Real estate agents, home stagers and decorators strongly recommend painting a home in neutral colors to help it sell faster. Why? "Today's buyer doesn't want any work," says home stager Carol Buckalew of Frederick. You don't want buyers to walk into a house and immediately think about the extra costs of repainting because they have a strong reaction to a color, she says.
Neutral colors also help a property look best in photographs online, says Long & Foster real estate agent Deb Gorham.
There are only a few situations in which they'll bend these unwritten rules. Gorham says it's OK not to repaint children's rooms because it could be upsetting to a child who already is facing a big change when the family moves. Plus, she says, "sometimes you have families moving in, and perhaps those colors even entice the new family."
Another exception is in powder rooms, where home stager Monica Murphy feels it's easier to add personality: "Bathrooms, since they are private rooms, can have more whimsical colors, like pumpkin, or a deeper green, or a silver gray."
Here are some recommended colors and the best places to use them:
* Ground Ginger from Behr. Murphy, of Preferred Staging in Loudoun County , Va., likes this pale olive because it "isn't overwhelming."
* Kilim Beige from Sherwin-Williams. Lynn Chevalier, a home stager with Falls Church, Va.-based Staged Right, says this khaki color "makes the house more useful-looking. It covers up flaws nicely, and it has a very crisp look." Chevalier also recommends a near-white shade, Marshmallow from Sherwin-Williams, for trim.
* Pale Smoke from Benjamin Moore. "The master bedroom is the perfect room to impart color," says Leigh Newport of Staged by Design in Leesburg, Va. This paint "is a soothing pale blue-gray that reflects well in photos," she says.
* Wickham Gray from Benjamin Moore. Buckalew of Omni Home Staging likes using this solid gray to cover up bright colors. "All the red dining rooms need to be neutralized," she says. "If you don't like red, then you don't like the house."
