I fell off the map for four months because the real life crush of real estate finance, acquisition, rehab and resale came rushing in and filled every crevice of my life – like caulk. But I’ve come up for air and wanted to share some of my experiences with you.
Most importantly, trust your instincts. When you are as new to this as I am, you will soon find yourself being dragged up a creek without a paddle and with no safe place to put your feet down. It can be incredibly intimidating. Happily, we all have an inner guide of gut instincts that help to guide our paths in the dark. Get comfortable leaning on your inner voice as long as your inner voice does not tell you to egregiously cut corners to save a little money and create an expensive problem that your buyer will have to deal with later. Cheaping out may pocket you a little extra cash upfront, but as my friend griffyslave says, “Karma is a b*tch.” Trust your ethical instincts.
For instance, if everyone is telling you your paint colors are too ugly or too light or too dark and you are selling/leasing houses, just paint the naysayers red – the color of their abundant hateraid. Honestly, regarding wall colors there is a lot of room for difference and no one is absolutely right. I just read in an ultra chic decorator mag that every house should have at least one black wall. Erp?
One of my houses had very dark wall-to-wall paneling in the living and dining room. It also boasted swinging parlor doors(!!) separating the kitchen and hallway from the paneled living areas. Uggers! But, I was roundly hated on by everyone over 45 for wanting to paint those walls and tear down those doors. Well you might know that house SOLD before we were even finished with the renovation AND the real estate agent for the buyer who normally only represents people buying new construction said that she fell in love with the interior wall color. She said it looked fresh and modern. Muchas gracias, haters.
If you stay current with reasonable interior design standards and trends and decorate with a feeling for the house itself including its exterior, its light profile and its flooring, you will be fine. Try to choose colors that are neutral enough that the buyer or renter won’t want to immediately paint the walls. Although painting can be done relatively inexpensively, a buyer gets a feeling for a house based on the mood your paint and fixtures have created. Also, factoring in the need to paint one house against another that does not need painting may put your house out of the preferred position. As an aside, the color I used in the SOLD house was Sherwin-Williams Silver Strand (#7057). I wanted to create a cool, modern look in the house and thought it would come out light gray, but the light in the house made the paint look a very light and airy sage green. We trimmed everything in white and ended up a very Crate & Barrel look.
It's a little difficult to see the sagey color of the walls in this lighting, but trust me, it is purrty.
The one bathroom in the house was very small. And pink. The house was built in 1951 and probably had the trendiest bathroom in town at the time. However, almost 60 years later, those pink tiles with white and gray flecks just weren’t as appealing. I fretted for weeks over whether we should try to live with them and hope someone found them charming or just spend the money to glaze the tiles white. After weeks of worry I gave the go-ahead to glaze the tiles and paint the walls a medium shade of gray, Sherwin-Williams Web Gray (#7075). It converted a small, dated bathroom into a cozy modern space that worked with the Crate & Barrel look in the rest of the house. Trusting my instincts there probably helped to put the sale over the line and saved us from ever having to make a mortgage payment on the house.
See how nice the all white tile looks! And you can kind of get a peek of the gray walls too. The vanity and toilet are new.
As a note, I am not paid by Sherwin-Williams, our contractor uses their colors so that is what I had to choose from.
You’ll make mistakes in home rehab. I have already. But trusting your instincts will help immensely. And you can always shake the haters off.
Most importantly, trust your instincts. When you are as new to this as I am, you will soon find yourself being dragged up a creek without a paddle and with no safe place to put your feet down. It can be incredibly intimidating. Happily, we all have an inner guide of gut instincts that help to guide our paths in the dark. Get comfortable leaning on your inner voice as long as your inner voice does not tell you to egregiously cut corners to save a little money and create an expensive problem that your buyer will have to deal with later. Cheaping out may pocket you a little extra cash upfront, but as my friend griffyslave says, “Karma is a b*tch.” Trust your ethical instincts.
For instance, if everyone is telling you your paint colors are too ugly or too light or too dark and you are selling/leasing houses, just paint the naysayers red – the color of their abundant hateraid. Honestly, regarding wall colors there is a lot of room for difference and no one is absolutely right. I just read in an ultra chic decorator mag that every house should have at least one black wall. Erp?
One of my houses had very dark wall-to-wall paneling in the living and dining room. It also boasted swinging parlor doors(!!) separating the kitchen and hallway from the paneled living areas. Uggers! But, I was roundly hated on by everyone over 45 for wanting to paint those walls and tear down those doors. Well you might know that house SOLD before we were even finished with the renovation AND the real estate agent for the buyer who normally only represents people buying new construction said that she fell in love with the interior wall color. She said it looked fresh and modern. Muchas gracias, haters.
If you stay current with reasonable interior design standards and trends and decorate with a feeling for the house itself including its exterior, its light profile and its flooring, you will be fine. Try to choose colors that are neutral enough that the buyer or renter won’t want to immediately paint the walls. Although painting can be done relatively inexpensively, a buyer gets a feeling for a house based on the mood your paint and fixtures have created. Also, factoring in the need to paint one house against another that does not need painting may put your house out of the preferred position. As an aside, the color I used in the SOLD house was Sherwin-Williams Silver Strand (#7057). I wanted to create a cool, modern look in the house and thought it would come out light gray, but the light in the house made the paint look a very light and airy sage green. We trimmed everything in white and ended up a very Crate & Barrel look.
It's a little difficult to see the sagey color of the walls in this lighting, but trust me, it is purrty.
The one bathroom in the house was very small. And pink. The house was built in 1951 and probably had the trendiest bathroom in town at the time. However, almost 60 years later, those pink tiles with white and gray flecks just weren’t as appealing. I fretted for weeks over whether we should try to live with them and hope someone found them charming or just spend the money to glaze the tiles white. After weeks of worry I gave the go-ahead to glaze the tiles and paint the walls a medium shade of gray, Sherwin-Williams Web Gray (#7075). It converted a small, dated bathroom into a cozy modern space that worked with the Crate & Barrel look in the rest of the house. Trusting my instincts there probably helped to put the sale over the line and saved us from ever having to make a mortgage payment on the house.
See how nice the all white tile looks! And you can kind of get a peek of the gray walls too. The vanity and toilet are new.
As a note, I am not paid by Sherwin-Williams, our contractor uses their colors so that is what I had to choose from.
You’ll make mistakes in home rehab. I have already. But trusting your instincts will help immensely. And you can always shake the haters off.
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