How Bad Is It to Sleep In a Room After Painting? Here’s What Experts Today Are Saying

Painting your home is a pretty massive undertaking. You Not only do you have to move all of your furniture, prime your walls, and pick out the perfect paint for your home. But did you know that after painting, you’ll have to give up your bedroom for a couple of nights. 

While some people might love the smell of fresh paint, it’s not great to continuously inhale paint fumes while you’re hitting the hay. This is pretty common knowledge, and people know to steer clear of sleeping in a freshly painted bedroom right after you paint it, but experts are still emphasizing just how dangerous it could be to sleep in a freshly painted bedroom. 

That being said, once you’ve painted your bedroom, you’re going to want to sleep in your living room or guest room until the smell of paint has dissipated. Plus, depending on the type of paint you used in your bedroom, you might need to be prepared to sleep outside of your bedroom for several nights.

Several experts across the medical and construction fields recently sat down with House Beautiful to break down the ins and outs of why you really shouldn’t sleep in a room that has been freshly painted. (1) 

So, regardless of whether or not you’re currently painting your bedroom, keep reading to find out what today’s experts recommend when it comes to sleeping in your bedroom after you’ve painted it. 

How Long Should I Wait To Sleep In My Bedroom After Painting? 

Raj Singh, MD, FACP, a primary care physician at HEALOR in Las Vegas, told House Beautiful that, “It’s best to wait about 72 hours before sleeping in a freshly painted room.” Singh elaborates that this is because some paints can emit dangerous fumes from things called VOC’s or volatile organic compounds. (1)

Jeff Manning, CEO of AVG Builders, told House Beautiful that if you don’t have another room to sleep in or if you don’t want your routine to be substantially disrupted, then you can look for non or zero VOC paints, which should be indicated on the label of the paint. (1)

Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that pregnant people and people who already have a respiratory illness should be particularly careful to avoid being in spaces where paint that contains VOCs is being used. (2) The EPA also notes that the inhalation of VOCs can cause health issues like eye, nose, and throat irritation, headaches, nausea, damage to your liver, kidney, and central nervous system. (3)

How Can I Protect Myself While Sleeping In My Bedroom After Painting? 

First and foremost, you’ll want to make sure that you do not sleep in the room that was painted. If you’re just painting your bedroom, then you’ll be good to sleep in any other room that you’ve not painted. If you’re painting your whole house in one go, then you’re going to want to sleep somewhere else while the paint in your home is drying. 

Another important thing that House Beautiful recommends that you should do is to keep tabs on how your bedroom is smelling. That means, even if you’ve waited the full 72 hours before going back to sleeping in your bedroom, if your bedroom still smells like paint, you should probably avoid sleeping there. (1) By properly ventilating the bedroom, you can help the presence of these fumes to dissipate quicker than they would ordinarily. 

Additionally, if you begin to experience any of the symptoms described above, you should immediately cease sleeping in the room where you’ve experienced the symptoms. If they persist, calling your doctor is a good next step.

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Mary-Elisabeth Combs

Mary-Elisabeth Combs is a Staff Writer at Sleepopolis covering all things Sleep news. Previously Mary was a writer for CNET, and she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in English. When she's not writing, she's probably knitting, reading or catching up on Formula 1.