Colour can set the tone for a space. It can make your home feel bigger, brighter, cozier or more inviting. When staging your home to sell, neutral is always best, but you can still bring in some colour. All white spaces can feel cold and clinical, but the right colours in the right places add warmth and personality. Read on to discover how to use colour when staging your home.

How to Use Colour When Staging Your Home

Well-staged homes sell faster and for more money than their un-staged counterparts. Staging a home can help potential buyers envision themselves moving into the house. It’s all about creating a great first impression, and colour plays a huge role in infusing personality into your space.  

Follow the 60/30/10 Rule

When staging your home, you still want to keep things mainly neutral to help potential buyers picture themselves in the space, making it their own. Choosing the right neutral is essential – white, grey or beige shades are a great place to start. Try following a 60/30/10 rule. Keep 60% of the space one neutral shade, 30% a secondary neutral, and 10% a pop of colour. This will ensure the pops of colour won’t overwhelm the space or become visually distracting.

Use Colour to Set a Mood

How do you want potential buyers to feel when walking from room to room? Colour helps to set the mood for a space. Bright neutrals like grey, beige and white make a space feel sophisticated and clean. Muted blues and greens help to create a calming atmosphere for bedrooms or bathrooms. Warm tones like terracotta or gold can infuse a cozy, inviting vibe. Energizing shades like yellow or green can be brought in with pops of colour in the kitchen or a home office.

Create Cohesion and Flow

Jumping from one colour to another in each room can be jarring when walking through a space. Consistent colours create a sense of harmony and make the house feel more unified. This doesn’t mean it all has to be the same colour; complimentary shades will help achieve consistency.

Bring Attention to Architectural Features

Colour can bring attention to features you want to highlight. Accenting a built-in shelf or fireplace with a complimentary colour will draw the eye to it. This isn’t necessarily the place for stark contrast; a subtle shift will do.

Emphasize Space and Light

When staging a home, you can use colour strategically to make a space feel larger and brighter. Light colours work well in small rooms or those with limited natural light to create the illusion of more space. Softer shades will reflect the light in the space, so correct lighting will also help it appear larger.

Consider Trends and Seasons

Consider trends and seasons when choosing the colours to bring into your space. If you will repaint when staging, look at current trends to get a sense of what buyers are looking for. Bringing colours relevant to the time of year you are selling in can make the space feel current. Pastel colours work well in summer, while warmer shades like rust or cinnamon help set the mood in fall.

Avoid Colour Conflict

Small bits of conflicting colour can be jarring in a space and pull focus from the areas of the home you want buyers looking at. Once you have staged your home, walk through room to room and see if anything seems out of place. Everything in the space should work together for one cohesive look.

Bringing in colour from room to room

The living room – Keep the overall palette neutral with the shades on the walls and floor and add pops of colour that new owners can easily switch out. Pillows, throws, area rugs or even a well-placed ottoman or colourful armchair in a well-thought colour can add personality to the room. (Make sure to stick with the 60/30/10 rule). Choose the mood you want to set when picking your hues. Calm colours like blues, browns, or sage greens will add a cozy feel to the space, while brighter accents like yellows, bright blues, or red will add a more playful feel.  

The kitchen – Kitchens generally have less space to play with than other rooms in the home. If you have neutral cabinets, walls, and flooring, much of your kitchen is already spoken for. Rather than add more clutter with too many colourful knick-knacks, try adding colour to things already in the room. Switch out a stainless-steel kettle for something more colourful, and add a bowl of lemons, a vase of flowers, or colourful tea towels. It doesn’t take much to add a bit of personality to the space.

The bedroom – When staging your bedroom, think calm and cozy, like a luxurious hotel room. Bring in colour with bedding, a throw blanket, or a pair of colourful lamps. Muted blue is an excellent colour in the bedroom; it’s cozy and inviting but still relatively neutral.   

Washrooms – Bright, neutral washrooms work best for staging. You can add colour with hand towels, a soap dispenser, a vase of flowers or a piece of art. Think upscale spa when staging your washrooms – clean, bright, and relaxing.

When staging your home, don’t underestimate the power of colour. It can transform a space, set a mood, and help create an emotional connection. Using colour properly when staging a home can help build a cohesive space that looks open and bright. Whether you stage your home or hire a professional, thoughtful colour choices can make a significant difference in capturing the attention of buyers. We hope you’ve enjoyed this blog and come away with some great tips on how to use colour when staging your home.