Rethinking Neutral Colors

New rules for painting to sell

Photo credit: Larry Andersen/Sea Pointe Construction
Rethinking Neutral Colors

Photo credit: Larry Andersen/Sea Pointe Construction

Color can be intensely personal and emotional. It can wake us up or calm us down, make us want to linger or send us running from a room. During the housing boom, buyers — and builders — chose colors and décor to help houses sell. Now that selling houses is a tougher proposition, interior designers say the best advice is to stick with neutral colors. But that doesn't mean painting the entire house off-white.

"We have redefined 'neutral' in the last 20 years," says color psychologist Rebecca Ewing, owner of Rebecca Ewing Color and Design in Decatur, Ga. "The neutrals that consumers respond to today are complex neutrals. I did a khaki wall that in the morning sun has a plum cast to it and in the evening has a gold cast. It isn't your mother's beige."

That's an understatement. Sage green is considered a neutral color now, says Cindi MacPherson, partner in The Interior Partners in Atlanta, Ga. "Shades of gray, brown and, of course, creams and off-whites are all in the neutral category now."

Real estate agents that San Francisco–based interior designer Cindy Young speaks with recommend "anything warm — tinted yellow, sage, even some of the tinted apricot on the terra cotta side — in the dining room, kitchen and public spaces." You could use light sage in the bedrooms and baths, but "nothing overwhelming," she says. "You can't put a ton of personality in the house because the buyers need to be able to see themselves in it."

Neutral doesn't mean that every room in the house has to be the same color, says Caralyn Goeldner, owner of Tribeca Design in Hermosa Beach, Calif. She suggests a consistent color scheme for connected public spaces, such as combination kitchens and great rooms. Use a richer version of the same color in the powder room and a different color for the bedrooms and baths. "It adds character and warmth to have different colors," Goeldner says. "Just keep it simple, nothing too off-the-wall. You want people to feel the warmth of the home."

For spaces that open to each other, Ewing says it's smart to use colors from the same family. It keeps the look consistent while giving it enough variation to keep it from feeling bland.

"I like to use a complex neutral color and draw on three or four or five values of it," she says. "I'll often use most of the color card, with the lightest color for the ceiling, the next lightest for the hallway and the next darkest below the chair rail in the dining room."

Since kitchens often sell a house, using a different color there from the rest of the house can help it to stand out from the competition.

"That's where everybody hangs out," Ewing says. "It makes good sense to do something there to keep it from feeling antiseptic."

Plus, MacPherson notes, since the kitchen has several other elements that take up wall space —cabinets, appliances and backsplashes — there's not that much to paint. "It's nice to put a punch color in the house," she says. "It can become a memory point in an empty house."

And what about the often-overlooked fifth wall in a room, the ceiling? If the house has high ceilings or they're an important architectural detail, MacPherson says paint them a shade lighter or darker than the wall color to accent them. "If it's not an architectural detail," she says, "stick with ceiling white."

If there's one absolute, the designers say, it's to never paint an entire house white. It may be tempting because it looks clean or fresh, but it comes off feeling cold or sterile. Plus, it's tough to keep clean.

"I'm doing a house now that is white," Goeldner says. "They're finding it's a nightmare with kids. It's much better to have a neutral tan color. It's a lot warmer."


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