Many years ago, I had my colors done.
The idea is to figure out which groups and shades of colors make you look terrific, and which ones make you look like an organ donor waiting to happen. Of course, you want to go with the look-good-feel-good colors that work for you.
They say this approach is also useful when you are working on decor for your home. You get a good feeling about a room when it's decorated in your colors.
The woman who did my analysis worked for Color Me Beautiful. They divide people into one of four "seasons". And people in one season, the "Autumns" like and look good in browns, golds, maroons, olive greens, and unusual shades of other colors. But the Autumns only make up about three percent of the people on the planet!
So the other day, I showed a house where they had moved out the buyers pretty decent stuff and brought in a stager. Well, this gal must have been pure Autumn, because it was all the shades that made my buyers (she was a spring and he was a winter) just want to run out the door! Golden green couch, Chinese rugs with brown and gold patterns, and maroons swags.
"Wait!" I said. "You're reacting to the colors." And once they realized what it was, they were able to see beyond the staging and realize it was a terrific place. It's on the possible list now.
This made an impression because I am preparing to list a house that has all the wrong colors - out of That 70's Show! The seller is up for letting us consign his olive green couch to Value Village and bring one in from our staging warehouse. He's agreed to have the place painted to make the maroon walls in the master bedroom disappear and transform leaf gold dining room into an oasis of cross-season neutrality.
And to help choose the colors, I'm going to call a favorite colleague who helped me with my own house. Oh, my friend is a summer, but she's good at picking universal colors that everyone can feel comfortable around.
Wow Pat- I had totally forgotten about Color Me Beautiful. I did the same thing many moons ago. Now you have me thinking about it once again and applying it to real estate!
Hi Pat... this reminded me of the scene from Michael Moore's movie Roger & Me where he gets color analyzed and then afterwards the person who color analyzed him calls him up to say that she had mis-analyzed him! You can see a part of that scene in this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPNmHPjkxdk. Good luck with the new listing!
Pat,
Lately, the only color I am is gray. I didn't think it was possible to have a staging faux pas.
Rich
Pat -- I did that in the 80's too and it confirmed that I'm a "winter." I already knew what colors look best on me and I soon learned to use that knowledge to help me when staging homes. Sometimes we have to work with the fixed elements (floors, walls, counters, etc. without having the ability to change them if the budget is tight ) -- and having a good color sense is incredibly helpful when selecting the right color palette to make the home the "star" that it can be. You can excite a buyer with the right colors -- it works!
That's an interesting concept, Pat. But it makes sense.
sometimes, you have to have a great imagination to look past what is going on in a home....
Pat I love buyers who can look beyond the color or dated fixtures and furniture. Staging is certainly a big aid and you are making full use it.
I guess even stagers can go overboard with colors that appeal to them.
Hi Pat ~ I too had my colors done in the very earliest days of the "movement". I think the little book is still in my top drawer. She definitely pegged me - and it makes a real difference. I'd have to think about how the colors I like for my house compare to the colors in my little book - I'm not sure they're the same - or even in the same "season".
Liz
Colors make a big difference. I think it will be an advantage to your seller to transform the home into colors that appeal to buyers.
I remember that being all the rage back then. Sometimes it can be a challenge to work with existing elements, but its great when we can complement what the homeowner already has.
Great post-I was a "Winter" and still have my little packet. Color does affect our mood and personality.
Pat, that is so funny. We have many old cabins that look like they were decorated in the 70s and never evolved...the best is the one with the granny afghan explosion -- but people need to see beyond whatever is there -- that's just easier said than done! I think I'm a winter...but I forget :-)
I am a winter and find that colors make a big difference. You walk into a room where the colors are all wrong and you might miss that the room otherwise has great potential.
Colors are so important with the experience of a home. Each house has it's own style so I typically work with the style first and then work with colors which will appeal to many. It isn't about what I like personally, it is about what works best for the space and bringing it to it's selling potential...
Pat- excellent points about how colors affect people. While most find the neutrals boring, it is a blank pallet. Excellent observation on your part watching the buyers reactions to the colors that did not mesh with their own internal color pallet.
What you are taking out an olive green couch, how could you :-) I'm thinking we should all gather up the out of date furnishings we find in our clients home and create a giant retro house somewhere in the area. I'm sure we could create a classic.
Pat, You know it's funny, paint is the least expensive way to change a home's look but both sides want the other guy to do it! I was talking with a seller the other day about giving their home a neutral look, and his response was, "That is a cheap fix. The buyer can do it the way they want." I tried to explain that buyers may paint but don't want to feel that they must paint before they move in. And on the flip side, when I've taken buyers out and they are cringing at the colors, and I tell them it is only paint - their reaction is "Let's keep looking." It is really hard to get past that issue for some.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons we hear "neutral sells" - nothing to make a buyer run out of the room screaming. That being said, I know my daughter purchased her home BECAUSE of the colors - a perfect balance of jewel tones and neutral. Hopefully she'll find a buyer who loves them as much as she does because I don't see her neutraling that stunning red wall. LOL.
