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ROY G BIV - Is he a friend of yours???

Home Stager

January 08, 2007 10:55 AM

For my friends in Out of the Box - I'm subtitling this one Out of the Can. For the Home Stagers I'll rename it - ROY G BIV a Home Stagers best friend.

ROY G BIV - Is the acronym for the colors in the rainbow.

Do you know them?

You'll have to read all the way to the bottom to find them out.
<no scrolling down>

I'll know if you cheat.

There has been so much said and written about the way color effects mood and ambiance, I thought I'd take a few minutes throw out some of my favorite interior paint colors and I'd love to hear which colors are working for you. Whenever I stage a home I almost always advise the clients to give the home a fresh coat of paint. I advise them to use a neutral color pallet but this does not mean white. White is too harsh and reminds people of hospitals. You often hear people refer to all white interiors as sterile. As a home stager I try for cozy, warm, inviting, and relaxing. I use color to achieve these moods.

Here are some of my favorite Benjamin Moore colors:

GREEN:

Dry Sage 2142-40 - This is a calm relaxing color that helps to bring the outdoors in. It is a neutral green that looks great in a bath or master bedroom.

GOLD:

Chestertown Buff HC-9- This is a perfect golden beige color. It looks great everywhere, kitchen's, halls, family rooms. Golden tones are cheerful, bright and soothing. I use this color a lot to brighten up a dark room.

BEIGE:

Shaker Beige HC-45 (light) and Lenox Tan HC-44 (darker) -are two beautiful putty colors. I use them frequently in the living and dining rooms. I use the shaker beige in the living and for a little more drama, the Lennox Tan in the dining room. Beige does not have to be boring. These two colors are stylish and elegant and have almost universal appeal.

BLUE:

Wedgewood Grey HC-146 - This blue / gray neutral is soothing and calm. It works well in a master bedroom with crisp white bedding. It creates a clean and stylish look.

RED:

Rhubarb 2007-30 - I always use some red when staging homes - I usually add red through the accessories and accent pieces throughout the room. It photographs great and adds punch to any room. OK I never paint the walls red when I am staging a home but I'll let you in on a little secret - the walls in my master bedroom are painted rhubarb and it is stunning!

Red done Wrong. Getting Warmer. Red done right!

If you would like to read more about color associations check out:
http://www.benjaminmoore.com/wrapper_pg1art.asp?L=color&K=color&N=colabot&art=5.3.5

To check out more Benjamin Moore colors check out:
https://www.benjaminmoore-colorsamples.com/benmoore/bmselitm.pgm

If you don't already own one - the Benjamin Moor color preview thingy is a must have for all stagers. You can bring them on the jobs with you and see which colors the clients favor and which will work best in the space. You can pick one up at your local Benjamin Moore retailer for about $20.00.

Man I really sound like an ad for Benjamin Moore lol

I'd love to hear about the colors you guys have been having success using. Please feel free to share.

R - RED
O - ORANGE
Y - YELLOW
G - GREEN
B - BLUE
I - INDIGO
V - VIOLET

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Tags:: home staging; staging; paint; decorating

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Rainmaker
226,372

Debi Braulik

www.roundrealestate.com - Maple Valley, WA

Selling Maple Valley to Fife WA Homes For Sale

Maureen- I knew what ROYGBIV was. :o)

Sounds like our tastes are very similar. I have beige in my living and family rooms (Hot Chowder - Alexander Julian American Tradition), a green in my den (Green Tea- Behr), and a blue in the master bedroom (Smoke Screen- Olympic), and a gold in my hall (Pale Gold- Laura Ashley).

Jan 30, 2007 08:07 AM

#56

Rainmaker
58,220

Patricia Ebrahimi

SHOW SMART! HOME STAGING & Color Consultant - Rockville, MD

Home Staging the Washington DC Area from Rockville MD

ROY G BIV? Never heard it put this way before but I get it. I'm an synaesthete. Ever hear of THAT? People with genetically crossed wires in the brain as to sensual data. For me for example all number come as colors. 7 is always kidney bean red. 3 is yolk yellow. I'm normal in all other ways, well some would disagree! except for excessive dyslexia. You'll find all my responses involve edit and delete. otherwise you wouldn't be able to make any sense of it , trust me. I scramble letters and hands typing. LIfe's a beach.

