Selling Homes with Amanda Lamb

eire13

Hi Everyone,

I am just watching the above programme which was just on More 4. It is totally confusing me. The people on it are trying to sell their houses and Amanda comes along and tries to help them usually with the decor. Her favourite saying seems to be putting "an injection of colour" into the rooms. My question is do you agree with her advise as all I have read seems to say keeping a house neutral. We will be trying to sell next year and I want to re-decorate ready for the viewers. I had planned to paint hallway and kitchen white. Need to do living room and 3 bedrooms and am now confused about what colours to choose. What would your advise be please?

Cornucopia

There is no one answer - it depends on the type, age and condition of the house, and whether you will be selling in a sluggish or booming market.

eire13

Well my next door neighbour recently sold her house very quickly so probably quite a good market round here she said the area is very popular. House is a 1930's quite good condition with a newish kitchen. I am mainly struggling with what colour for living room and master bedroom. The second bedroom I had chosen a mint colour but now my husband is talking about feature walls and things. Really I just want a fresh, airy clean feel and to spend as little as possible. I do find it difficult to choose colours. According to Amanda magnolia/white is boring and bland.

G_M

Which makes better TV:

"Inject some colour" or

"Keep it bland"?

tigsly

My house (which sold quick) had 'colour injected in removable items - in living and dining rooms - we had a rainbow rug and cushions in one room - matching table runner and cushions in another.. so the rooms themselves were quite pale bland - but teh accesories drew in colour..

My bedrooms had 'feature walls'... cream and pink, cream and purple, cream and 'patterned cream..

Bathrooms again - were 'plain' wiht feature towels..

I felt people would 'feel it was lusher than bland'... and also - be able to see it as a blank enough canvas..

but if you start looking for houses you can see some popular wallpapers apearing..

it really does depend on your area.. and your market

Good luck (there is no right anaswer.. you just need one keen buyer )

eire13

Thanks for replies so far especially Tigsly. That is very helpful. When you mean cream and patterned cream does the pattern mean wallpaper? Also when you say cream do you mean magnolia or is there a specific paint brand I could get that is a nice cream colour? I love purple so that might work for the master bedroom.

Cornucopia

I would steer clear of darker, "statement" colours like purple.

The paint companies feel your pain and most of them have at least a dozen variants on cream & beige that are not magnolia.

If you want the classic look, go for white woodwork and a darkish tint from the beiges. If you have higher ceilings and more period features (picture rails, ceiling roses, cornices) you might get away with a darker main colour - especially if it is a classic "period" colour.

At the end of the day, though, you're selling the house not your interior design skills.

Kynthia

When selling a property you want viewers to be able to visualise themselves living there, feel they could live with the decor while they take their time decorating, and ideally fall in love with it. So in order to do this the place shouldn't be too cluttered or personalised but with enough furniture to show that theirs will fit so they can imagine living there. It needs to be neutral enough decor that it won't clash with their belongings and they won't hate it so they don't have to rush to redecorate. However in order to fall in love with it the place needs to feel loved and have some style or attractiveness, which usually means some colour, nice furnishings and features. Therefore it's a balance. Think how show homes are decorated as they put a lot of thought into what appeals to buyers.

tigsly

with 'patterned cream' i mean a wallpaper - it was cream with a swirly birdy pattern - in a shiny creamy colour - very subtle ( a bit boring IMO)

As for purple perhaps its 'personal' but i went for a muted shade..
not an 'in your face shade'.. sort of a mulberry shade..

I found the dulux website great for matching colours to my exisiting carpets.. they have an app now (its not as good as the old system but OK).. you take a picture of yoru carpet - and it will show you shades that 'match' it is far easier to get colours that go - than by eye!

I also think you need to use testers.. as a small swatch does never show you the colour!

Anatidaephobia

When I was viewing houses, I liked the houses that had plain white/cream walls and then the colour in the room was created by things like curtains, rugs, paintings, furniture, cushions, etc. It gave colour and warmth to a room but still leaves the buyer with a blank canvas.

Dark colours and interesting decor didn't put me off but it did make me think "oh I'd have to change everything".

Unless the house has only literally just being redecorated and to a good enough standard that I don't need to do it again, I will paint it myself so I appreciated the houses that had pale colours on the walls because that meant it would take fewer coats of paint. I also preferred houses without wallpaper as that saved me the hassle of stripping it. That's just my preference though.

seven-day-weekend

I think you need to have it look good without being bland or uninteresting, or too personalised with strong colours. Pale cream, green, grey and off-white are the usual suspects. Make sure you don't have loads of family portraits also, otherwise it looks like your home and not theirs. Keep some non-personal pictures for viewings, you can always put your family up again once they are gone.