My ex and I are staging our house for sale, and we have reached a standoff on paint.  The stager says a "warm tan" everywhere--and white trim, of course--but I have always heard that a house should be neutral to sell well.  My renovator guy likes a color called Goose Down--a creamy white, with a yellow cast--but my ex wants a true tan, I'd call it light brown.  I tried Dapper Tan as a patch on the wall, and I am sure it will look dark if the whole house is painted in it.

It isn't a big place--2000 sq ft split level--and if it is painted light brown, I think it will look both smaller and darker.  The painting job costs several thousand dollars--I don't want to have to have it done again b/c the color is a mistake. We've been divorced 13 years, but this disagreement is making us fight as if we were just splitting up.  Can anyone suggest a compromise color, or tell me if it's true that light brown is a fashionable neutral nowadays?  I always thought that neutrals for selling were shades of white, like Swiss Coffee and Vanilla Latte.  Help?

My ex and I are staging our house for sale, and we have reached a standoff on paint.  The stager says a "warm tan" everywhere--and white trim, of course--but I have always heard that a house should be neutral to sell well.  My renovator guy likes a color called Goose Down--a creamy white, with a yellow cast--but my ex wants a true tan, I'd call it light brown.  I tried Dapper Tan as a patch on the wall, and I am sure it will look dark if the whole house is painted in it.

It isn't a big place--2000 sq ft split level--and if it is painted light brown, I think it will look both smaller and darker.  The painting job costs several thousand dollars--I don't want to have to have it done again b/c the color is a mistake. We've been divorced 13 years, but this disagreement is making us fight as if we were just splitting up.  Can anyone suggest a compromise color, or tell me if it's true that light brown is a fashionable neutral nowadays?  I always thought that neutrals for selling were shades of white, like Swiss Coffee and Vanilla Latte.  Help?

I am about to put latte in my house in my great room, entry, and kitchen.  It is all interconnected so I thought it would be a good choice.  I have very high celings and my house does not feel cozy at all.  I am hoping this will help out.  Wish me luck!

By the way, does anyone have any reccomendations for a good half bath color?  I love all the earthy tones like greens, browns, reds(but not too burgundy).  I am not a purple or blur person at all.

My research on color suggests this possibility:  Use a monochromatic approach (3 colors from the same strip)by applying the hopsack to your entry way area, nomadic desert to your living room and the latte in the dining and kitchen area.  I have seen many small rooms done in the hopsack!  WOW! give some thought to doing the bath in hopsack.  Hopsack is a very elegant color, you will love working with this color strip from SW.  Very UNIVERSALLY appealing and everything goes with it. Also use the egg shell finish and use the Super Paint Brand of SW.  This paint easily covers in one coat.  Bless you and enjoy.  Jeanne

I love all the neutral paint color suggestions.

My question:  If I use Sherwin Williams Softer Tan or Latte for the walls, what is a good 'white' complmentary color to use for my trim?

There are just so many to choose from!

Thanks.

HI KZ, I would suggest the Divine White SW6105 or Dover White.  Many builders in my area use these whites to paint the WW.  Good luch with your project.  Jeanne Borgstrom, WOW! by jeanne, Real Estate Staging & Styling.

I am using Patience on kitchen cabinets. What color should I use for the walls? The counters are honed crema marfil marble with cream subway tiles on backsplash. The marble turns pink with green and yellows.  The floors are reddish brown brick. The ceilings are 9 feet with ceiling beams.  It is a large area with sitting area and fireplace.

Thank you so much for posting your tips on Latte and Hopsack. I just did our whole house in various shades from this strip thanks to your suggestions. We used Nomadic Desert in the bedrooms and hall, Latte in the family room and dining room and Hopsack under a chair rail in the dining room and also in the foyer. I am thrilled. Everything flows beautifully and we have has so many compliments on the paint color. I love that these are truly neutral without any bad undertones.

Thank you for all your comments I have small home(1300sq ft) i am looking to paint my kitchen-dinning area-great room which are all in one large living area i would like for the space to feel warm-light-airy-clean and crisp and for the color or colors to flow together i would also be painting the hallway and an home office which is right off of the living area there is crown molding and chiar railing and baseboards throght out the home.

Please respnd with all your ideas

Both me and my son have cancer i recently when through a bone marrow transplant my so was just diagonosed with a brain tumor so please keep in mind that the colors we are lookoing for should be somewhat  relaxing and clam to the senses.

Thank you

Hi There!

If anyone has a suggestion for me, I would appreciate it.  I will be painting a entrance, great room, kitchen and eating area.  I want to go with Sherwin Williams paint.  I bought a sample of the Nomadic Desert and painted a sample on the wall.  The color on the walls now is a yellowish gold color in a semi gloss finish..ugh!  So when I look at the Nomadic Desert next to it, it almost seems too too light in color.  I am looking at the SW Hopsack color but I'm not sure if this would be too dark for all of these interconnected rooms.  Even the Latte, seems like it wouldn't be dark enough.  I'm totally confused!  Does anyone have any ideas?  I will be painting in a flat finish, as the walls are very texturized and look awful with even a satin/eggshell finish.  Any suggestions would be helpful as we would like to paint as soon as possible.  Thank You!!!!

