For a fast sale, think fun colors
and go for a third, or even a fourth, exterior color. Think
"Disneyland Main Street," where every shop is painted in
glorious multi-colors. Adding more colors will also add
definition to the various architectural details of your home.
Use gloss or semi-gloss paint on wood trim.
The Psychology of Exterior Colors
When choosing exterior colors, take
the sales price of your home into account. Certain colors,
especially muted, complex shades, attract wealthy or
highly-educated buyers, whereas buyers with less income or less
education generally prefer simpler colors. A complex color
contains tints of gray or brown, and usually requires more than
one word to describe, such as "sage green," as opposed to
"green."
On the other hand, simple colors
are straightforward and pure. Generally, houses in the lower
price range sell faster and for higher prices when painted in
simple colors like yellow or tan, accented by white, blue, or
green trim.
The Psychology of Interior Colors
Using colored, rather than bland,
white walls will increase your profit potential. Lynette
Jennings tested the perception of room size and color, and
discovered that a room painted white appeared only appeared
larger to a few people when compared to an identical room
painted in color – and the perceived difference was only about
six inches! Most people also look better when surrounded by
color, and feel happier, and since buyers pick houses that make
them feel happy, that knowledge can put dollars in your pocket
at closing!
Entryways should bring the exterior
colors into the house. Repeating shades of the exterior
throughout your home will make the entire home seem to be in
harmony. Living and family rooms painted in a slightly lighter
shade of the exterior color will ensure that you've picked a
color your buyers like, because if they didn't like your
exterior colors, they wouldn't have bothered to look inside. If
they loved the exterior colors, they'll love the interior, too.
When choosing interior colors,
consider the use of each room. For instance, kitchen and dining
areas that are painted in “food colors,” such as coffee browns,
celery greens, and scrambled egg yellows, feel natural.
Since, deeper shades of color imply
intimacy and serenity, I like to paint master bedrooms a medium
shade of green or blue for warm selling seasons, and rouge red
for cooler weather. Other bedrooms can be painted in creamy
tones of green, blue, or a pale shell pink. (See the chapter on
the Psychology of Color in my book "Joy to the Home: Secrets of
Interior Design Psychology" for further information.)
Selling Season
Always consider your selling season
(the time of year you'll be marketing your home) and climate
when choosing colors. Estimate the amount of time you'll need to
get your home ready for sale, and then add on extra days for
unexpected delays. Use cool colors, such as blues, greens, and
grays, to sell during spring and summer, and warm colors, such
as yellows, reds, and maroons, when selling in the fall and
winter.
Color Intensity
My husband and I usually use
lighter colors when painting the exteriors of our investment
dollhouses, because it makes them appear larger. On the other
hand, our cabin in the woods looks richer when painted a darker
color. When we decided to have it painted, I considered the
usual cabin colors of dark brown and barn red, but fell in love
with Olympic’s gorgeous "Gooseberry" plum color.
When getting ready to paint your
house, look at the colors of neighboring houses and choose
colors that harmonize, yet stand out from the crowd. Colors that
clash badly with other houses will detract from the overall
neighborhood.
At the beginning of the article, I
told you that homes with yellow exteriors sell the quickest. But
which shade of yellow sells best? First, the yellows to avoid:
yellows with green undertones look sickly to most buyers, and
yellows with orange undertones give buyers an impression of
cheapness.
The best-selling yellow exterior
color is actually a pale, sunny yellow, especially when
complimented with one or more carefully-chosen accent colors.
For instance, a semi-gloss white trim will give your home a
clean and fresh look, and adding a third color, such as green,
can make your home even more attractive to prospective buyers.
Colors affect human beings in many
ways, and by using the principles of Color Psychology, you can
make your home stand out from the competition, sell more
quickly, and at a higher price.
(c) Copyright
2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.
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