than trim does. A flat slab door takes far less time than a six-panel door, and a door painted on both faces and all edges is twice the work of one face.

Closet doors count too. Bifold and louvred doors take longer than a flat door, because every slat and edge is painted.

Send a photo of each kind of door, and a crew lead counts them, notes their style and checks their condition. Your written quote then lists the doors as their own line, so you can see what they add.