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Home Staging 101: Using Color Combinations to Neutralize Spaces

By
Home Stager with Hart & Associates Staging and Design

 

 Often times when I am asked to give an estimate on a vacant home I give clients recommendations beyond what rooms to stage and what furniture to rent. If the home decor is too personal I will often tell the client to repaint a room, remove wallpaper or replace outdated carpet in certain rooms. I am not paid for this advice but I realize that simply adding furniture will not transform the space into something less personal. What can you do then as a stager when a client's home is overly personal or due to time and/or budget constraints they simply cannot get all the tasks done before the staging day?

 I often use color combinations to play down rooms that are not neutral and to tie colors from room to room to create flow to a home's decor.  I recently had the pleasure of helping a home seller in Berwyn, Chester County PA get his home ready for sale. He was relocating for work and had a week to get the home on the market.

He was a pleasure to work with- he had the carpets steam cleaned and the wallpaper in the dining room removed and the walls freshly painted. There was not time however to repaint the kitchen that opened into the family room.

The color he had chosen for the family room was a lovely gold but it was a deeper color than the rest of the rooms in the home and gave this space a boxy feel (the value of the color was off). The kitchen was a pale plum or purple color and was a light watery pastel- since the rooms were side by side the difference in the depth of color felt awkward making the family room fee heavier and the kitchen feel like it was floating away. I recommended repainting the kitchen a green color that would work well with the rest of the home's decor and to make it the same depth (or value) as the family room. Since there was not time to do this I incorporated the color from the Family room into the kitchen to give more balance to the space.

One simple trick you can do to balance the color in a space is to use the complement of the main color in the space or the main color in the adjoining room. Since the color in the family room was gold and the color in the kitchen was plum, I introduced yellow and golds into the kitchen since yellow and purple are complements. If the kitchen was green and the family room was red I would have brought red tones into the space. If the family room was teal then I would have introduced a splash of this color into the purple kitchen to create more balance to the space.

Try this the next time you are staging or simply redecorating your home. Below are some photographs to show this concept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments (16)

Juliet Johnson
Vizzitopia - St Johns, FL
Jacksonville Photography & Digital Marketing

This is so interesting, Kate.  The goldenrod yellow touches in the kitchen completely do the job.  It's an unusual combination and yet it totally works.  Fresh, contemporary, fun.  As to the Family Room, I wonder why you chose red. It works, it looks terrific. But remember House and Garden at the beginning of the year talking about some new color combos coming, one of which was stong yellow and silvery gray.  Would that have worked in your space d'you think?

I dunno, the whole thing is so tasteful.  I can see how you're a Main Line decorator. Great looks.

Jul 29, 2007 11:11 AM
Val Allocco
Staged 2 Sell New York & Long Island - Northport, NY
HSE; ASHSR - Home Stager, for Manhattan, Brooklyn & Long Island

Kate,

As always, your work is pure perfection!  Thank you for sharing those tips; we can always learn something from each other, and because you are a trained interior designer those tips are even more valuable!

VAL

Jul 29, 2007 11:27 AM
Kate Hart
Hart & Associates Staging and Design - Radnor, PA

Thanks Juliet and Val!

Val- to this day the color theory class that I took in design school is still the thing that helps me the most!

Juliet,  I love that you know what the Main Line is! Oh yes I forgot about the red- the office and living room have reds, greens and golds so I used the red touches to make the space flow into the gold room- here is a pic of the living room. I love Yellow and Grey but way too mod for the Main Line scene!

 KH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jul 29, 2007 11:32 AM
Juliet Johnson
Vizzitopia - St Johns, FL
Jacksonville Photography & Digital Marketing
Ah I see what you mean.  Thanks for that.
Jul 29, 2007 11:41 AM
Karen Reynolds
Champagne Staging, LLC - Wake Forest, NC
I cant wait for the new show "Color Correction" to come on HGTV!  I love making color flow room to room, although it does cause me anxiety!
Jul 29, 2007 12:52 PM
Kristi Gullickson
Artistic Staging LLC - Prescott, AZ
Artistic Staging LLC

Thanks Kate, that is great information!

Every tip is appreciated

 

Jul 29, 2007 01:28 PM
Jo Potvin
Design To Market LLC - Cincinnati, OH
Home Staging Cincinnati - Design To Market
Wow!  These photos really show that there is a science to color!
Jul 29, 2007 03:31 PM
Betty Haney
Haney Consulting - Calgary, AB
Kate, thanks for the great information.  Your rooms look great and they flow very nicely together.  I love the tips you share with all of us on Active Rain.  Betty
Jul 29, 2007 04:46 PM
Cindy Lin
Staged4more School of Home Staging - South San Francisco, CA
Host, The Home Staging Show podcast

This is a great post. Thanks for the color tips!  The rooms look great, as usual.

 

Cheers,

cindy 

Jul 29, 2007 07:51 PM
Teresa Meyer
Cincinnati Home Stager - Cincinnati, OH
Home Staging Cincinnati-OH.
Thank you for posting this...keep the tips coming! I love learning from an expert! 
Jul 30, 2007 12:07 AM
Anonymous
Tracie Martin, AZ Home Staging Solutions, Peoria, AZ
You article is full of wonderful tips and great ideas.  Thanks for sharing them us.
Jul 30, 2007 06:03 AM
#11
Kate Hart
Hart & Associates Staging and Design - Radnor, PA
Thanks for all your comments. I have not heard of Color Corrections. When does it air?
Jul 30, 2007 01:05 PM
Angel Walker
Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Partners - Johns Creek, GA

Kate, everything you touch is gold.  Thanks for posting such inspiring photos.

Angel

Aug 02, 2007 06:15 AM
Minnesota Home Staging Firm, Minnesota
Minnesota Home Staging Network~ MN's Top Home Staging Firm - Inver Grove Heights, MN

Great photos once again Kate!  Do you have your own photographer or do you photograph them all so well on your own?

All the best,

Beth

Sep 14, 2007 03:31 PM
Kathy Riggle
STAGING SMART N SOLD - Houston, TX
Houston Home Staging
Great idea of how to work with color when repainting is not an option. Thanks!
Oct 05, 2007 05:52 AM
Phyllis Pafumi
ReStyled to Sell Home Staging New Jersey - Old Bridge, NJ
ReStyled to Sell Staging Homes NJ

Kate as always your rooms look amazing. I agree that oftentimes just placing furniture in a house without changing out paint color and removing wallpaper would not accomplish the same outcome. I just recently staged a home in colors of sage, creams and plums because the client had a deep sage green tub that they were not about to removed. I wanted people to feel so comfortable with the color scheme that once they hit the bathroom it would have all tied in.

Your photos look amazing and once again thanks for the great tips

Phyllis Pafumi

Oct 08, 2007 01:40 PM