A Little Less Beige
It's not that beige is so appealing, it's that it creates the perfect backdrop for positioning your house as the star of the show.
If you've been visiting homes for sale, and have toured vacant ones, occupied homes, and staged properties, you've probably noticed how properties feel new and well cared for when they've been staged by professionals. Living rooms feature the freshness of linen sofa upholstery, modern coffee and side tables, abstract art, and a beige-ish rug to define the living space.
Beige prevents the natural tendency of buyers to score a place up or down based on personal preferences for color, pattern, style, or even age of the home. Most buyers are unable to imagine themselves in spaces filled with other people's history; or see their future in empty rooms.
That's reason enough to stage a home to sell with a professional stager. But is beige really necessary? Yes and no.
Yes -- Because the goal is to stage the interior and exterior of your home to appeal to the broadest base of buyers, and neutral elicits "clean and classy" to most people without the negative knee-jerk rejection to colors and styling based on owners' personal preferences.
No, it's not taboo to throw in color -- In fact knowing where to place color pops is important for escaping the bore of beige. Color can be used to balance a room, such as a blue vase on a table across from wall art with blue. Or a few print pillows to pick up the same color or pattern on the fireplace mantle decor. Leather sofas and animal print rugs might work in some upscale modern properties by stagers who know what they're doing; or mid-century furnishings in older properties depending on regional buyer demographics. Farmhouse chic with pops of red, or vibrant plaids might align with rural and farm properties; while rural land with no house could benefit from bright flowers and shrub plantings at the entrance, and a bit of manicuring of open fields.
For some communities, there are neighborhoods where a colorful wall and warmer tones bring comfort and recognition, where too much beige might feel sterile and foreign. But too much travel down your favorite color highway without a map might land you in the unfortunate town of Buyer Shock and Rejection. Nobody wants that.
You can consider the many unconscious factors and shifting interests at play with buyers in your region and stage your own home -- if you have time for research, knowledge of industry and buyer trends, and understand the psychology of color, space, and light.
While it appears that the fast-changing preferences of home buyers might also be on the verge of a splash more color, hiring a Certified Staging Professional is the best solution. It's the job, and joy, of your accredited stager to understand your market, and position your home to sell.