Color Me Bad

Or I should say: color, me bad!

In Portland, homeowners can and should have color in their rooms and the exteriors of their homes. As a Realtor I know that color is so important it can make a difference in a sale. A well chosen paint color can influence the feeling a potential buyer has when they walk up to a house or into a room. Make them feel calm or happy, and they may have that psychological lean toward your home that will add to their decision to buy. I don't claim that it will be THE deciding factor, but it can help.

But do not take any color advice from me.

Last summer we had our house painted. We needed to get away from the grey. It was too close to the depressing winter skies we have here in Portland. I deliberated over the colors. My husband did, too. I got out the color wheel and color swatches. We finally decided on green.

But then we had to decide which of the hundreds of greens out there would be the one. We painted big swatches on the back of our house and finally decided on one.

The painters came, did some fantastically fast work, and were done by the time I got home (early) from showing homes. I HATED it. It made me queasy that I had spent so much time and money on a paint job I hated.

How could this have happened? How could I hate it - and I mean HATE it - after all that research and deliberation.

I know how. I inherited it from my dad. Some people call it color blind, but in our family we call it color stupid. It's not that he doesn't see color, it's that he sees color wrong. Green is brown. Brown is red. Some of this has obviously rubbed off on me.

I know what I like, but I can't seem to pinpoint it myself. Every color pick I make is wrong. So after coming home today and seeing that clownish green looming in front of me, I've decided that it's worth every penny to pay for a color consultant. Even as I'm watching my pennies. I'm not even going to pick up a crayon without asking someone who knows better than I.

Luckily for me and my clients, I work with some great stagers who give good color advice. Or you can do what I should have done in the first place and find a house with a color scheme you like, knock on the door, and get the information from them.

Just don't ask me. It's not pretty. Ugh!

~Amy

** Disclaimer - the picture above is actually ok. In person it looks a lot brighter. I still don't like the color.