Its funny how colors can make a difference. People have to look beyond the colors when looking at a home.
Its funny how colors can make a difference. People have to look beyond the colors when looking at a home.
I think I have the book. I know I have a 'Color For Men' book. Or maybe I junked all of them. I got "done" by another color franchise. I was straight out of college and still had a lot of up close and personal memories of having to do a color wheel for nearly every design class I took. I still have my swatches but I think they are in my head too.
I have worked with buyers who can't see around colors and sellers who are too attached to their colors.
I am a winter.... but I was tough for her to call. I went with a couple of friends, it was a lot of fun.
Martha, I must have done it back in the 80's! It works.
Steve, the first person who did mine thought I was an autumn, except that I hate autumn colors! The next one nailed it.
Richard, gray? No way!
Maureen, when I did it, I was amazed at how the shades of a particular color make such a difference. It's got to be the right red or green or blue.
Sounds like good advice, and with the earth tones and Autumn colors being the in thing again, appealing to buyers should be easy once we know the techniques. Great post!
Pat...
I prefer to think of people as "earth, wind, fire or water!" Your example sounded pretty earthy to me.
Interesting blog and story Patricia and it was wise of you to let your clients see the space and not the stuff as they were reacting to the room.
Yes, even some home stagers can go overboard and it's important to remember to stage a space that tends to be more universally appealing than personally appealing no matter which "season" you feel comfortable in. That becomes the difference in staging vs decorating. Demographics play a role too and from young familes to retirees, a home stager also needs to understand who the prospective buyers are in the neighborhood and reflect that in their work too.
Thank you for sharing!
The good thing for me is that I took lots of art classes in my school days. Also I have a natural gift to color arrangements. And better yet, I have a stager here in San Francisco who does an amazing job blending colors into the decor and seasons make a tremendous difference. Everyone should improve their "eye" for color.
Color is actually one of the easiest things to add or change, but it can be very polarizing.
Patricia, That was an interesting viewpoint on how colors affect more than just the way we look.
Good points. To add to that, when I first got into the business, my broker was showing me 1970's and 1980's homes in suburbia. I commented, you mean people want to live in these places? I didn't like them. She reminded me that I wasn't the one buying, so yes we have to look beyond out personal preferences, and let the integrity of the desgin and the color match.
Thank you for a post that reminds me I have had my colors done and I even have little swatches of fabric that show my colors, but what did I do with them?
I have also done the seasons thing, but the personal color analysis done by an artist many moons ago got my colors for my skin right.
For decorating getting the client colors into the home is what the goal is. However, staging is not decorating. In staging, the goal is for broader appeal or to appeal to a certain segment of the buyers, at least most of the buyers in that market segment.
Neutral may be boring, but I see it sell houses. I did a staging project for another agent just last week and it has a contract one week later, yippee! The house was staged with all all beige and brown with a pop of orange and rust accents in defference to the Halloween/Fall season.
Kudos to you for pointing out to the buyers what they were reacting to. And kudos to them for recognizing it as well. I've told buyers that the way my wife and I buy houses is that we find something that has a bright pink or purple room, and we go from there. Color turns off so many people that it continues to crack me up. I've even offered to cover the painting supplies for some buyers.
I'm an autumn, though my mother would rather see me in melon shades, but I would never use chinese rugs and green couch!
It is really hard for many buyers to see past the decor, which is why staging is supposed to be neutral, but even that is hard to get right most of the time.
I too did the color thing years ago. I enjoyed your post and I think you've made some good points. Another thing I've found is that acceptable home colors differ from one part of the country to another. What worked in Florida doesn't look good here in the mountains.
I did that too. I'm a winter. Autumn and summer colors make me look awful but I've got friends who look great in them.
Pat - that is so true ... people do react to colors .... and smells! Some people have not honed the skill of visioning differently from what they actually see. That is where a professional can really add value.
YES! Appeal to the most buyers. I used to love certain colors that were very dramatic.. after working in real estate sales for years, I have found that my favorite colors have actually changed even. :)
Good post, Pat. People react strongly to color, to the point that it confuses them. So often I have to remind them that the house has good bones and a great layout, so it is necessary to look past the orange poppy wallpaper. I need to help them visualize a more neutral view of the place. Not easy.
Nice post. It sounds like you are a good stager. Colors are everything.
I realize you're not a stager. Sorry about that. I misread at first.
Boy, did you bring back memories of Color Me Beautiful! Never thought about correlating it to a home...great point!
