Color Palette help

[dove]

We recently bought a house with wallpaper everywhere. I’m starting to take it off. Luckily it’s coming off easily and there’s primed white walls underneath.

Help me with a color palette? How do you even start to choose? Websites? I want something neutral that will appeal to most as we plan on selling in 3 years or so.

tia!

[simpsongal]

Do you have a preferred brand of paint? If you go to a Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, or Home Depot they have color story booklets that may be helpful. I'd stick with a foundation of gray/greige since that will appeal to current buyers. Greige can be tricky, so you'll definitely have to swatch and sample to see what works in your home/light.

[mrsukyankee]

I go on pinterest a lot for this. I'd type in "neutral palette".

[k3am]

If you're planning to sell soon, you'll want to go relatively neutral - you're probably looking at a gray or griege.

I would start by figuring out what in the house stays - kitchen, bath, floors/carpets, and finding something complementary.

Gray is currently all the rage, but if the items that stay have warm undertones, finding a gray that complements will be an uphill challenge. (Everyday I'm annoyed that I love the shade of gray our house is painted but *hate* how it looks in our kitchen.)

[dr.girlfriend]

I agree with Pinterest, people post color palettes there with the paint names and everything, which is really helpful. You definitely have to see it in the room, though. Here's the colors in my house, if you're interested. They are all Benjamin Moore paints:

t.v. room: Sand Dollar (a true, creamy white)

kitchen / dining room: Cotswald (beige) above the chair rail and Etiquette (a light beige-tinged cream) below the chair rail

living room: Pashmina (looks beige on the swatch but grey on the walls)

hallway / boy's room: Grey Wisp (light grey-blue, changes a lot based on light source)

our bedroom: Weston Flax (a nice sunny yellow)

bathroom: Thunderbird (light turquoise)

[Accountingcat]

I mainly used color palettes online based off our furniture and favorite colors. I wanted a light, airy house with my favorite colors mixed in (purple & blue). Everything is cool toned except for our guest bedroom. 

BM Ultra White (Trim, Closets, Misc areas)


BM Glass Slipper (Kitchen, Breakfast Nook, My office)

BM Classic Grey (Hallways, formal dining room, living room) - This reads a very basic pale grey in real life



BM Dessert Mauve (Guest Bedroom) - Reads very purple




BM Platinum Grey (2nd Bath)

BM La Paloma Grey (Master Bed, 1st floor bath) - This is 3 chip shades darker then classic grey



BM Touch of grey (Master bath) - Light purple IRL



BM Silvermist (Husband's office) - I joke that this is as baby blue as you can get

[lilac05]

Our SW store has a color consultant who can come to your home and help with color selection. I highly recommend it! Colors follow trends, and those trends aren’t consistent from one area to the next. The color consultant will know what colors are most popular in your area.

Depending on your home and your area, I don’t know that it’s essential that your paint colors are really neutral. Just an anecdote, but the easiest home we’ve ever sold was painted all sorts of colors! The kitchen was lime green and blue and the dining room was red. We bought it partially because we loved the bold colors and the people who bought it from us (first people to walk through the house) also loved the colors! The house that was all painted in neutrals took FOREVER to sell. (Partially due to being overpriced...but I also think partially due to just not being memorable.)

I don’t think painting it a bunch of super bold colors is a great idea, but 3 years is a long time to live with paint that you choose just because you plan to sell in a few years.

[dove]

Thanks everyone! Looks like a trip to Sherwin Williams is in my future!