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

[Grog]

"Café-au-lait" has been very, very popular around Vancouver as far as I can tell, recently.

Sort of a beige but with a twist.

(Obviously not for all walls!!)

[Zen]

Paint This House and Sell It

[cobalt]

You all made me laugh, out loud. Even the dogs looked at me.

Tri, do your friends tease you? Do you have a problem with xtra paint cans in your house? Do you hide paint, hide the fact that you painted again? Do you fail to finish the edges before you change to a new color? Do you paint splotches right on the walls and then leave it for a few months? If you answered yes to any of the above, then you are my girl. Also, I have lived here for 5 years, that's the longest we've stayed in a house so it's time to go! I understand you.

Bleeker, there are two Ben decks. I have the other so I'll trudge back to the hardware store to have a look, thanks. Our trim is wood, I covet painted trim, makes colors pop.

In WI painting wood trim is against the law.

Zen, off to look at the site, thanks.

Synd, good luck to you too!! Remember, lights on for showings. I take all traces of dogs out but with two puppies under 2 it will be hard this time. I have so much stuff to toss. Since we want to move a distance, it helps to think that stuff is too heavy/expensive to pack and move. Do you have kids? Did they mind that you painted their rooms?

LBTC, thanks for the butterflies! The market is sluggish here but we are always pretty stable in the midwest.

Grog, sounds yummy!

Trek, I like the dolphin colors much better! Thanks for the great advice, I'll dump my beige pillows. I do have a lot of art, family paints but I can't so I paint walls. The Packers are not doing well right now against the Lions who have not won this year. I think it's very funny but my DH is not amused. Ha! The best part is now the Jet fans have to live with Brett's may or may not retire stuff for months. I was so tired of Brett leading the news every night. lol

Aggie, I have decided that you are too hot! Now I have to talk Rick into a cooler climate. He is saying that he won't touch snow again but let's be realistic.

Oak, we do have to keep light in mind here in the winter. Good point.

[Aquila]

Maybe check with your realtor?

When I bought my house, it had a bright red sunroom, fairly dark green on some walls, a lighter green on others, and so forth. I NEVER would have had the nerve to paint these colors, but I love them! So maybe you'll get buyers like me and they'll love colors.

Good luck with it all.

[mtbdarby]

Ohhh, I couldn't resist this one

As a fellow Wisconsite/cheesehead who just sold and bought her house and has a love of color, here is what I learned:

1. Unless it's a truely eye popping color, your house does not have to be neutral. For example, my former kitchen had buttercream colored walls with - ready? - brick red cabinet faces with white cabinets. My bathroom was sky blue, my bedroom was a medium brown suede, the playroom was avacodo green any my sons room was tan with a navy blue ceiling. Dark colors that are cool do not darken a room.

2. Stage the house! Get rid off all your family pictures and declutter everything. A good RE agent will be able to help you with this and may even suggest moving the furniture around for better flow and visualization for buyers.

3. Clean it and Fix it. I was told and was of the same mind set, that homeowners in this area are more concerned with not having to put a lot of money into fixing up a house (unless they are flipping them). They want to move in and be done with it. If they have to do anything, painting is their cheapest investment. You need to fix doors, handles, stairs, railings, etc.

4. Get a home inspection done on your dime. It may cost you a couple hundred dollars, but then you will have time to fix anything that needs fixing or use it as a negotiating tool. It also tells your prospective buyers that you're not hiding anything.

5. Interview a couple of RE agents. This is important. I listed with someone I was comfortable with but who wasn't an aggressive agent. My house showed a lot but I never got an offer. After 6 months, I interviewed 3 agents and chose one who had an agressive marketing plan, helped me stage the house, did a market analysis so we could list at a more competitive price and had a broader customer base than the first one. She sold it in 30 days at what I wanted for it.

