Staging Your Home With Color

So....you're thinking of selling your house and are trying to do everything possible to get people to not only look at it, but make a viable offer. You've seen all the real estate programs on HGTV until you can recite their mantras in your sleep: "Spruce up your home...." and "stage your home..." and "a new coat of paint can work wonders...."

Paint? you're thinking. Yep, paint. Sounds simple, until you visit a paint store, look at all the selections, and begin to wonder what potential buyers will actually like in the way of paint colors. You want to set the mood. You want to get them inspired. Most of all, you want them to buy! So here's a bit of the psychology behind various colors:

Red: Grabs attention and draws the eye. If you want to accentuate a feature of the house, add a red accessory (maybe on the fireplace mantel) or a vase of red flowers on a cold granite counter top.

Blue: Soothes and calms. Although it's considered "the world's favorite color," you don't want an overkill of it. A soft blue color in a bedroom or bath can sometimes relax and soothe potential buyers. It's also considered an inspiration for creativity, so may be appropriate for a child's room. Again, however, use it in limited doses. Instead of blue walls, perhaps a blue bedspread and draperies with the walls painted a neutral color.

Yellow: Can promote confidence and optimism, but an over-abundance of the color can also evoke depression or make people feel emotionally fragile. Try a "neutral, soft gold" in a hallway or family room.

Green: "Restful" is the reaction most people have to green. It reassures them. Stay away from yellow-greens and tend more toward soothing, more neutral greyed-greens. It's often a good color for bedrooms. Adding green plants to a room gives it life.

White: Gives a feeling of cleanliness, but unless you're selling a contemporary house, white as a wall color is usually not recommended - it gives a "don't touch me" impression. Perhaps a soft white, like antique white or Navajo white, on your trim work, but with color on your walls.

The current generation of buyers want move-in-ready houses. They almost literally want to move in, put their clothes away, and start cooking dinner. They don't want to fix up, repaint, or do things their elders did when they bought houses. So the more move-in-ready you make your house, the more likely it is to attract a quick, reasonable offer.