Anyway about color, I have a couple of favs to add to this fabulous list. What a tremendous resource,MAUREEN, this post! A deeper green, sort of sage but somehow a little olivey at the same time BM HC113 Louisburg Green,

a softer spalike green but with great depth -great for beds and baths BM 1495 October Mist

and my signature red (that matches every red textile out this year and last) SW 6321 Red Bay fabulous as an accent wall or in this pic used in a new $1M+ home in a tiny badly located powder room (down a long narrow hallway off the kitchen - what was the architect thinking) to make it a destination. It worked big time! Everyone loves it.

Lisa: I looked up your color refs also-terriifc -thanks!

Two other things: There's a big diff tween Behr and Behr Premium, which I love. And Home Depot has all the BM formulas. Just tell them the name or the number, I forget which, and they match exactly the BM color for less than half the price (if you're paying for the paint, of course)

And does everybody know that Sherwin Williams bought Pratt-Lambert as well as Duron? And two of the leading paint color scientists at P-L quit and formed their own company, called C2, which has huge paint chips for $1.00 each?

Feb 07, 2007 09:02 AM

#57

Rainer
2,138

Nicole Arnold

The Views at Cranberry - Cranberry, NC

RED is my favorite color. When painting, I find excuses to use more red. Patricia -- I love the red bathroom picture you put in your comment!

Feb 07, 2007 11:46 AM

#58

Rainer
146,682

Maureen Maureen

Orangeburg, NY

Patricia - I never heard of synaesthete. It sounds really interesting. The mind is a amazing thing. I love your color choices. Red is one of my favorites also. The red bath is fantastic. I don't have most of your color choices in my fandex. I will have to look for them at the store. I look forward to reading your blogs.

Feb 08, 2007 06:59 AM

#59

Rainer
146,682

Maureen Maureen

Orangeburg, NY

I've updated the blog to include the color #s as well as names.

Feb 08, 2007 07:08 AM

#60

Rainmaker
58,220

Patricia Ebrahimi

SHOW SMART! HOME STAGING & Color Consultant - Rockville, MD

Home Staging the Washington DC Area from Rockville MD

Someone mentioned the color rhubarb but i couldn't find it in my fandeck. Does anyone know the number?

Mareen: Thanks for your kind words. I am working from BM Classics fandeck. Which one are you using? And BTW I didn't know everybody didn't see numbers as colors until I was far into adulthood, and my sister happened to see an article about the phenomenon in Smithsonian Magazine about 8 yrs ago only. The article named it. For what it's worth, mine is the most common kind - 1 in 250,000 people have it. The only common thread in that population is that most of us see 0 as either white or clear. Otherwise, no correlation among us. Speaking of white, how would you characterize China White? I'm looking at the tiny little swatch of it in the fandeck under the light of one of those Sunlight lamps (which gives very weird light BTW) and I can't really determine what undertones it has. Maybe gray, greenish gray, would you say?

Everyone: the visitor log on my website spiked yesterday, and it indicated that many were coming in out of the RAIN, but nobody has given me any feedback on the experience. Is it that bad? :( Am I just being insecure? Who me? Yeah, probably, but... Does everybody hate my colors? I know it may come across a bit different from most stager sites I've seen, but.... I would welcome some quiet constructive criticism, I think :) Am I really asking for it or what? my kids liked it....but I give them money

Feb 08, 2007 12:04 PM

#61

Rainer
24,076

Anne Vigneri

CASA VERO Staging & Redesign - Albuquerque, CA

Serving the Mariposa California

hmmm.. this has made me wonder.. The vacant home I staged that is STILL on the market ( sniff) has lots of very saturated colors .. The LR has two dominant walls painted a very dark red... This room is open to the yellow kitchen and also the dark olive green dining room !.. I was able to convince the homeowner to let me paint out the NAVY BLUE home office ( sheesh, would somebody turn a light on in here ??) with a light sandy brown.. but it was NO NO for the other rooms.. they had spent a fortune getting them painted.. It is a "Santa Fe" Pueblo style home, so usually this style home can take rich deep tones, but there is something about these finishes that is just wrong.. And this is an area where new homes are popping up like mushrooms after the rain,, so a buyer doesn't need much of an excuse to just move on to a home that is move-in ready..

Re paint brands, I have been using Behr Premium with good results. Since there is a Home Depot on almost every corner, it makes it easy .

