Room Makeovers
Sometimes when you have a house to sell, there is that one room... You know the room I'm talking about. Sticks out like a sore thumb? This is a real shame when the rest of the house is cute because most people want the house to be completely move-in ready when they purchase it. That one room can ruin a sale. Take this room for instance:
I mean, oh my goodness. Look how neutral everything else is, and then THAT PAINT! Now is a great time to talk about paint. Ahem.
My paint of choice is Behr Premium Plus, Paint and Primer in one. Yes, it's a little pricier than say, Glidden. A can of Behr will run you about $35. But when you have a job like this, you are going to need the good stuff. I can't even imagine a reason to paint a room this color. The rest of the house was cute!
Tips for Sellers: If you are selling your house, paint the walls a neutral color. Even white would be better than bright orange. But there are beautiful shades of grey or taupe that would have looked nice with the carpet in the photo above. You never want potential buyers to be making a mental list of things to change or fix when they are looking at your house. You want them to be imagining their own furniture in your house as if it were theirs already. NO ORANGE.
My house is not on the market, but I do have some pretty dramatic before and after pics of room makeovers I did on my own. Here is one of Alex's room we did last year:
The lime green was fun when she was younger, but when she turned 14 she decided she wanted something a little more sophisticated. The color we covered the green with is Behr Grey Squirrel. It is a grey with brown undertones, which goes great with the neutral carpeting in my house. I was quite relieved to get rid of the green. ;)
This is the master bedroom. As you can see, I nearly forgot to take a before pic! But look how much warmer the room gets when we replaced the stark white with a neutral taupe. But buyers can be fickle... some want every room to be white, and I've heard that painting everything white helps a house sell more quickly. When we bought this house in 2001, every square inch was white. As an artist, I could not WAIT to get some color on the walls! Ok, one more to show you:
This is our breakfast area. We painted the entire downstairs in Behr Grey Squirrel and one other lighter shade of the same color (can't remember the name). The breakfast area is the lighter grey and I just love it. Same furniture, only the light fixture is different; it was ugly brass before and I spray painted it black:
I used a high temperature spray paint in black which also happened to be matte (surprise!) but I really love how it updated that 1990's brass with a more modern feel to it. I did the same thing with the light in the formal dining room:
Black spray paint to the rescue! Now IF I were to show my house (which I'm not- my husband says we are never, ever, ever moving...) then potential buyers would see the black light fixtures and think we paid to update the lighting. Nope, underneath is still the builder's grade brass from 1996 when the house was built. (Shh! It'll be our little secret!)
I will leave you with this photo. On the left is my sitting room, painted taupe. We decided a few years ago we were tired of the formal cherry wood furniture and jewel tones and completely redid everything in shades of grey. This one room is the single transformation I'm not all that excited about. Not sure why, but the grey in here looks cold. What does it need? Side tables? Black and white photos instead of that mirror? Leave your suggestions in my comments, if you have any ideas, and I will post pictures of the changes!
Update 7/30/14 I added end tables and some more pops of that turquoise color on the right hand side. Plus I took the photo with my new wide angle zoom lens, so let's compare!
I also changed out the rug. I like this one much better. Now it feels more balanced in there. I'm still working on the black and white photos to replace that mirror. Stay tuned!
Next post: Trash to Treasure
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