I looked at hundred of homes in The Villages over many months on Zillow before I found what I wanted and bought it (furniture included). One thing I noticed was that there were a lot of houses with a white or light cream color that were just fine. No trouble. Often they really lightened up the rooms. There were some with rooms in dark colors that looked very nice, such as hunter green or a deep rose. I would have happily moved in without repainting. Then there were houses with rooms with dark colors or pastels that I couldn’t stand. For example, anything purple is unbearable, or a bright green, or a pastel green or blue. Horrors! I didn’t necessarily cross those houses off the list, but I knew that if I bought them I’d have to repaint. So much easier to not repaint. So I would say that it’s good to consider how long you plan to keep the house. If it’s just for five years, say, that special color may prevent a sale, though it might also lead to one.
I agree with those who say get the biggest paint sample you can and try it in different lights. If you are basing it all on, say, professional photos on Zillow or other sites, bear in mind that those photos are taken with extra lighting, and what you will see in person will be much darker. (Also, they are taken with the equivalent of 24 mm very wide angle lenses that make the rooms look MUCH bigger than they really are—or is that bedroom door actually four feet wide?)
I had a girlfriend with a good eye for paint colors, and ten years ago I asked her to choose colors for my bedrooms. I took all of her suggestions because they looked really nice. Thus, one was two colors of dark green, and one was two shades of sort of chocolate milk color. The third was a dark rose and a darker one. I ended up repainting the first two immediately, before I’d even finished. They were nice colors, but the rooms were too dark. So one I painted Irish linen with white trim, and the other I painted a very cheerful yellow, which looks great. I tried the same yellow in the kitchen, but hated it. I ended up with two tones of avocado to go with the solid natural cherry cupboards. Then next to that, a small wall of hunter green mixed with sand. It’s very hard to know.
May I mention that while the very classy furniture in my new house was a major selling point (tan leather, rough chiseled marble and glass, and all the wood pickled), there was a lot of expensive furniture in homes for sale that I couldn’t stand. There was a lot of imitation dark wood and glass China cabinets that I couldn’t stand. People like what people like, but a lot of that expensive Ethan Allen and Raymour and Flanagan stuff does not appeal to everyone. Takes all sorts. Most of the artwork was even more of a turn-off. Not necessarily cheap, but imitation art painted in China a dozen at a time. If you love art museums, you can’t bear that sort of thing.
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