Interior paint colors for house resale? Does it have to be off-white?

[cobalt]

My first off cycle thread!

We want to move to a larger city and a city that isn't under a foot of snow for 3 months of the year. So we are getting ready to put our house on the ever sluggish housing market.

Do you think that I need to paint most of the rooms cream or should I use some color?

I have a tendency to paint often so currently the wall behind the tv is a grayed lavender and the dining room is grinch green. I know that these two areas will have to be either off white or some safer color. I don't mind painting, I like it as much as I like to bike!! (in 5 years this wall has been red, gold, dark purple, cobalt, brown, cream and green and yes, we have lost square footage to paint. I get that comment a lot)

The rest of the walls are off white downstairs.

Upstairs the girls bedrooms are pale pink, medium blue and cream. The master bedroom is medium brown.

The wood in the house is cherry, floors are beige carpet, cherry wood and terracotta tile.

What do you think a "safe" color is? Is it only off-white??

Thanks!!

[LBTC]

I think it really depends on who the market is. There are people who will prefer a house with some rich colours already done - if they are done well - because they aren't creative enough to choose those colours and it's already done for them. Others may be scared of the richness.

Is it possible for you to ask your real estate agent or a company that stages houses to find out what the market is responding the best to? This will vary not only by the part of the country you are in, but even by neighbourhood and price point, so it's worth asking around. It's not so much that you want to be trendy, but you want to appeal to the people who are most willing to buy right now.

Sending loads of house selling butterflies your way,
~T~

[OakLeaf]

I don't think it needs to be off white at all, but I do think that bold colors don't appeal to everyone, and dark colors absorb so much ambient light that the rooms don't show well unless it's the EXACT time of day that the darkness in the room isn't so noticeable.

If I'm recalling correctly, in two rounds of house-hunting the ONLY house we looked at that was all cream (or maybe light grey) was one that was being built on spec. None of the houses where people were actually living or had lived, that had furniture in them, were painted "blank slate."

So I say re-paint the blue room and the brown room to any light color that matches the floors, furniture and the ambient light.

But LBTC has a really good point.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Lighter colors make rooms look bigger, darker colors make them look smaller.
Most people feel slightly claustrophobic and uncomfortable in medium or dark colored rooms.

soft pale celery or sage-y gray-green, cream or pale butter, sand, and very pale watery blue are serene colors. Stark white is abrupt in feeling, but can work well with color accents.
Red is very tricky, and can look simply awful.

Spare rooms are best not painted pink, lavender, or "boy blue". This is mentally limiting, strikes some people as too cutesy, and actually can work against you if people don't have children. Paint them as if the rooms are for guests or for home office or sewing room, etc. - light neutral serene colors. That way people can better envision them as multi-purpose rooms, thus seeing the house as larger and more versatile to their needs.

[cobalt]

Great advice all around, thanks.

I'll call our agent and see what she thinks. This area is conservative, most think beige is a color. The green bay packers are uber important so I could paint a room green and gold and that would be fine.

I hadn't thought about painting my brown bedroom. It is pretty dark brown so I guess I should.

Bleecker, do you have paint chips in mind? I have the ben moore and sherwin decks. Green can be tricky, sometimes it goes minty.

Before I paint a thing we need to spend some quality time clearing out the basement.

Anyone want to come and help??

Thanks!

[Tri Girl]

Um, sorry but I don't want to help you clean out the basement.

I'm a self proclaimed paint-a-holic. I painted the living room yesterday, but by nightfall decided I HATED the color so I repainted it this morning. I buy $5 per gallon "oops" paints at Lowes so changing color often isn't a big deal.
I might do the darker rooms with something lighter. I don't think you have to do beige, you could even do a cafe latte or light brown color. Do whatever color will make the room pop.

How exciting that you're moving!!! I've always been a nomad my whole life and am feeling very trapped here after 15 years. I've been dreaming of moving to the Dominican Republic or Mexico lately. I think the Caribbean would be a great place to ride a bike year round!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Bleecker, do you have paint chips in mind? I have the ben moore and sherwin decks. Green can be tricky, sometimes it goes minty.

Everyone has different taste, but one of our very favorite 'feel good' colors is one that we painted our bathroom. In some lighting it has a faint greenish feeling (not minty at all though), and in other lighting or at a different time of day it looks like beach sand.
It's Ben.Moore color card #2148.....the 2148-40 "light khaki" for the walls, and the slightly lighter shade on the same card, 2148-50 "sandy white" for the window trim and ceiling. This scheme looks good against our white tile bath floor and white porcelain sink, etc. I'd think it would be great for an office or a bedroom or dining room.

[Trek420]

Great advice all around, thanks.

I'll call our agent and see what she thinks. This area is conservative, most think beige is a color. The green bay packers are uber important so I could paint a room green and gold and that would be fine.

Nooooooooooooo. So you paint with a conservative Cheese-head in mind and in walks your buyer. They are progressive Dolphin fans.

Our favorite colors are not our buyers favorite colors.

Plan for the buyer with no visual imagination. Most people do not think as visually as I do or you do and can't imagine "gee this is the perfect house for me, I don't like this color. I like everything purple. Purple paint's cheap. That'd take a day and then it would look juuuuuust right".

That's how I got this joint, nobody else could see the potential.

Or maybe everybody but me saw what kind of work it would actually take and noticed the electrical had to be completely redone and you can't replace the cabinets without completely gutting the kitchen ....

You wanna go crazy with color? Fine, great, be my guest, knock yourself out.

Stage the joint.

Pick a color theme (mine will compliment the main colors in the decorative imported tile on the backsplash. See tulip's remodel thread. There's only so much neutral I can do before I go batty). Keep it simple like maybe 3 main colors that work well together and use art. Find an aspect of your home that you like, a painting that will be out at the open house and mirror/compliment that.

Get throw pillows, rugs, more art. Put the color on the walls with a few family photos in nice frames, use pottery, lots of color, buy paintings from mimitabby replace plain lamp shades with shades in your colors or get lamps that compliment (Light may make your home look bigger), get more art, but do not overdo color on the walls.

Maybe an accent wall but that's it.

Good on you for cleaning the basement. My realtor said that's the most important thing, get rid of stuff. Have a yard sale, donate, freecycle it, just get rid of the stuff. Nothing makes a house look smaller than lots of stuff. Also you have to get "yourself" so your buyer can imagine their stuff in your home. If you plan to be there during the open house get rid of or store everything and anything throughout the house that does not either go with your design or you need on a daily basis.

Think coffee maker, and art in your theme/stage style.

Your buyer has to be able to imagine their life or even a better life in your place.

Good luck to us all in this market