diff --git a/platform/lang-impl/src/com/intellij/ide/projectView/impl/ProjectViewInplaceCommentProducerImpl.kt b/platform/lang-impl/src/com/intellij/ide/projectView/impl/ProjectViewInplaceCommentProducerImpl.kt
index 710a0f478a8f..8977d9ba8349 100644
--- a/platform/lang-impl/src/com/intellij/ide/projectView/impl/ProjectViewInplaceCommentProducerImpl.kt
+++ b/platform/lang-impl/src/com/intellij/ide/projectView/impl/ProjectViewInplaceCommentProducerImpl.kt
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ internal fun appendVfsInfo(node: ProjectViewNode<*>, appender: InplaceCommentApp
     count++
     count < showCachedChildrenLimit
   }
+  count-- // don't count the directory itself
   val countString = if (count <= showCachedChildrenLimit) count.toString() else "$count+"
   appender.append(" $countString VFS ${if (count == 1) "file" else "files"}", SimpleTextAttributes.GRAYED_SMALL_ATTRIBUTES)
 }
diff --git a/platform/lang-impl/src/com/intellij/internal/CountVfsFileChildrenAction.kt b/platform/lang-impl/src/com/intellij/internal/CountVfsFileChildrenAction.kt
index 10f1ef5bf49b..d6bf7b1f25d4 100644
--- a/platform/lang-impl/src/com/intellij/internal/CountVfsFileChildrenAction.kt
+++ b/platform/lang-impl/src/com/intellij/internal/CountVfsFileChildrenAction.kt
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ internal class CountVfsFileChildrenAction : AnAction(), DumbAware {
               return true
             }
           })
+          filesOnDiskCount-- // don't count the directory itself
           val message = "Under <i>${root.path}</i><br/>" +
                         "there are $filesOnDiskCount files on <b>disk</b>"
           Notification("System Messages", message, NotificationType.INFORMATION)
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@ internal class CountVfsFileChildrenAction : AnAction(), DumbAware {
           }
           true
         }
+        vfsFilesCount-- // don't count the directory itself
         val message = "Under <i>${root.path}</i><br/>" +
                       "there are $vfsFilesCount files in <b>VFS</b>:<br/>" +
                       "$contentFilesCount content files<br/>" +