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

[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