In decades of helping sellers, “What color should we paint?” is a question that comes up frequently. “Pick any color you like!” is my response, “Unless you are planning to sell within 5 years.” Paint colors can affect your home value by as much as $100,000. Recently, I helped a house seller with a lime green home. They loved how it stood out. Unfortunately, their neighbors did not agree, and I guided them to adjust.
It’s not that you must be a slave to fashion when choosing a color, but you can’t just ignore it. If you choose creamy white and oxford brown, your home will be perfect for 1978! And blue is the most devaluing color. That is probably not what you’re aiming for and nobody wants to alienate the neighbors or repel potential buyers. There are several color traps you can get tangled in when you pick your colors.
The first color trap is in neutral colors. Neutrals are the safest colors to paint your home because they’re inoffensive. Most people take neutrals in stride, so they are a good choice.
You should know that “earth tone” neutrals swing up and down in popularity. These are the brown or umber-based whites, the creams, light browns, and tans. All forms of brown-based colors fit this color scheme. Inside our homes brown tones make us feel secure and tended to, safe and enclosed in an attractive space. Outside, brown shades help to integrate our homes into their surroundings. It’s no wonder this is the public’s favorite color pallet. However, with time the public gets fed up with the same old tans and creams.
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The biggest alternative to the brown based color pallet is gray. Every 10 years, or so, grays takeover from the tans. Grays make us feel creative, as if we are architects or designers. This is a more heady feeling than the “feeling included”effect of browns. We are in a gray phase right now. However, grays don’t get as much sustained attention from the public as the browns do. Browns are often popular for 10 years, or more, while grays are usually prominent for about 2 years at a stretch.
A 16-year trend of brown based earth tones continued from 2000 through 2015. That was so long that the gray backlash was very strong. However, gray fade is now well underway. Designers, the public, and even painters have reached their tolerance with gray.
A color shift is also going on with appliances. For 25 years the appliance high-end look has been almost exclusively stainless steel. That’s a long time! Currently, manufacturers are offering hundreds of vivid colors – even more than in the 1950/60’s – which were very color happy times! Unless you are going for retro it is best to leave the turquoise and tangerine to the accessories.There are also muted colors trending in appliances like slate, truffle and matte gray stainless – variations of gray and black.
Gray homes will be identifiable for decades as time capsules of the current color pallet. Fashion is fickle! There is a huge world of color outside the neutral pallets—the reds, greens, blues, oranges, and yellows. Like problems with the blue color mentioned earlier, some colors have pitfalls.
Color cycles are not obvious to everyone. Homeowners uncertain about color choices may ask their painters for suggestions. Even with an architect or designer’s help, consider me for a quick consultation before you commit your money to a fashion mistake. I know these colors well and I would be happy to meet with you to discuss the implications of color. Meeting to talk several years in advance of a sale is not too early for us to have a conversation. I want to improve your bottom line. I am involved in dozens of fix ups each year to prepare homes for the market.
When you want your real estate sale to be quick, pleasant, and profitable call me at 805-451-9300.
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