Are you getting ready to sell your home this spring? I recommend starting to prepare your home at least two to three months before you actually list the home. This gives you plenty of time to figure out the logistics of selling and it also gives you time to stage your home, which is a key part of the selling process.
As a color consultant, I’ve seen homes not sell and people not like various rooms as a result of poor paint color choices.
Not only can the wrong colors hurt your selling chances, but the right colors can increase your home’s value. Interior painting can increase your home value by 3 percent! On a $500,000 home, that can mean the difference of $15,000!
In this post, I’m going to go over some tips on home staging paint color options along with other ways you can use color to make people feel at home and ready to buy.
Unless you’re starting a year in advance, it’s unlikely you’re going to have time to paint every single room in your home.
Not only that, but you’re going to want to think about your budget since selling a home isn’t cheap. Between real estate agents, closing costs, repairs to the home and staging costs, you’re looking at thousands of dollars in expenses.
That’s why for home staging paint colors, I recommend identifying the key areas that will help you sell your home and focus specifically on those rooms. This includes the entrance hall, the living room, the kitchen, the master bedroom and the master bathroom.
The entrance hall is the first impression your potential buyers will see when they walk in your front door. I suggest choosing colors that are welcoming and inviting. You want the colors to be pleasant and warm, rather than icy and cold!
The living room or the kitchen are vital living areas for homebuyers — think of all the time you spend in your living room and kitchen. So making a great impression via color with those areas is crucial!
Color can also highlight how large rooms are, bring warmth and show off certain features like high ceilings or large windows.
See the work I’ve done as an interior color consultant.
It might not be your style or even the best choices for an overall look of a room, but neutral interior paint colors are going to be your best options when staging to sell. By using soft neutrals from Benjamin Moore like Edgecomb Gray, Revere Pewter or Berber White, it gives you the options of adding exciting colors with soft furnishings and accent pieces!
Staging involves creating a neutral space that the potential buyers can see themselves living in. Choosing colors with wider appeal for all viewers is going to be key to selling your home.
As I mentioned earlier, neutrals also allow you to have more colorful art and decor since they won’t clash with the paint.
The three best categories of neutrals according to a survey of real estate agents are white, grey and beige. I can agree that those three categories are going to be some of your best options.
If you go with gray for a neutral color option, you want to skew more towards lighter greys and greiges as opposed to darker greys. Dark greys can make rooms appear smaller, which won’t do you any favors.
Lighter grey and greige tones are perfect for creating a feeling of elegance without stepping away from your neutral foundation. Popular lighter gray options in Benjamin Moore are Classic Gray, Wickham Gray, Stonington and Harbor Gray.
Warm grays also exist, like this one from Sherwin Williams, which are perfect for creating a warm and welcoming living space. Try these out in larger rooms like the living room, the foyer, or dining room. A few options for warmer grays are Revere Pewter, Natural Linen, Tapestry Beige and Muslin. All popular choices for a reason!
You might think “white” is only paper white. However, just like grey, white comes in a white variety of tones, temperatures and shades. You want to avoid the stark whites that feel like sterile “hospital white” and go for more toned down and soft, warm whites for staging.
White also is great to make rooms appear bigger. They’re perfect for the master bedroom to enhance its size as well as in kitchens and bathrooms for a classic look.
There are several whites that are great wall colors that are not too stark, are Sugar Cookie, Mayonnaise, and Simply White. I have used them all at one time or another, and they are all pretty choices!
Whites can really work all around the home since they can be “dressed up” with decor, plants and art while still creating a great neutral foundation that lightens and brightens any room.
Beige was the winner by far in that survey of realtors rating interior paint colors and I tend to agree. Like white, beige comes in a wide variety of shades and tones without overpowering any room or straying from the “neutral” classification.
As a home staging paint color, beige can easily bring feelings of warmth to any space. It also brings natural and earthy tones to your home without getting too intense like you might with dark greens or browns. Great choices in the beige or greige family are Baby Fawn, Gentle Cream and Clay Beige.
This warm earthiness creates a welcoming space that buyers always love. Not only that, but the natural earthiness of beige can also connect the home to biophilic interior design practices, which is very popular for buyers nowadays.
What is as important as the wall colors, is the color of your trim and ceilings. I like to add a contrasting white like Chantilly Lace, to accentuate all of the architectural details in a room. The more details in a room the better. If the trim is nothing to write home about, then choose a trim color that is closer to the wall color, to pull the room together beautifully!
If the colors of the walls skew more neutral, I suggest adding decorative elements to give the main rooms more interest. This is where staging a home can be a whole lot of fun!
Feel free to add colorful soft furnishings like pillows and area rugs. On tables or bookcases you can add flowers, but my suggestion is less is more. It’s great to add color, but you don’t want to distract from the architecture in the room. Lastly, add picture frames to add a little shimmer, and a little class! Have fun with it, but remember you are only adding a few elements, not filling up the whole room!
Choosing the color schemes within your home is a key part of the staging process, and it can really make or break a sale. Done correctly, it can reap huge rewards for you! If you’re having trouble picking the best home staging paint colors for your home, I can help you out.
As a color expert, I have years of experience choosing the best colors for all types of rooms and situations. Contact me today to set up a consultation.
