Top Paint Colors for Selling Your Home

The Top Paint Colors for Selling Your Home in Colorado or any market are not white or off-white. The Staging experts @ HGTV have been telling us for years to use color and paint is the biggest bang for your buck when updating your home. So, how do you pick a top paint color, or a palette?


The home interiors trade often follows the fashion industry for inspired new, color trends. Exciting, but not always appropriate when selling your home and reaching the broadest demographic. However, every wall shouldn't be "builder beige", either. On the contrary, all those plain, vanilla houses leave buyers wanting something less generic and more appealing. Showcase your home by creating a warm, inviting environment with current paint colors.

Sherwin-Williams colormix(TM) 2012 takes its cues from Mother Earth with a monochromatic palette. Instead of white walls, try Bosc Pear SW6390, Believable Buff SW6120 and Relic Bronze SW6132. By changing up the hue's intensity, your home will move from "forgettable" to "irresistible".

Benjamin-Moore suggests subtle color such as Barley 199, Stone House 1039, and Providence Olive from their Historical Collection-98.

Fall 2011 - powder sand, indian river, jojoba

Design consultants at Breslow Home Design Center, rank the Top 5 Selling Colors for Great Rooms as: Benjamin-Moore's Stone House 1039, Maple Leaf Red 2084-20, Swiss Coffee OC-45, Barley Harvest 1070, and Classic Caramel 1118.

Covington Blue adds immediate impact

A few of my personal favorites are: Lemongrass SW7732,

Aqua-Sphere SW7613, Koi Pond SW7727, Latte SW6108 and Covington Blue BM-HC138.

Always consider the elements in your room such as furniture, rugs, artwork, stone/brick fireplace, countertops, flooring as well as the view outside when making your selections. Each play a role in painting a cohesive palette that will visually delight your buyer.
If in doubt, please consult a professional Home Stager such as those @ Real Estate Staging Association (RESA). Many are trained and certified in color consulting and would be happy to color your home SOLD.

Kim Gaston
Front Porch Interiors, LLC
(always delighted to offer staging services to Colorado Springs, El Paso county
and the Front Range areas)

Customizing Ready-Made Curtains

As a certified Real Estate Staging Specialist, styling homes to sell, or to stay is my passion. Too often I see homeowners intimidated to invest in window treatments other than the obligatory blinds. Functional, yes, but not super fun and certainly not memorable selling your home or living to stay.

It is rumored that custom window treatments can be an expensive and overwhelming proposition. True or not, the need often goes unaddressed. Naked windows aren't pretty and, if you're selling your home, can be seen as cold and inefficient.

One inspired idea that makes for a low investment, yet trendy option are customizing those cool, ready-made panels you see everywhere right now - IKEA, West Elm, Pier One, HomeGoods, Target (I'm sure I'm leaving out a few). In my neck of the woods, windows can be so tall that nothing "ready made" is long enough. I've found the next best thing to custom, is enhancing ready-made panels. By adding a complementary fabric to either the top or bottom you can create a cost effective, yet beautiful solution that will unleash the interior designer in you.:)

The possibilities here are only limited by your imagination. Those solid silk panels you've been admiring at Pottery Barn could be embellished with a gorgeous textured contrasting fabric and married at the seam with a flirty trim. A friend of mine saw some beautiful champagne panels at a Las Vegas trade show enhanced with a 2 ft border of cream and gray woven silk and taffeta roses. Stunning...it could have been a ball gown. Anthropologie carries whimsical, patterned linen panels that can be retrofitted with a colorful swath of fabric and fun, vintage pom-pom trim.

Consider mixing textures: silk with velvet, linen with cotton matelasse, and so on. Think outside the fabric bolt and use a couple of vintage-inspired, linen tea towels, or a fresh, contemporary graphic bed sheet. Contrasting textures create more interest and add a bold, visual impact. Now, if I put my stager hat on, I would recommend keeping it simple and tasteful. Remember, you want to appeal to the largest demographic of buyers in your market. This does not mean it has to be boring beige on beige. A splash of color and warmth on your windows tells potential buyers this home has been well cared for and leaves them with a positive impression of your beautiful home. Most importantly, get shopping - and have fun finding that perfect combination that reflects your home's personality!