Feb 09, 2007 09:46 AM

#62

Rainer
146,682

Maureen Maureen

Orangeburg, NY

Hey Anne - Sometimes all you can do is give your best advice. I had a homeowner that had his entire home painted prior to hiring me. It was a contemporary and he painted it pink, powder blue and mint. I did address the paint colors with him but he had just had it done and there was no way he was going to repaint. The house has been on the market 9mo. (OK price it the main factor but the paint isn't helping)

Feb 09, 2007 10:30 AM

#63

Rainmaker
58,220

Patricia Ebrahimi

SHOW SMART! HOME STAGING & Color Consultant - Rockville, MD

Home Staging the Washington DC Area from Rockville MD

Nicole: Thanks and did you see the latest HGTV Decorating Newsletter? It has a feature on "Adding Red" Thought you might enjoy it.

Feb 09, 2007 02:35 PM

#64

Rainmaker
58,220

Patricia Ebrahimi

SHOW SMART! HOME STAGING & Color Consultant - Rockville, MD

Home Staging the Washington DC Area from Rockville MD

Anne: It's amazing how many people have no clue about color. That house might have to wait for a clueless buyer,but you did your job. I didn't get a full staging job on a vacant I partially staged, well, I contributed some plants and towels and a few bookshelves of stuff, because the owners who have moved to Florida 2 no 3 months ago were afraid I'd put nail holes in the walls hanging pics. People! Talk about not being able to let it go. Frustrating isn't it?

Feb 09, 2007 02:49 PM

#65

Rainer
9,640

Maureen Graziano

Third Eye Home Staging - West Islip, NY

I have gotten some great tips from this post. Just wanted to add, Lowes paint is terrific quality (American Traditions) and about 15 -20 dollars less than that other nationally known quality paint. They can match up any color from any manufacturer.

Maureen Graziano

Mar 16, 2007 08:57 AM

#66

Rainer
146,682

Maureen Maureen

Orangeburg, NY

Maureen - I do tell clients about the paint at Lowes if they are doing it themselves, but around here almost all the painters will only use Benjamin Moore - that is why I pretty much stick with their color selection.

Mar 16, 2007 11:46 AM

#67

Rainer
52,768

Sue Argue

Staged First Impressions - Hampton, NH

NH Home Stager

Maureen, will you be my blogging coach? This is click #3205 !!

Mar 16, 2007 12:11 PM

#68

Rainer
146,682

Maureen Maureen

Orangeburg, NY

Sue- LOL It was only a matter of time before the bits of knowledge I picked up in the 3rd grade paid off.

Mar 17, 2007 01:43 AM

#69

Rainer
91,524

Christine Craig

Designology Interior Design - Santa Barbara, CA

Allied ASID & NKBA

Actually guys if you tell them you want a paint fan deck (that's what the paint thingy is called) and tell them you are a designer and give them your card you will get it for free. :)

Jul 05, 2007 03:42 AM

#70

Rainmaker
58,220

Patricia Ebrahimi

SHOW SMART! HOME STAGING & Color Consultant - Rockville, MD

Home Staging the Washington DC Area from Rockville MD

Sometimes, but not always. I just had to fork over $13.95 for one at BM, business card or no!

Jul 05, 2007 06:53 AM

#71

Rainer
146,682

Maureen Maureen

Orangeburg, NY

You have to find the Name and # if the BM sales rep in your area. Send them a link to your site and you will not believe all the stuff they will send you. I'll have to take a pic of the crazy stuff they sent me.

Jul 05, 2007 10:20 AM

#72

Ambassador
2,466,164

Margaret Rome, Baltimore Maryland

HomeRome Realty 410-530-2400 - Baltimore, MD

Sell Your Home With Margaret Rome

Maureen,So what are they sending you? Waiting anxiously for the picture of all the stuff. This post is from January and still getting comments. It is fun to reminded of these "old" blogs and see it still getting comments. Good stuff is just that....good stuff!

Jul 05, 2007 10:43 AM

#73

Rainer
146,682

Maureen Maureen

Orangeburg, NY

Thanks Margaret!

Jul 05, 2007 11:06 AM

#74

Rainer
146,682

Maureen Maureen

Orangeburg, NY

Hi Marie - Currently my two favorite beige colors are; Benjamin Moore - Stone House #1039 - it is one of BM's best selling colors. It is a nice beige putty color. The color I have used most often lately is Benjamin Moore - Powell Buff #HC-35, it has a warm gold undertone. It is a lovely color. Both of these are not too dark. Anything lighter will look like a tinted white.

When the walls are white if you put up a tiny patch of paint, like from one of those sample bottles, the color appears much darker than it will be when the room is fully painted. Next to white everything looks too dark. Over the years I've had clients that wish they have gone a bit deeper but I've never had a client that wanted it lighter when the whole room was painted.

Good luck, let me know what color you choose.

Jun 23, 2009 11:46 AM

#75