Here you can see how painting the wood paneling in this home lightened up the space. It instantly feels more modern and welcoming. Also, take a look at that fireplace!
The Best Shades When Painting a Home to Sell
After necessary repairs, the second most strategic pre-listing project (and one we always recommend) is painting a home to sell quickly and increase its value. Interestingly, the shade of paint you choose has a huge impact on its marketability. Let’s discuss why it’s not only important to paint your home – but to paint it the right colors – as you prepare to sell it. We’ll also show you some examples of the transformative power of paint.
Why is painting before selling a home common practice?
Fresh paint adds value to homes on the market. Over the years spent in our homes, the walls inevitably show signs of wear and tear. The interior walls of most homes have scuff marks, stains, and chipped paint. Sometimes walls even fall victim to the artistic expression of toddlers. In most cases, the damage to your walls is only paint-deep. When you apply a new coat of paint, you start with a clean slate. Hiring painters is a fairly affordable cost, so painting is a simple fix to help your home appear like-new to home buyers.
So, why is it important to use particular colors when you paint a home to sell it?
The right color selections can make homes brighter, cleaner, and more spacious. The wrong colors, on the other hand, might be too busy, and make rooms look darker, cramped, and unfashionable. Today’s home buyers are looking for move-in ready homes to personalize themselves. A bold color selection may deter buyers who aren’t willing to repaint before moving. When you paint the interior of a home to sell, you not only cover up any scratches, chips, or scuffs that may have appeared over the years, you also make the entire home look fresher. You’re essentially creating an empty canvas for the next homeowners to start anew. Keep things as fresh as possible by choosing colors that make your home more marketable. So, which specific colors are best when a home to sell?
What are the best paint colors for selling a house?
Painting is an excellent way to enhance your property’s appearance. That said, we wouldn’t recommend you select a color based on your color preferences. At the end of the day, you aren’t painting the home for you. You’re painting to sell, which means you want to choose a color that has broad appeal within the market.
We use light, neutral tones in our projects because they help make spaces appear bigger and help buyers to imagine their unique belongings in the homes they visit. Furthermore, light neutral trends are least likely to be offensive and are still very much on-trend in home design. Our team has found that applying a fresh coat of the following paint in neutral tones helps to increase the value of homes.
These colors are delicate and unobtrusive, allowing potential buyers to focus on the house without being distracted. How should you determine which of these colors to use? We’ll help select the best shade during our listing assessment process, but you should also keep these two tips in mind:
- Consider the permanent fixtures. Unless they are also going to be updated, consider the existing floors, tile, and finishes (i.e. doorknobs, faucets, etc.) when selecting the best paint color for selling a house.
- Don’t ignore lighting. The shade you select may look different depending on whether it is being lit by sunlight, florescent bulbs, or incandescent lighting.
We used Agreeable Gray in a recent project in Northern Virginia. This color makes rooms feel cool and contemporary, without seeming too trendy.
We often use Penthouse in basement remodels like the one we recently completed that you can see here. This color helps make the space feel as big and bright as possible.
The transformative power of paint
Everyone loves a good before-and-after story. You might be surprised at just how effective paint can be in transforming the visual appearance of a home. Let’s take a look at a selection of prime examples of how repainting home interiors makes them more desirable.
For this pre-listing project, we removed the wallpaper and painted the walls a neutral, grey color. The room not only looks so much brighter, but it looks larger, too!
For this pre-listing project, we removed the wallpaper and painted the walls a neutral, grey color. The room not only looks so much brighter, but it looks larger, too!
The primary focus of this post is how the right shades of interior paint can positively impact the appearance and value of a home. That said, we wanted to touch on a handful of other painting home improvement projects to consider.
Painting kitchen cabinets to sell
Depending on the condition of your cabinets, it may be in your best interest to save money by painting them, rather than removing and replacing them. You don’t have to fully replace or remodel to earn substantially higher profits when you sell your home. We love how fresh paint in this muted, light cream tone transformed the visual appearance of the kitchen below.
Newly painted cabinets make this formerly outdated kitchen bright, sleek and modern.
Newly painted cabinets make this formerly outdated kitchen bright, sleek and modern.
Painting the exterior of a home to sell
The exterior of your home is tied to its curb appeal, and improving curb appeal can have a hugely positive effect on your home sale. We power wash homes regularly, because sometimes the exterior of homes need a little more TLC to avoid scaring off buyers. For this home, the siding was in such poor condition that the home screamed, “buyers, beware!” In actuality, the interior of the home was in great condition, but most buyers wouldn’t go far enough to see.
You can choose exterior paint colors more liberally than interior hues. Think about traditional home colors; blues, browns, white, and green are often tasteful. They help your home to stand out but they aren’t too brazen or intimidating. Have fun with your selection and make sure that your choice matches the look and feel of the neighborhood surrounding you. Don’t regret your selection – work with Curbio to find the perfect paint colors for your home’s exterior.
Paint and complete other home improvements with Curbio
If you’re planning to sell your home, we recommend making necessary repairs and upgrades before it hits the market. Once you’ve completed outstanding maintenance and other needed repairs, it’s time to paint your home to sell it. While many pre-listing home improvement projects stop there, there are more opportunities to increase home sale profits.
With Curbio, you get the benefits of pre-listing consulting from a one of the home improvement experts on our team. You also get unparalleled service, with a dedicated, project manager. We’ll manage and execute your projects from proposal to punch list, maintaining the trust we’ve built with 500+ agents nationwide. The best part? You won’t worry about finding the cash to update your home because we defer payment until closing — without any interest, fees, time limits, minimums, or maximums.
Find out what the best home improvements to take on before selling are in this blog or get started by submitting a free, same-day listing assessment for your listing.