All that and the Packers finally won one! Good luck selling and happy house hunting!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Bleeker, there are two Ben decks. I have the other so I'll trudge back to the hardware store to have a look, thanks. Our trim is wood, I covet painted trim, makes colors pop.
In WI painting wood trim is against the law.

Our house has lots of maple wood trim, also oak floors....lots of unpainted wood throughout. We found a BenMoore color card that looked great against the wood windows and door trim. Card # 2153- 4 shades of a tan with "Cork" being the darkest. We used those colors a lot throughout the house- the darkest 'cork' in the livingroom, next shade up in the bedroom, then yet lighter for the kitchen, looking like a cream by that time, and the lightest shade for all the ceilings and for the kitchen cabinets. It all coordinated and looks wonderful. I can send pix if you want.
I told you about our nice bathroom color already in my previous post.

[Trek420]

Thanks for the great advice, I'll dump my beige pillows. I do have a lot of art, family paints but I can't so I paint walls.

Don't dump them if you like them. Consider covers, or intersperse a few in our planned Miami Dolphin color scheme. There's such a thing as too much color. Several beige pillows with just a few in the group that compliment your theme can be as good or better than "all Miami Dolphin pillows"

Use mirrors, deftly placed they can make a space look bigger and they "bounce light" which is always a good thing.

There are firms that will stage for you.

I agree about getting it inspected. Buyers expect everything to be fixed. Best to fix it now than find out when an offer fails.

[uk elephant]

Just to say that bright colours was apparently what sold my place in Illinois when I moved. I had the living room painted/decorated in bright orange and reds, the kitchen was blue and white, the bedroom was dark blue and the spare room was tan and dark green. Apparently the first viewing came, saw and loved the colours and bought within minutes. So bright colours occasionally work. Of course I can't guarantee it works for anyone else. I may have just gotten lucky.

[Aggie_Ama]

Aggie, I have decided that you are too hot! Now I have to talk Rick into a cooler climate. He is saying that he won't touch snow again but let's be realistic.

I think you would love our winter, spring and fall. The personality of this town is really cool, you would just wonder what you were thinking when it started to get over 90.

[cobalt]

Did I mention that I have never seen a snake or roach? We don't have anything here that is poisonous. Not even fire ants...

I'll get the card bleecker, thanks!

Trek, my pillows are really boring, I don't love them. They have been puppy chewed.

UK, you were lucky. We moved away and then moved back across the street from our old house and the new owner painted all of the bedrooms mustard! I did sell that house with a red dining room and 2 owners later, it's still red.

We lived in Kent for 2 years, loved it.

[sundial]

I would suggest that you stick with a neutral warm tone. Tastes vary so much and trendy colors change so quickly.

[OakLeaf]

Did I mention that I have never seen a snake or roach?

Where do you live they don't have roaches? I thought they were supposed to live in every climate in the world including desert and arctic? And snakes are good, they keep the rodents down. Probably eat roaches too.

[Trek420]

Trek, my pillows are really boring, I don't love them. They have been puppy chewed.

Ah, new pillows, then. Buyers want to feel like they walked into a spa. I'd aim to have the towels compliment the pillows which goes with the ....

OTOH if there are colors you love use 'em, market be d@mned.

A very wise contractor (UK's and my cousin) said there's no telling how long it will take to sell and close. Why suffer? If there is something you really like in the home go for it even if an imaginary buyer might not.

[Tri Girl]

Tri, do your friends tease you? Do you have a problem with xtra paint cans in your house? Do you hide paint, hide the fact that you painted again? Do you fail to finish the edges before you change to a new color? Do you paint splotches right on the walls and then leave it for a few months?

sheepishly grinning: yes, yes, somtimes, yes and yes (especially yes on the last one this summer when I was deciding what color to paint my house). Yes, I painted the outside of my house. Granted, it really need it, but it took me two weeks and I had fun painting and transforming the outside. I also paint on canvas. I'm not the best artist, but I sure do love to paint landscapes.