Every year, paint companies try to get us excited by proclaiming that certain hues are the coming trend. Okay, that sounds like I'm all cynical and superior, but I suppose I too get tired of the same old wall colors after a time, and feel refreshed by looking at new and different shades.
Nevertheless, if you're trying to sell your house, that doesn't necessarily mean you should rush to paint your house in the latest trend colors -- especially since this year's colors include shades that anyone who isn't used to the names for, say, lipsticks, would call "pink."
There's Pantone's "Honeysuckle," for example ("2011 Color of the Year!"), Behr's "Tokyo Pop," and (in a rare example of calling a color a color), Sherwin Williams' "Exuberant Pink," part of its "Restless Nomad" line.
What's wrong with pink? Oh, nothing except academic research findings! It was only last summer that SmartMoney and others reported on a study by Old Dominion University concluding that home buyers who see photos of bright pink walls assume that the house will sell for less than other homes with (dare I say?) classier or more mature colors. And the stagers and other real estate pros have been telling us for years to keep the colors neutral, so as to appeal to the widest possible audience.
(In fact, here's a blog by a stager in Florida whose website palate suggests that she personally likes the color pink just fine: but who didn't use a bit of it in her choices of best 2011 paint colors.)
So, do your selling agent a favor and hold off on drenching your walls in a shade suitable for Valentine's Day until you're happily ensconced in your next home.
Nevertheless, if you're trying to sell your house, that doesn't necessarily mean you should rush to paint your house in the latest trend colors -- especially since this year's colors include shades that anyone who isn't used to the names for, say, lipsticks, would call "pink."
There's Pantone's "Honeysuckle," for example ("2011 Color of the Year!"), Behr's "Tokyo Pop," and (in a rare example of calling a color a color), Sherwin Williams' "Exuberant Pink," part of its "Restless Nomad" line.
What's wrong with pink? Oh, nothing except academic research findings! It was only last summer that SmartMoney and others reported on a study by Old Dominion University concluding that home buyers who see photos of bright pink walls assume that the house will sell for less than other homes with (dare I say?) classier or more mature colors. And the stagers and other real estate pros have been telling us for years to keep the colors neutral, so as to appeal to the widest possible audience.
(In fact, here's a blog by a stager in Florida whose website palate suggests that she personally likes the color pink just fine: but who didn't use a bit of it in her choices of best 2011 paint colors.)
So, do your selling agent a favor and hold off on drenching your walls in a shade suitable for Valentine's Day until you're happily ensconced in your next home.
