I loved what North Carolina stager Nancy Lee had to say about using these new neutrals. Her point of view is to choose a subtle neutral but then use different shades of that color from the same strip throughout the house. “I stick to neutrals-the basic color is usually lightly shaded (greyed down) and comes from the brown, green, or yellow family. I selected it based on the natural light, the view, the house style, and any permanent fixtures inside…once I have chosen the basic color, for example, I might paint the living room walls and below the chair rail in the dining room that color but put a darker color from the same chip on the fireplace wall and above the chair rail. The molding would be painted the lightest color from the chip, which does energize the rooms but provides continuity at the same time. I don’t use colors from multiple chips.”
Another stager and color consultant out of the D.C. metro area, Pam Faulkner, feels there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the paint color question. “I’ve found the color choices are shaped by the area of the country, the architecture, the lighting, the furnishings, and the target market,” she said. On the one hand, she agreed that you couldn’t go wrong with the “new neutrals” using subtle shades-that “a shade of green in a sunroom can be neutral and counter the glare at certain times of day” but also that “younger buyers aren’t afraid of color -particularly saturated though not necessarily dark.” She remarked that in Virginia where she practices, the traditional red dining room wall color is still very much a favorite and can be found in many homes on the market. Her main point was that “knowing your market and buyers, as well as picking colors that compliment the architecture…will showcase the home beautifully.”
The staging pros who favor color had as strong or stronger opinions. “Color sells! It’s what gives life to the house. Buyers usually form some sort of emotional attachment to a particular house and color, when used correctly, can create a strong, positive emotional experience which generally translates into presenting an offer,” says Sebastian Barrett St. Troy in his new book “It’s Not ‘Your’ House!” He is a “market-ready consultant” in Austin, Texas. I also thought this quote from the book was interesting: “When you’re out looking at houses, which ones do you remember? Do you notice all the beige houses, or do you remember that house with the striking deep red dining room, comforting grey living room, and the soft green bedroom…if the color feels right, looks good, and works with the house, then leave it and never allow anyone to talk you into changing it to a neutral.” Stager Patti Stern from New York City agreed, “Color transforms a room,” she said quoting an oft-used phrase. She works on a lot of high-end, new construction homes. “The first thing we do is add color-lattes, buttery yellow, grey/blues, and deep greens are the colors we’re using in these showcase, model homes.”
Of course, getting willy-nilly with color is never a good idea. I can’t tell you how many homes I’ve walked into and thought “Oh no you didn’t.” And I’m not even going to go there with the subject of do-it-yourself faux painting and how that affects resale. So I liked what Linda J. O’Neill out of Philadelphia ( http://www.oncuehomestaging.com ) said about how to mitigate this: “My recommendation is to study color…go to Benjamin Moore, C2, or look at Sherwin Williams trends. They send their research people all over the world each year…buyers are indeed very savvy…you can use trends to help identify what is metropolitan, urban, southern, west coast, trans-cultural, or hip self-expression, but in a refined way.”
So, who’s right? What’s your opinion? Seems like most of the stagers at least agreed that some amount of color is a good thing, even if it is within the neutral realm. And, most seem to endorse evaluating the specific situation of the house. “It depends on the home and who’s the target buyer. The old school rules of home staging are passe’,” said staging pro Julea St. Joseph from Chicago ( http://www.julea.com ). “Today’s buyer is a slick, savvy, well-educated house hunter and expects every home they consider to be move-in ready with a sassy palette to match.”
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I just found this discussion – and, yes – I think that paint colors do differ thoughout the country. But – when selling a home, I feel that it’s best to paint the wall color a tone that will help the interior look larger (or smalller as the case may be). If a living room looks too small, I will paint the wall a color that is close to the tone of the sofa and chairs (that is – as long as they are not dark!). I also will bring in sheers that are a close match to the wall color – this way there is no delineation between where the room starts and stops. This gives the room a more spacious feel. It also enhances the serenity of the room – tone on tone adds a peacefulness that buyers can “feel.” We are selling space – and not a particular wall color.
I also go with tones that blend with the floor. If the flooring is oak – I try to keep the wall color a warm neutral, perhaps with some shot of yellow in in (Monroe Bisque from Benjamin Moore is a warm neutral).
LInda Leyble
http://www.beautifulstagedhomes.com
Linda, thanks for chiming in. Appreciate your thoughts. Thanks for the reminder of taking the floor color into consideration as well.
Loved this article. Really am turned off by use of strong primary colors in prospective home. However, find that these colors, muted down to their tertiary hues, can become nearly neutral, yet more interesting than beige.
Hey Pam, yes it was really interesting to me to hear from the stagers about the option of colored neutrals, essentially. I think I still like a little bit more color than that, but it may be a good general way to go for resale that is safe. It reminded me about the blog post I wrote on getting inspiration from nature — for that house we chose really soft hues of yellow, mushroom, taupe, and sage. It had a neutral effect but was still a palette of colors. Let’s all say no to beige for sure — although even within beiges there are some that are much more exciting than others. Now that I think of it, I’ve used “Banana Cream” from Kelly Moore a couple times and Pale Portobello as well — really love both of these and it could be argued that they are “beige.” Such a fascinating topic
Great stuff, you hlpeed me out so much!
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Kelsey, thank you for the great article about the use of color when selling a home. Also, thank you for quoting me in the article. If you’re interested, here’s an article in my business blog about Color Sells – http://austinmarketready.blogspot.com/2011/10/color-sells-especially-in-real-estate.html