Interior colors for home staging should be selected from the color palette that appeals to the most buyers possible. Try to limit interior colors for home staging to neutral earth tones, or warm shades of white.
Neutral wall tones provide excellent backdrops for the accent colors you'll add later for home staging; in your furniture, draperies, artwork and accessories.
Changing wall paint colors is the fastest (and cheapest!) way to update your entire home. The trick is to select colors that relate and flow from room to room.
Paint colors that are too bold, dark, or bright will likely turn many buyers away, because they will be thinking about all the repainting they will have to do!
When using color in a room, use the 60-30-10 rule:
The accent colors and patterns you select should be evenly distributed throughout a room. Avoid placing all your accent colors (and patterns) on one side of a room.
Apply complementary colors in unequal amounts by using the 80-20 rule:
The complementary color scheme in this bathroom works well for home staging, because the background is very light and neutral, whereas the orange accessories are removable if buyers don't like them. If you reversed the colors; having bright orange tile instead of a pleasing neutral, it might be a deal breaker for many buyers.
Classic room designs start with one main color and one or two accent colors. Start by finding one main color you like; perhaps drawing color cues from a favorite fabric, area rug or a piece of artwork.
The easiest way to prepare your home for sale is to paint all of your walls in the same neutral hue. Each room will look slightly different, because color changes under varying lighting conditions.
Create color flow from room to room by using lighter and darker values of the same color.
A fan deck or paint color swatch from any home improvement store can help you select interior colors for home staging. Paint sample strips help take the guess work out of choosing paint colors, as they contain the same color in several different values.
Value: Varying degrees of light and dark-- the "brightness" of a color.
Select a monochromatic color scheme. Doing so will help with the flow from room to room.
Try to stick to a color palette of no more than 3 to 5 different colors in your entire home.
I love Benjamin Moore paint because it's highly saturated, giving it great coverage. Often you can get by with just one coat of paint. Find Benjamin Moore paint at Home Depot.
Note that paint color palettes change every few years, so if you're looking for that great color you used 3 years ago, you won't find it! But don't panic, most paint stores now have the technology to match any color, you just need to bring in a color sample.
Color changes according to the type of lighting you have in a room. A color that you're happy with in natural light will look completely different under incandescent lighting.
What kind of natural light does each room have? Are you going to be using the room mostly at night under artificial lighting or during the day? Is the room facing north or south?
Consider the room that you'll be adding color to and view your paint samples under all lighting conditions, and at different times of the day.
Many paint companies offer sample-size containers of paint that you can take home and try out before committing to larger cans.
Think of each room in your house as a vertical space, mimicking nature; Floors could be a darker value, wall colors a medium value and the ceiling in the lightest values.
If you follow this basic rule, you should succeed.
Interior colors for home staging should flow gracefully from one room to the next, especially if you can see the adjoining rooms, as in open-concept living areas. You can achieve this by painting all your walls in the same paint colors, in coordinating colors, or in lighter and darker shades of the same hue.
To expand visually a space (or to hide ugly moldings and window trim), use the same light color on walls, baseboards and trim work. Doing so will cause unattractive features to recede, or seemingly blend into the walls.
Another way to develop flow is to have one recurring color from room to room. For instance, the color of a wall in the living room can be carried over into the dining room in the form of an area rug, upholstered dining chairs, a tablecloth, artwork, and so on.
How many times have you painted a wall and the color wasn’t what you expected? You thought you chose ivory, but it looked pale pink once up on the walls! How does that happen?
Undertones aren't always apparent until paired with other colors, or under certain lighting conditions. It's like a secret color hiding within the paint!
When you first look at a color you see what is called a "Masstone". This is the color we all recognize right away. Hidden within the masstone is an undertone, not easily seen.
A color is created by mixing two or more colors together. The color that is used in greater proportion will determine the undertone of the color. For instance, if more green was used than any other color in the mixing, then green will be the undertone.
Hold a paint color sample against your furniture, kitchen countertops, cabinets, flooring and under different lighting conditions. You will be amazed at the undertones that pop out.
Years ago, I rushed home with four cans of what I thought was a luscious taupe exterior house paint. After I had almost completed one side of my house, a neighbor drove by and asked why I was painting my house purple. Puzzled, I stepped back to look and was shocked to see lilac undertones! Eventually, after two more trips to the paint store, I got it right.
Color is the key to all successful decorating— it can work magic by visually expanding or shrinking space, raising and lowering ceilings, even effecting our dispositions.
You can trick the eye by using certain colors in the right places. Color can make objects visually advance or recede, and knowing where and how to use them can help you highlight focal points or camouflage ugly features of your home.
What's the difference between monotone and monochromatic color schemes?
Both schemes use only one color and rely heavily on the use of textural elements, accessories and plants to prevent boredom. Both room designs create a sophisticated and restful space that will make a small room appear larger than it actually is.
The monochromatic color scheme employs different tones, shades and tints of one color.
The monotone color scheme uses one color with very little variation in value, saturation and brightness. Done correctly, the monotone color scheme can be very calm and soothing.
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