We are in the process of finishing our basement to put our house up for sale. We have a split level entry and the entry way is one of my two challenges.  What color do I paint the entry way/stairwell (and it's never ending wall that extends from the "basement" to the vaulted ceiling upstairs). It encompasses the area leading to the family room in the basement which is SW Hopsack & BM Manhattan Tan upstairs (this is subject to changes... maybe SW Latte). There are two bedrooms off the family room and I am considering Kilim Beige. One room has strong eastern exposure while the other has northern exposure. But my second problem space is the the basement bath. It's right off the family room and is fairly large (8x10) and with strong western exposure.  Any suggestions?  I was considering Saybrook Sage, Grassland, or Svelte Sage. The woodwork throughout the house is natural oak.

Any help or suggestions appreciated.

Would you use the same colors for the exterior?

Kim, You certainly can.  Go to the SW website and there you can see a house painted with the various color palettes they recommend.  Jeanne...btw you can download a photo of your home and paint it with any SW color.  Jeanne

I am in the process of having a 3400 square foot 2 storey being built.  I have a 2 storey foyer when you come inand there is about 14 feet from the front door to the beautiful open staircase.  Formal Living room and dining room and the left when you come in.  On the right there is a den.  Main floor powder room and laundry room.  Across the back of the house is a butlers pantry off the dining room and kitchen and great room across the whole back, all open concept.  $ bedrooms upstairs and a nice sized hallway.  Master bedroom with a big spa like ensuite.

My dilema is I want my house to be beautiful and to show beautiful while entering the home.  This is our first build and I am so excited.  I want warm inviting colours throughout and I want it to flow.  I wouldn't mind a pop of colour somewhere in there, just not sure what to do.  I checked out the colors above that you talked about, the latte, nomadic desert, hopsack.  Our builder is using Sherwin Williams paint as well.  We are using an eggshell finish.  Our master bedroom colour right now is beauti tone Burnt Sugar and I love becuse it goes perfectly with our bedroom ensemble.  I am keeping it the same.  My ensuite i want it to be spa like but I don't want it to be white. 

I have 5 colour choices in total for the whole house and I don't know what to do.  Can you help.  The main part of the house will have a neutral ceramic floor and the bedrooms, den, living room ,dining room, great room, hall way upstairs and the stairs are going to have a dark espresso color hardwood floors.

Please help me make my new home beautiful

Thankyou Lisa

I have a split level house we are finishing to sell. I just used Kilim Beige in my basement bedrooms (north facing and east facing). At first it looked "pinkish" on the walls but once the whole room was done I was happy with the choice. I think it will be a good color for my entry way and the stairway going down.  Hope this helps!

RC in CG-

We just painted our basement family room in Hopsack and bedrooms in Kilim Beige. I could send you pictures if you'd like?  I used a flat and it while it looked like a melted chocolate shake going on, it's dried to a nice milk chocolate brown.

SW 6106 Kilim Beige has a strong red undertone.  It looks like foundation painted on the wall.  I personally hate this color against the cherry cabinets in the bathroom in my new home.  My previous home had yellow undertone beige carpet and my furniture also has the yellow undertones, so painting SW6107 Nomadic Desert and SW 6108 Latte was the perfect color to choose. 

My new home has brown carpet, brown/beige tile, and cherry wood cabinets--all with red undertones.  In loving the paint colors in my old home, I was going to use the same paint colors.  However, because these paint colors have a red undertone, the paint color did not go, clashed, and looked horrible bringing out a strong red undertone in the paint color.

I spent a lot of money buying Sherwin-Williams paint samples after painting the bathroom that awful color.  I didn't want to make another costly mistake.  I didn't want to paint my kitchen green, even though I personally like the color because one day I will sell and was told it would limit buyers.  I did find a beige with a subtle yellow under tone I found at a model home.  It is called Toasted Pine Nut SW 7696.  It was the only color I tried that didn't look like mustard (Mannered Gold and others on the same color strip)...in pictures of other homes painted these golden beige color looked beautiful, but my home it looked horrible.

What I am sharing is if the wood color, tile, carpet, and your furniture has a yellow undertone, then SW Nomadic Desert SW6107, SW 6108 Latte, and SW 6109 Hopsack would look beautiful in your home.  If your home  has red undertone carpet, tile, furniture, and Cherry wood or any deep red color, these paint colors will not give you the WOW look you are trying to achieve.  Also, dark rooms should be painted the lighter color and will look like the darker shade.  In my previous home, I painted Latte in my living room that was poorly lit and it looked like Hopsack.  Against my light furniture, the living room looked larger instead of smaller; however. I had to bring more lights to the room when I went to sell it.  Like I said, I loved these colors and it would have made my life easier if this SW 16 color strip worked for my new home.

For my bathroom, I think I will repaint it a gray color against the Cherry Cabinets as my color choice is limited.  As far as my grand entry, dining room, and other rooms I am going to hire a designer to choose the colors.  It was so stressful and costly for the rooms I did paint.  Oh, my 2nd bathroom I choose a blue color SW7613 Aqua-Sphere and the bathroom Silvermist SW7621. My teen loves that color and it does go.

I hope in sharing my experience will help others in choosing the right color for your home.  Do invest in color samples paint, it will save you from a costly mistake should you discover it was not the look you were hoping for.

IS SW IVOIRE TO MUCH COLOR FOR A 50"S 1400 SQ FT HOUSE