How to deduct painting expense for a rental property

[David V.]

This is a two part question

1) If I hire a painter to paint an entire inside of my rental house for lets say for $3,000 would this be considered a repair expense (improvement) that needs to be depreciated or would it be considered a) a maintenance expense or b) repair expense deducted in the year the painting was performed?    With this said, I do not qualify for the small taxpayer safe harbor for this property.   Additionally, how would the answer change if I paint more frequently?  For example, I usually do not paint every time a tenant moves out and am not sure if i would even paint more than two times in a ten year period to use the Routine Maintenance Safe Harbor Rule.   Oh (extra question) - if deemed a maintenance expense are these expenses always deductible in the year the maintenance was performed never depreciated?

2) Same question but only paint one or two rooms in a house.

Although I spent a few hours researching this topic online here I could not find my answer.  I would suspect this would be a common question since painting is one of the most common large expenses with rentals.  Oh - I did notice that in PUB 527 it allows you to deduct (not depreciate) painting if your tenant did the painting in lieu of two month rent.  See below.  Would this be a good example from the IRS that says you can deducting painting expenses?   

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

In PUB 527 - see below

Property or services. If you receive property or services as rent, instead of money, include the fair market value of the property or services in your rental income.

If the services are provided at an agreed upon or specified price, that price is the fair market value unless there is evidence to the contrary.

Example. Your tenant is a house painter. He offers to paint your rental property instead of paying 2 months rent. You accept his offer.

Include in your rental income the amount the tenant would have paid for 2 months rent. You can deduct that same amount as a rental ex-pense for painting your property