Picking paint colors for selling a home

[Okapi]

We are finally ready to being the process of getting our home ready to sell. We are definitely going to have to repaint, but DH & I disagree about how to do it. DH thinks it would be best to use plain white/off white, whereas I think we should use (neutral) colors in at least a couple of rooms.

DH's point is that everyone has different tastes, so you might throw someone off by having a color they happen to hate. Makes sense, but I've noticed that, when I'm looking at homes for sale, I prefer the ones that have colors on the wall, even if it's not a color I love, so long as it's not a really crazy color that looks like it would be difficult to paint over, if that makes sense. So which one of us has the majority opinion?

[kate42]

Conventional wisdom says to stick with white, off-white or "builder beige" colors. I spent close to seven months looking at houses before we settled on one, and I can tell you that walking into a house full of different colors that I didn't like were a big factor in whether or not we took a second look.

Even if a buyer doesn't like a basic off-white, they can live with it longer than having to repaint the minute they close. Painting is time, money and work...things that new home buyers just don't want to have to deal with right away.

We ended up buying a house with a red dining room...something both DH and I hated with a passion. So, after going through everything that comes with closing, we had to go out that weekend and get a few hundred dollars worth of painting supplies to get rid of it ASAP. Neutral I could have dealt with for a while.

And, 99% of new construction homes have "builder beige" on the walls. It truly does make a difference...it's a situation of "Woo hoo, move-in ready!" versus "Ugh, I love the house but I have to friggin' paint."

[cschick]

When we repainted prior to selling our last house, we went with what I'd describe as a warm cream. Neutral enough, but not a flat white and not exactly beige.

If you want something for buyers to remember you by, you can accent a small room with a pale but memorable color. Say, paint the downstairs bathroom a light lilac or similar color. But stay with lighter colors. I'm much more likely to forgive a lighter color that I don't like than a darker color that I don't like, because I know what a pain in the butt it is to paint over that darker color.

[Ola_]

I would go with a white, off white or beigey shade. It won't stand out, but colours may stand out in a negative way and this is all about enlarging your pool of potential buyers.

[texmati]

do you have new construction in your area? Id tour a few houses to see what 'new' homes are coming in. but for the most part, I concur. Nothing throws a buyer off a house like not being able to imagine themselves living there. Go generic.

[Momma Moo Martin]

OP, I understand what your saying about liking some kind of color on the walls in the house you are looking to buy. When DH and I first looked at our home, the kitchen and both bathrooms were painted a very light blue color with the rest of the rooms being an off-white. I remember being relieved that we would at least have some color on the wall even if it wasn't the exact color I would have chosen. We were not planning on painting for some time and I hated the idea of living in a completely white-wall house. I agree with a pp about maybe painting a light color (lilac, blue, beige) in a couple rooms may be a good compromise.

[mumkimum]

We're currently selling our place - our realtor has an assistant who does staging who told us what to paint most of the rooms (actually, if you're working with anyone already you should get their input - there could be some preference in your region).

She had a page of colors which were all different beigey-brown shades, so anything we had to paint we did in one of those. She did have us leave our bedroom a dark purple (surprised me) but we upped the white accents (white duvet cover, etc.). I think her general recommendations are to do mostly beiges (way nicer, warmer than whites/off-white/ivory) and colors sometimes ok (we had a lot of bolder colors we 'needed' to repaint - blues seem to be better than others, or the trad. red accent room having looked at other places our agent has listed) but not in main rooms (so, ok in bedrooms or other rooms).

[elizawill]

i would probably just use off white or cream colors personally, and then i would add color to the room with staged decor. having said that though, i hav never painted a home of ours before resale & my color choices are always, reds, browns, eggplant, etc. our decor is very much a "love it or hate it" thing, so i figure whoever purchases our home will either take it or leave it (but we've always sold quickly). if you have to paint anyway though - i'd just choose neutral colors. hth.

[_ktg_]

I voted for color - but OP you stated you were looking at neutral colors and that "colored" my voted

As a recent buyer - I hated walking into white walled rooms, it felt so sterile. But I do understand the reasoning of keeping it neutral but yet warm, as I bought a house with a blood red hallway, a shocking pink/yellow kids room and living room with a horrid purple accent wall all which got painted the minute we closed.

On the other hand - that's what we planned & neogiated for when we put in our offer

[Three~Little~Birds]

I would go with a light, warm, (not pinky) beige throughout the house. When we sold, we painted everything in Farrow and Ball's "String" (as per designer's suggestion). It cleaned and warmed everything up, but was relatively unnoticeable. I would avoid stark whites, personally, as they are too cold and often leave the feeling of having to paint sooner, whereas, the warm light neutrals could wait until later, imho.
http://www.housetohome.co.uk/article....html?subslug=

[MisaGoat]

It is hard to say without seeing your place or the colors you and your husband are discussing.

I really like some contrast between the trim and the wall color. We painted our dining room "Hush" by Benjamin Moore and it is a neutral beige but it looks so nice with the white trim.

I wouldn't go crazy with color obviously, but I think you can get away with some color. Would you be painting or would you have it done?

[cschick]

Originally Posted by MisaGoat

It is hard to say without seeing your place or the colors you and your husband are discussing.

I really like some contrast between the trim and the wall color. We painted our dining room "Hush" by Benjamin Moore and it is a neutral beige but it looks so nice with the white trim.

Yeah, also consider the color of your trim. Our old house had the very, very dark early 1980s trim in it, and I didn't want to paint that (especially since the entire staircase was also stained that color and was the gigantic, primary feature of the front half of the house). When we bought the house, the walls were painted this "stormy white" -- white with a tinge of gray. It looked terrible with the dark trim. But that was also why we went for a slightly different from average cream when we painted to sell--I brought all these paint chips home and selected the one which best harmonized with that horrid trim.

[ChetMC]

Couldn't Vote

I agree that it's hard to say. It depends on the house, and your design abilities.

We just sold a period home. It was painted period colours. It had a lot of trim work that looked much better against a vivid colour. The house also had its original plaster walls, which were lumpy. The dark colours we had hid those inconsistencies whereas white or beige drew attention to them. Our living room was dark red and our front hall was dark green, but many of the other houses on the market in the area were painted the same colours. There were lots of other houses listed at the same time with red living rooms.

However, I would say that builder beige is better than the wrong designer colour or period colour. A colour that doesn't work is certainly worse that a colour that's neutral and doesn't get noticed at all.

[ReadingMama]

I voted colors, but I agree with beige or pale tan. We just had a home stager come over today and she said as long as colors aren't too dark or badly done (or weird), it won't turn most buyers off. White and off-white don't hide dirt well.

[starlein26]

Originally Posted by kate42

conventional wisdom says to stick with white, off-white or "builder beige" colors. I spent close to seven months looking at houses before we settled on one, and i can tell you that walking into a house full of different colors that i didn't like were a big factor in whether or not we took a second look.

ita!

[ParisApril]

We painted our last house "show home beige" when we were selling it. It really helped the house sell fast.

Neutral colours are the way to go when selling your home. Some people aren't able to see past things like paint colour when home shopping.