What is your favorite neutral paint color for bedrooms?

[lynn]

We are preparing to put our house on the market and although I love my children's bedroom colors I probably need to paint before we put it on the market. So what color do you recommend. TIA

[Pawz4me]

Light beige/oatmeal. The basic color you see in new homes built by developers.

[soufflegirl]

If you're talking about repainting everything, white/off white/tan is usually pretty safe.

 

If you're trying to get away with repainting as few rooms as possible, you could probably get away with leaving something that's a light blue or green if you really needed to, but purple and pink need to go. I can't tell you how many houses we looked at where I felt like I'd walked into Barbie's dream house or someone had gone through a Barney the dinosaur phase, and I did not want to move all my stuff in and then spend a week trying to cover up bright purple paint.

[Alyeska]

Most people looking to buy homes that aren't brand new builds are expecting to paint.

 

In the last four years, we've sold three homes and not painted anything. This includes dark green, purple, pink, and dark blue rooms (my kids pick their own colors).

 

Is the paint looking worn? Chipped in places? If not, and unless the market in your area is really a buyer's market with lots to choose from, I'd save the time and money and let the buyers paint it later.

 

If you decide to paint, choose a warm color that feels 'homey'. To me, white/off-white makes a home feel sterile and bland but ymmv.

[G5052]

We repainted with a buttery-beige color with white accents. I love neutral colors though, so YMMV.

[Truscifi]

Light tan/beige/oatmeal.

[Aspasia]

I hate beige. I'm all about warm grays--not too cold, but not too...beige. (Too many beiges are just kind of peachy/orangey. They remind me of bad foundation makeup.) Google Benjamin Moore Greige. It's beautiful, and the shade is light enough that I don't think people would feel like they needed to paint immediately if they didn't like it.

[Laurie4b]

I think for kids' rooms, I would do white or a light beige. You could go with a more sophisticated neutral in the master bedroom.

[Alexigail]

(Too many beiges are just kind of peachy/orangey. They remind me of bad foundation makeup.)

 

 

I agree with this. Orangey beige makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. I'd probably go with off-white to avoid the white glare but keep things neutral.

[Sara R]

I'm not a fan of too much tan/taupe. It feels ten-years-ago to me.

 

Gray as a neutral is more on trend, but gray is tricky to get right. Good-looking neutral gray/blue/greens to check out:

 

Restoration Hardware Silver Sage, which is about the same as Benjamin Moore Gray Wisp. It's a lovely gray/green/blue that changes depending on what light hits it, and it blends well with most other colors. We have this painted in a room with a rock fireplace with a lot of tans and brown and it works great there.

 

Sherwin Williams Sea Salt. Like SIlver Sage/Gray Wisp, but a shade lighter.

 

Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter is a warm gray that goes well in many spaces. The undertones are taupe/tan, not blue.

 

These colors work well as neutrals because they are not just one shade. They have lots of different colors blended in, which makes them "play well with other" colors. I find that Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams colors have more depth to them, while if I pick a Behr color they seem to be just the straight color and it is too much.

 

Even though I don't like the Home Depot colors, they will color match most of the popular BM and SW colors, and if they don't have it in their computer you can bring in a swatch. I always test out the color with a Glidden paint sample from Home Depot for $3 each. Once you paint a little on the walls (or on a piece of poster board) you can tell if it works in that room. The little paint chips are not enough to tell if a color works in the room.

[zoobie]

Unless the rooms are neon or in desperate need of painting, I wouldn't bother. Or your house would not be sold to a family. We looked for a year and a half for our house, and paint was not a factor. :)

 

Current neutral trend seems to be grieges (gray-beige). Benjamin Moore's Edgecomb Gray (any paint brand will match and have the color in their computer) is a light griege. We used it in our foyer and dark hallway upstairs to be not white but something that went with all the other colors. It's the same color base as Revere Pewter at 50%. Love Revere Pewter too! It changes in different lights.

 

Also, once you start painting, it snowballs! That one room makes the hall look dingy. Then you paint the hall and... ;)

[Desert Strawberry]

I loathe beige. Worst color ever. My husband painted our bedroom a super pale blue. Almost white. I never would have chosen it, but I love it. When we repaint, I will want to do the same thing in other colors -palest pink, lavender, green, gray.

[KungFuPanda]

I loathe beige. Worst color ever. My husband painted our bedroom a super pale blue. Almost white. I never would have chosen it, but I love it. When we repaint, I will want to do the same thing in other colors -palest pink, lavender, green, gray.

 

We painted our bedroom pale blue. I think it's some sort of design no-no, but it just feels very calm and relaxing in here. I love it.

[Myeightkiddies]

Mine is a gray with a tint of lavender. It isn't girly or tacky. Some have said it is a sophisticated color. It works with my darker wood furniture, and the crystal chandelier looks great. To me it is soft and relaxing.

[lavender's green]

Anything nice and light! We just finished painting the new baby's room and it took four coats of primer to cover up the drab dark green that was in there!

 

It's not really necessary to re-paint rooms to put your house on the market, but personally I think it will give you an edge over the competition. It's easier to imagine yourself living in a neutral house than one where the colors are completely not your style. (It is easier to remember a house with a bold room, but that can work either for or against you depending on other people's styles!)

[prairiewindmomma]

Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter or Shaker Beige or Bone White.

[cottonmama]

I agree about the greige idea. We painted our room Grant Beige (Benjamin Moore), which is a low-saturation beige. Our kids' rooms are Edgecomb Gray (also Benjamin Moore). I love both colors.

[DawnM]

We use a color from Lowe's called Khaki. It is throughout our entire home and was used on our last home in CA that we sold quickly. So, we did the same here in our NC home. It is great because it goes with any decor we put out.

[cottonmama]

Wanted to add, I would recommend against just deciding on "beige" or "white" -- there's a huge variation in how nice a color looks. If you are on a budget, I would get a designer color matched in a cheaper paint. And check samples in the room you'll be painting it in. (At least paint cards.)

[Desert Strawberry]

Wanted to add, I would recommend against just deciding on "beige" or "white" -- there's a huge variation in how nice a color looks. If you are on a budget, I would get a designer color matched in a cheaper paint. And check samples in the room you'll be painting it in. (At least paint cards.)

 

Definitely. I tend to choose colors that turn out too dark. I painted my children's room the exact same color that I didn't like in the dining room. :banghead: I wish we'd done samples first. In both rooms.

[wapiti]

taupe walls with white woodwork/trim/ceilings - probably a lighter taupe in the bedrooms and a somewhat more obvious taupe (kinda khaki-ish - not too pink, not too yellow) in the living/dining rooms

 

That's what we did with our old house (back in the heyday of 2005, we sold in one day for over asking price with seven offers)

[Happy]

White is often too cold. Go for a warm beige--oatmeal, honey, kakhi tones. Or creamy whites. I really like Sherwin Williams Jersey Cream--it's like melted vanilla ice cream with a touch of sunshine. Light, warm, and pretty.

 

I'm working with two sets of buyers right now--each set reacts very well to warm beigey paint and color schemes and to the grays that are becoming more and more popular.

 

Decorated, clean, and bright gets attention.

[BlessedMom]

White.