Your Autumn Active Rainer, Tara.
Colors...pick a color any color. Good post Pat. The local hospital has lots of pinks, purples in an effort to be cheery, upbeat. Boy wasn't harvest gold big in the 70's? We are still crawling out from under that Jack Frost paint brush theme that hit the area like locust swarms.
Pat, very good points. Each person has different styles and personalities so it makes since they would have different color palettes too.
Patricia, excellent blog. I took the opportunity to re-blog it, thanks for allowing this. I'm always after my sellers to depersonalize, but I hadn't taken it as far as color schemes, unless the walls were painted too dark of a color.
Haha... this brings back memories. I also had this done back in the 80s and found that I am, or was, a summer. I was invited to one of those parties recently and was surprised that they are no longer doing the color thing... now they are mostly into spa treatment products but still offer make-up. Smart to relate this to using colors in staging.
Hey Pat! The yellow star fairy found you again! Congrats! =)
Sincerely,
Kathleen
I had my colors done years ago too. She said I was autumn, and I went overboard with oranges, olive greens, etc. I'll bet I looked freakish. Now I am back to more wintry colors. Not so garish.
BTW, did you see the scene in "Roger And Me" where Roger Moore had his colors done? That movie is 20 years old but I watched it the other day.
Sarah in Nashville
Pat, I had forgotten all about that "Seasonal" color thing. I too had myself "done" once and the colors the "expert" chose for me were colors I hated. So I think there's more too colors than skin tones and so forth. I think personality and personal history always enter in too and if a certain color makes you feel good, then I say surround yourself with it, whether it's your home or your clothing.
On the other hand, when selling your home, it's no longer about what makes you happy. Now it's about what makes the home appeal to the potential buyers so good points.
When changing anything in a home, color choice is free to get right . . . but costs you when you get it wrong!
Pat, there is indeed a lot of meaning to color analysis. Ask any stager or Feng Shui expert. Thanks for the reminder.
Pat,
Mmm....good point! I had never thought about that before...
Perception can be everything, and if a fresh coat of paint and some Feng Shui helps achieve the selling perception, I'm all for it. However, if I were the buyer, it would be all about the bones and layout and care of the home. The first home I made an offer on when moving from NY to the Poconos, in January after a significant snow fall, had all the charm and pretty colors - it was everything I thought I wanted. Came back a week later with my builder brother for a closer look - snow had melted from the roof, and the roof was sagging - went into the attic and it was propped up! I will never, ever forget that very good lesson.
Pat, I remember those days. Darn...I can't remember what I was. I think a winter. I like red's and white white's and black.
Which I wore anyway.
Patricia - I remember those "color me beautiful" days. Certain color palettes can definitely turn a buyer off, it's great your seller is going to do some neutralizing.
Love the post today.....thanks for getting it out to us. Color is so personal, I like green you like blue..... I'd forgotten about Color me Beautiful...thanks for the reminder
Patricia/Seacoast NH
I really like what staging brings to a property, but as you say, it has to be neutral and appeal to as many people as possible. Clients of mine bought a house recently that had been on the market for a long time, like 2 years. The seller had installed bright blue carpet. Expensive, luxurious, soft, bright blue carpet! Once I got my clients to see past the carpet, they bought the very best house in Tualatin in their price range. It was a real bargain.
Hi Patricia,
As a fellow redhead and an Autumn I have to throw in my two cents. I use warm Autumn colors in almost all of my listing. The basics are usually neutral and the accent colors are in warmer hues. Even in this market my listings have been selling within a a few weeks at the most. This one just sold in 4 days. Maybe there are a lot more Autumns in Seattle.
Hi Patricia - I had my colours done many years ago and was told that I am a summer. I have always been attracted to summer colours previously. You can get a good sense of the season that purchasing agents at clothing stores belong to since often most, if not all, of the clothes relate to that season's colours.
Another reason to keep it neutral and use accents for color and fun!
Patricia: I haven't heard that mentioned in quite awhile but I do believe that colors effect our choices and feelings. I am more open minded but your buyers definately gave an example of how staging to as many groups as possible is the best advice. I am much more accepting of reds vs. others that I know. I think it's a trend that needs to disappear sooner rather than later. I think the paint companies are the ones doing it!
I have to agree with Susan that here in Seattle, the warmer colors get great results. Most stagers out there know that rich neutrals with a few color accents work wonders. I add Fall seasonal color but keep the furniture neutral. Some confuse staging with interior design. One narrows the choices to a personal style while the other broadens the appeal.
Important to find stagers that understand this important difference.
Color Me Beautiful and people as seasons. I hadn't thought about that in a long time.
If Autumns are 3%, what are the majority of people?
You made a lot of valid points. The pictures other stagers posted were helpful.