First things first: there is a difference between interior design and property styling. And the difference lies in the styling purpose. Interior design aims to cater to the unique taste of clients who own the house. The goal of interior designers is to style the interior of the house in such a way that it reflects the individual preferences, lifestyle, and personality of clients, turning the place into a home they’d love to live in. Property styling, on the other hand, aims to appeal to a wider audience, particularly prospective buyers. Property stylists design houses in such a way that it makes it easier to match and sell the house to the right people. They highlight the key features of the house to showcase its potential for space and aesthetics in a way that can be efficiently presented in marketing photography, private viewings, and open houses.
Interior designers and property stylists agree that color selection for property styling is equally important as choosing the right furniture and fixtures to install in the house. The color palette of the interior and even exterior of a house can affect the decision of potential buyers. Because of the emotions and impressions that colors can give rise to, potential buyers can either feel instantly drawn to the house or feel like something just doesn’t sit right with them about it even if they can’t quite put their finger on it.
If you are looking to spruce up your house so you can sell it with the best possible results, you can hire a professional property stylist to do it for you. But if you’d like to try your hand at color selection for property styling, then read on for some of the best practices in the field.
Go for Colors that Appeal to a Wider Market
As mentioned previously, the goal of color selection for property styling is not to appeal to individual taste. You want to choose color palettes that are pleasing to a wider market to expand your potential buyers. So, be careful of selecting colors that reflect your personal preference. Also, check if your color selection is limiting the appeal of the house to certain age groups or niche, unless you are targeting them specifically. Classic color combinations in shades of beige and blue are attractive to an older demographic. Younger people are more drawn to earthy colors which include various shades of green, brown, white, and black. Bolder and wilder color scheme appeal to an even smaller crowd.
Be Mindful of Emotions that Colors Evoke
In general, you want your home to radiate a warm, cozy ambiance. You want to make your potential buyers feel like they want to live there because it just feels like home. So, be mindful of the fact that different colors arouse different emotions and create different impressions. Dark blues or grays give off a modern and posh feel. Yellow tones exude happiness and energy, while softer shades of green combined with other earthy colors can have a calming effect. Red, on the other hand, may be too strong a choice for color. Although it can symbolize love and passion, it’s also associated with danger and war so you might want to avoid that color selection for property styling.
Use the 60-30-10 Rule
Start with choosing three colors for the color scheme that you will use to style your property. Select a color that will serve as your dominant shade that will fill about 60 percent of the space. Go with a neutral shade for this one to make it easier to match with other colors and will not overpower everything else in the space as a bold color would. Your second color, which is a much bolder shade, will take up 30 percent of the space. Your last color is the strongest of the three and will serve as the accent, filling the remaining 10 percent.
Use Light and Neutral Colors to Expand Space
Light and neutral colors create an optical illusion of a wider, more open space. Keep this in mind s you are busy with color selection for styling small spaces. This doesn’t just apply to the paint you’re going to use for the walls. You can also use this rule for the furniture that you will be adding to the room. You should also apply this when styling rooms that are not brightly lit. Go with shades of light gray, off-white, and white.
White is Not Impractical
White and other similar shades are actually good base colors that you can build on with other colors. It allows you more flexibility in choosing the other colors that you can use to combine it with since it won’t clash with them and will even make them stand out more. Again, this doesn’t just apply to the paint job but also to the furniture, fixtures, accent pieces, draperies, etc. You can conveniently jazz up a white couch with multi-colored throw pillows or a brightly-colored faux fur drape, and you can change these accent pieces easily anytime.