Staging: Bold Color

Conventional wisdom tells us that when we put our homes on the market, they need to be as neutral as possible so that people can imagine their things in them. To some extent, this true, and I definitely advise people to paint over a lot of colors or to repaint when a whole room is a bold color.  On the other hand, a house that is wall to wall greige is forgettable. When buyers walk through your house, you want a few eye catching details that leaving a positive lasting impression. The owner of this home asked me if she should paint over this deep turquoise wall before listing, and my answer was a resounding: NO!!! This was a boy's room and started out looking it, but the solution wasn't new paint. Instead we replaced boyish accessories (including the curtains) with neutrals throughout the room. Boyish wall art was replaced with a large neutral piece from the garden that showcases the stunning color. We also pulled the blue down off the wall and into the room with a throw pillow and a softer blue blanket folded at the end of the bed. The end result was a pretty room that looks like what you find at a nice country B&B. These same tricks could be used to neutralize even the biggest offenders --Pepto pink girl's rooms, Smurf blue boy's rooms, and barn red dining rooms--in the event that a client doesn't have the time or motivation to repaint.  Total cost for this was $5 for the pillow from the garden department at Wal-Mart. Everything else was borrowed from other parts of the house.

This room may not be totally color neutral, but it at least feels gender and age neutral so that anyone can imagine using it. One or two rooms that stand out are NOT a bad thing as long as they stand out in a pretty way.