Santa Monica Expert Painting did a beautiful job repainting the interior of our home. The rooms look brighter, cleaner, and completely refreshed.
Painting Contractor in Santa Monica, CA for Homes, Apartments and Commercial Buildings
Santa Monica Expert Painting is Los Angeles County's trusted expert in architectural painting and protective coatings, specializing in interior house painting, exterior repaints and kitchen cabinet refinishing. We offer stucco painting and elastomeric wall systems, with full surface preparation, airless spray with back-rolling and specialty plaster finishes. Fully licensed, insured and bonded.
From stucco crack repair and lead-safe RRP containment on pre-1978 houses to a signed punch list at final walkthrough, our team handles every detail. Serving Santa Monica and nearby Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and Malibu, we walk jobs across all five residential ZIP codes, usually within the same week you call.
- Free written estimate
- Prep documented before any coating
- Coastal-rated exterior systems
- Licensed, insured and bonded
Reviews
What Santa Monica clients say about the work
Excellent painting and careful preparation. Our house looks amazing!
We hired Santa Monica Expert Painting to repaint our living room, kitchen, and hallway. The lines around the trim and ceilings came out incredibly clean, and the new colors transformed the entire space. Everything was left neat when the work was finished.
Our home’s exterior looks brand new again. The finish is smooth, even, and professionally done.
The team painted our kitchen cabinets, and we couldn’t believe the difference. The doors and drawers have a smooth, factory-like finish, and the new color made our entire kitchen feel more modern.
Friendly service, beautiful results, and great attention to detail.
Santa Monica Expert Painting repaired several damaged areas of drywall before repainting our bedroom. The repaired sections blend perfectly with the surrounding walls, and the finished room looks clean and polished.
The exterior paint had faded badly from years of sun exposure. After the project was completed, our home had stronger curb appeal and a fresh, updated appearance. The trim work looks especially sharp.
Our bathroom painting project came out beautifully. Clean edges and a flawless finish!
We needed our office repainted without creating a major disruption for employees. Santa Monica Expert Painting handled the project efficiently and gave the entire workspace a brighter, more professional appearance.
01
What we paint in Santa Monica
We walk jobs across 90401, 90402, 90403, 90404 and 90405, usually within the same week you call.
Interiors come first for most callers. Walls, ceilings, trim, doors, stairwells, closets and the hairline drywall cracks that open up every few years in a 1920s Ocean Park bungalow. Exteriors are the bigger job here, because the ocean is close and the coating takes the beating. We repaint stucco, wood siding, fascia, eaves, garage doors, iron rail and window frames.
Cabinets are their own trade. Doors come off, hardware is bagged and labeled, boxes are degreased and scuff sanded, then a bonding primer goes down before a sprayed enamel topcoat. Specialty work rounds out the list: limewash on masonry, Venetian plaster on a feature wall, epoxy on a garage slab, and careful restoration painting on houses inside the Third Street Neighborhood Historic District, designated July 1, 1990.
| Service | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Interior house painting | Walls, trim, doors, full repaints |
| Exterior house painting | Prep, primer, two-coat exterior systems |
| Kitchen cabinet painting | Degreasing, bonding primer, sprayed enamel |
| Stucco painting | Crack repair and elastomeric coating |
| Drywall repair and painting | Patching, skim coat, texture matching |
| Ceiling painting | Flat ceilings, popcorn scrape, repaint |
| Deck and fence staining | Redwood and cedar, stain and seal |
| Garage floor epoxy coating | Grinding, flake broadcast, topcoat |
| Brick and masonry painting | Breathable coatings over brick |
| Wallpaper removal and repainting | Steam removal, skim coat, paint |
| Historic home restoration painting | Lead-safe work on pre-1978 homes |
| Limewash and mineral coatings | Slaked lime and silicate finishes |
| Venetian plaster and specialty finishes | Troweled lime and marble dust |
| Marine and coastal exterior repaint | Salt-exposed elevations, DTM metal |
The full list of painting services covers anything not shown above.
02
Commercial and multifamily capability
Santa Monica is a renter's city. 72.9% of its 47,438 households rent, and 27,589 units sat under rent control as of December 31, 2025, which makes repaint and turnover work a standing line item for owners here.
Our commercial painting contractors division bids that work on its own terms, with submittals, certificates of insurance and phased schedules.
That side of the business covers apartment complex painting, HOA and condo association painting, and office and retail interior painting for tenants along Wilshire Boulevard and the Third Street Promenade.
Commercial Painting Services
For property managers, general contractors, HOA boards and facility teams: bid, phased and closed out as a programme.
03
Coatings and materials we use
Product choice is a durability decision, not a preference.
