Dramatic or Unusual Colors? Plan To Paint

People react emotionally to color, so never underestimate its importance when you sell.

People react emotionally to color, so never underestimate its importance when you sell. Colors that make dramatic, personal statements, like bright pink walls in a little girl’s bedroom or navy blue walls in a teenage boy’s room, can generate a strong negative response. Also, unusual colors don’t photograph well, reducing buyer interest in visiting the house. For these reasons it’s a mistake to skip doing the work and offer a painting allowance. Even if buyers do come, most aren’t able to see beyond the colors and visualize how they might live in the house. Today’s buyers demand a house in move-in condition. Many won’t undertake the trouble and expense of repainting when they can choose from a large inventory of competing properties. If your house has dramatic or unusual colors, plan to paint before you put it on the market.

Here are some tips:

• Treat the house as a whole and choose a palette of coordinated neutral colors that suits the architecture and the setting.

•  Many neutral colors such as off-whites, beiges, taupes and grays contain earth tones. Don’t combine these neutrals with tint colors which are hues that have been mixed with white, as they are different design concepts that don’t work well together.
•  Your goal is a neutral background enlivened with colorful accessories that you can take with you when you move.
•  Choose colors that are compatible with the colors in the “permanent elements” of the house, like countertops, tile and flooring. (If you have pink or aqua bathroom fixtures, or a dramatically patterned vinyl floor, and replacement isn’t an option, consider these colors when developing your new plan.)
• Don’t paint the entire house in a single color. The result is bland and limits appeal.
• Choose two or three wall colors to add pizzazz, but use a single color for the ceilings and trim throughout to create harmony and spaces that “flow” visually into adjoining areas.
• Don’t cop out and paint the house plain white or “builder beige”.
• You don’t have to be a color expert. Paint companies have made colors decisions much easier by creating color families and providing sample cards that include coordinated colors for the ceiling and trim.
  

Smart Selling Tip:  If your house has dramatic or unusual colors, plan to paint before you list. It’s a mistake to skip the work and offer a painting allowance.