As with so many things, choosing paint and décor for you to enjoy in your home (where you plan to stay awhile) is very different from choosing paint and décor for staging and selling your house. If you’re planning to paint your interior (highly recommended) for the purpose of presenting your home for sale, please consider the five points below. This will have a major impact on your sale:

1. Go with a neutral colour that is so light that it could be taken for white, in fact, it could be called white (there are many, many different whites).

In any given paint store or retailer, there are far too many colour choices. It’s enough to send anyone into a tizzy. Very advanced, fancy-dancy interior decorators can sometimes play very well with some of these wild colours and have us thinking that we should all be doing the same. For your long-term enjoyment in your home that you plan to keep? Sure. For staging to sell? No.

The best design choice to appeal visually to the largest demographic of buyers, is a very light, very neutral colour for walls. Colour can and should be added to rooms using other decorative elements. You can add colour with delightful linens, well placed pillows, lamps, wall art, vases, tabletop decor elements and more.

If you paint the walls with a colour that you might choose from the vast array at the paint store (say some variation of red, pink, purple, blue, orange etc.) it will drastically limit you (or your home stager) in terms of making any style choices that would work beautifully in the room, if it were neutral. 

And, most importantly, from your prospective buyer’s point of view, if the wall colour of your choice won’t work with their belongings at all because it completely clashes, then they’re in the position of having to paint the home (yes, paint over your brand new paint), right away. Most buyers would rather not have to do that, so if their choice is between two very similar homes, but one of the homes is newly painted in a neutral tone that they can live with, guess which home they will choose? And that unfortunately means that your home remains on the market for longer. Not great for you. Very great for the neutral house. 

Some beautiful neutral wall colours that work really well, are:

·     Sherwin Williams “Eider White” SW 7014

·     Sherwin Williams “Westhighland” White SW 7566

·     Sherwin Williams “Alabaster” SW 7008

·     Behr “Night Blooming Jasmine” YL-W10

·     Behr “Bit of Sugar” PR-W14

·     Benjamin Moore “Chantilly Lace” OC-65

·     Benjamin Moore “Intense White” OC-51

There are lots of neutrals that work great! Just be sure to avoid undertones of red, blue or yellow. Beige, sand, warm grey or greige (the lightest variation possible) work well. 

2. For walls, choose flat or matte paint.

Different paint brands call it different things but basically, you want the paint with NO SHINE. This goes for every room. Store clerks (and sometimes pro painters) will try to talk you out of this, saying that washrooms and maybe kitchens should be done in egg-shell or shinier because it’s easier to wipe, etc. Go with flat, even in bathrooms. These days, the quality of paint is improved, such that flat paint is easily wiped clean. The reason for the insistence on flat paint is that it hides imperfections in the walls. Every tiny mark on walls will just be glaring out from the harsh light reflecting on them and screaming for attention if the walls are shiny. Flat paint has a wonderful, velvety finish that reflects light softly and goes a long way to perfect the appearance of the walls.

3. For ceilings, please use standard white ceiling paint.

It will specify this right on the can or pail of paint. It’s easiest if you stick with the same brand of ceiling paint that you’re using for your walls and trim. If you have a pro painter in for the job (recommended) then they will know exactly what to use. Don’t do any colour on ceilings. Just the standard white ceiling paint. If it’s a wood ceiling, just leave it be or have a clear finish applied if necessary.

4. For trim and door paint, again, just use the standard white trim and door paint.

It’s normally semi-gloss. Just stay with that, it works great or your painter will know what to do. Do not do high gloss. If the trim and doors are a beautiful quality wood that would be considered a feature, leave it as is or refinish if needed.

5. Paint the entire house the same colour.

What?! How boring!! In this case, boring is best. Remember, with staging, every room will be beautifully decorated with all the lovely colourful accents and the whole thing will be gorgeous. Buyers will not mind ONE BIT, that the whole house is the same colour.

If you’re able to follow these paint choosing guidelines, you’re well on your way to presenting your home for sale in the best possible way. And because not everyone in your market will know these nuggets of stage painting wisdom (or take them seriously), you’ll be at a huge advantage. 

As always, best wishes for a quick and very successful sale!