I like a fresh coat at the start of every season and sometimes I feel a wall or door or something needs a little touch up over holiday break. My husband recently asked me how often other studios get painted... I think I've annoyed him. lol So... how often do you give things a fresh coat?

Once every 7 years?

Something gets done every year. Usually bathrooms, wall next to the barre in preschool room, and other high-traffic areas as needed. Whole place gets done every 5-7 years.

Only once in the last 3 years! I couldn't imagine trying to find the time and patience to paint both studios/lobby/changeroom each year. Kudos to you, I'm sure your studio looks great for keeping up with the paint! I just scrub any problem spots a few times a year!

We paint under the ballet barres every quarter and door and window trim every six months. Usually the entire studio gets painted every few years. It's expensive, but when the walls look all scratched and dreary, the customer's perspective is that the facility is shabby.

I STUPIDLY chose to paint the studio with flat paint. Big mistake. So now, just having been open 8 weeks, I've been needing to repaint the lower half of every wall inside the studio. I'm truly amazed how the kids stand next to the walls and put their feet up against it. So disgusting. So I'll be touching up the dirty spots next week when we're off. My entire facility needs repainting, as it's cheapo flat paint that has so many scratches and black smears, but I just haven't had the time or money to do it yet. I'm thinking my lobby will be done next week. Totally dreading it.

I definitely plan on painting everything with at least eggshell, if not semi-gloss to make it all washable.

One last thing...the actual paint is pretty cheap if you are only spot-painting. You can also usually find a parent who will gladly do it every now and then in exchange for a free weekly class. Your studio will always look good and you'll get a dancer who might recruit some friends!

I'm in a rented storefront, and the owner painted it with flat white paint. And the kids put their feet against the wall, leaving indelible black scuff marks from their tap shoes. I found that only Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser will work to remove the smears. If I had to paint over them, even touch-ups, I would never get done painting. Also, I don't have the original paint from my landlord.

I will have to repaint everything probably every 6-7 years, and yes, it will look a little shabby in-between, but I'm a very small school (low income), and have to do everything myself (single, no hubby to help.) Usually both parents of our dancers work, and are not keen on pitching in.

No matter what interior designers and decorators say, I never use flat paint, for the very reasons y'all mention. It just sucks the dirt and body oils (and shoe soles!) right into it.

I've always used, at the least, a satin finish. And we have gloss on our trim. There are so many people passing in and out of every room that it just costs too much money to have to spend again very often.

Our first year, there was a little girl who had either ODD(oppositional defiant disorder) or OCD (obsessive compulsion disorder) that she would use the bathroom and wipe feces on the wall. Yes, really. It took a while to figure out who it was - by locking the door and checking out the key and watching to be sure who actually used the facilities when the key was checked-out.

We were having to clean and spot paint every week (every day that the kid was there). We finally deduced who it was and talked with the mother but we also painted one last time and put plexiglass around the walls to a height of 3' so we could just clean if and when it happened again. And kids put their feet on the walls in there too...what is it with these kids?

Anyway, we've been able to just swipe handprints and buildup simply with soap and water and a sponge. I put chair rail in the waiting areas because I anticipated bumps and scratches even with satin paint (thus, the gloss on the chair rail).

That's my prob.... a little over 3000sf with 20-something foot tall ceilings with flat paint. When I first moved in I couldn't afford a complete repaint, and the color palate was perfect for it being a historic building, so we just did a quick fresh coat up to the trim (12' up).

If it is scrubbed immediately, it'll come clean... imagine two dozen teenage girls in their fancy little dresses scrubbing away footprints up the wall after a dance. lol But the day to day grime is noticeable and if nothing else, the main room needs another coat.

I'm considering getting gloss and repainting all the walls again up to the trim. I'm wondering how it will look. I don't think most people will notice it unless they're standing there really looking at it.

We had a similar problem and we solved it by just painting the area underneath the barres with a semi-gloss paint. It looked fine. Unfortunately, it still gets incredibly dirty quickly.

tcsso wrote:

I'm considering getting gloss and repainting all the walls again up to the trim. I'm wondering how it will look. I don't think most people will notice it unless they're standing there really looking at it.

I think that's a good solution. Even if someone notices, it won't be so prominent that it's unattractive. Just do what you have to do to make it feasible and reasonable expense-wise.

We haven't had to do the main studio at all since we moved in, only the other rooms where the ceilings aren't as high. Still the original paint in...5 years I guess it is that we've been in this building.

It depended on how it looked. In my lobby, store and bathrooms, I always had volunteer teens come in and help me paint. I made it two days of partying and painting. We had fun.

I painted a gloss, flat color, the first year. Two years later, I sponged a darker shade of the same color, to freshen it, and two years after that, added another shade in sponging. It saved me paint, hid a myriad of things and was fast.

For my dance rooms, two with mostly small kids' classes, one had paneling that I took a ton of donated paint colors and made each panel (five colors) a different color, and then repeated the pattern.

In the other room, I had a bunch of my teens took the same five colors and did hand prints above the bars and foot prints below the bars. Yes, they put paint on their hands and feet. They had a ball and the kids and parents loved it. I even let them sign the corners of the walls.

For my other three, bigger dance rooms, for older classes, we kept it a neutral in high gloss and only did touch ups, when needed. They were easy to wash.
'

touch ups every summer and christmas break, depending on how much time i have...no full coats, cost too much...

I paint something every year, but I rotate, so I probably paint the same dance room once every 3 years. Our waiting room I usually do a fresh coat of the same color every year and re-do the trim each year.

I also have two rooms where the bottom half is a different color, so that way I only have to paint the bottom half. I probably haven't re-painted the top half in about 5 or 6 years!

CherryBee wrote:

... we also painted one last time and put plexiglass around the walls to a height of 3' so we could just clean if and when it happened again.

That's what I ended up doing under the ballet barres, where it gets the most abuse.

Once we also tried putting polyeurethane (spelling??) over the paint to try to protect the wall. That just made the kids dig deeper with their heels and actually SCRAPE the wall away. Arggggggg Hence the plexiglass. Also tried it on the chair rails but I have to paint just as often so gave up on that theory.

We paint every fall and sometimes do touch-ups during breaks.

I bought my studio over a year ago and have painted the lobby, office and both studios at the beginning of the year. I touched up the one studio at the end of the year...LOTS of black marks on the walls from little hands and feet!
I ended up repainting the other studio fully to brighten it up.

I will probably continue to touch up here and there as needed. I like the rooms to look clean and fresh.

I would love to paint the studio every season however like your husband my boyfriend is getting annoyed. I offer to help but he says that is even worse! The last time we painted was Christmas and it defiantly needs to be redone asap!