Exterior walls in Santa Monica get 100% acrylic latex for flexibility and chalk resistance, or elastomeric where hairline stucco cracking needs to be bridged. Trim and doors take waterborne alkyd or urethane-modified acrylic so the film stays hard without yellowing. Metal gets a zinc-rich primer or a direct-to-metal coating. Garage slabs get two-part epoxy with a polyaspartic topcoat for UV and abrasion.
Sheen matters as much as the product. Flat hides an uneven wall but resists washing; high-gloss does the opposite and shows every ripple. Everything we spray meets South Coast AQMD Rule 1113 VOC limits, which is simply how coatings work in the Los Angeles basin.
04
Our process
Seven stages, and preparation is where the job is won.
Walkthrough and estimate
We measure, check substrate condition and put the scope in writing.
Colour and sheen
Samples go on the actual wall, then get looked at in morning marine light and again at 4pm.
Protection
Floors, landscaping, hardware and glass get masked before anything opens.
Preparation
Pressure washing, scraping, sanding, caulking, patching and rot replacement.
Priming
Bonding, stain-blocking or rust-inhibitive, chosen to the surface.
Application
Brush, roller or airless spray with back-rolling on porous stucco.
Punch list and cleanup
We walk it with you, correct what you mark, and haul everything out.
05
What the coast does to paint here
Santa Monica gets roughly 310 days of sunshine a year.
That sun drives chalking, the powdery surface breakdown where UV degrades the resin binder and pigment washes down the wall in the first rain. South and west elevations go first. A house facing Ocean Avenue can look tired on one side and near new on the other.
Then there is the water. The marine layer locals call May Gray and June Gloom keeps walls damp into late morning through spring, and that damp carries salt. Chloride works into hairline stucco cracks and behind failing caulk, corrodes fasteners and pushes rust bleed through the finish coat. Mildew follows on shaded north walls. The answer is not a thicker coat of the wrong paint. It is a sound, dry substrate, the right primer, and a flexible topcoat that can breathe.
Why Santa Monica homeowners choose us
We are licensed under California Contractor License #585047, C-33 Painting and Decorating, insured and bonded, and a certificate goes to any client who asks. Crews are employees and the same lead runs your job start to finish. We are RRP-trained for pre-1978 housing, which covers most of the stock north of Montana Avenue. More about our team.
06
Frequently asked questions about painting in Santa Monica
How is a house painting project priced in Santa Monica?
From a walkthrough, against measured surfaces and the prep the substrate actually needs. Prep condition moves the number more than square footage does.
How many working days should we plan for a whole-house repaint?
Most single-family exteriors run four to seven working days. Add time for wood rot replacement, heavy stucco crack repair or rain delay.
How often should a Santa Monica house be repainted outside?
Typically every five to eight years, and closer to five on ocean-facing elevations. Salt air and UV shorten the cycle compared with an inland house in the same county.
Do you paint during May Gray and June Gloom?
Yes, with adjusted timing. We start after surfaces dry, usually mid-morning, and stop early enough that the film sets before evening damp returns.
Is elastomeric always the right choice for stucco?
No. It bridges hairline cracks well but traps moisture if the wall has an intrusion problem. We check the cause first and sometimes specify a breathable mineral coating instead.
Can we stay in the house during interior painting?
Almost always. We work room by room, use low-VOC products that meet SCAQMD Rule 1113, and keep one bathroom and a path to the kitchen open.
Do you handle lead paint?
Yes. Any pre-1978 home gets RRP containment, HEPA cleanup and proper disposal. That covers much of the housing built between 1875 and 1930 in the Third Street district.
Do you paint apartment buildings and offices too?
Yes, through the commercial division, including turnover work and full building exteriors. Ask for the commercial estimator.
07
Painting service areas around Santa Monica
We cover every Santa Monica neighborhood: Downtown and the Third Street Promenade, Main Street, Mid-City, Montana Avenue, Ocean Park, the Pico Neighborhood, the Pier and Ocean Avenue, Wilshire Boulevard, Sunset Park and North of Montana. Interstate 10 ends here, which keeps crew travel short across the Westside.
- Bel Air
- Beverly Hills
- Brentwood
- Hermosa Beach
- Malibu
- Manhattan Beach
- Pacific Palisades
- Palos Verdes Estates
- Rancho Palos Verdes
- Rolling Hills
The full service area map lists coverage and drive times.
Get a free written estimate for your Santa Monica painting project
Tell us the property, the surfaces and what is failing. We walk it, put the scope and the coating system in writing, and give you a straight answer about what needs doing now.
- Free written estimate with the prep scope spelled out
- One crew from start to finish, residential or commercial
- Licensed, insured and bonded