Painting your home is a great investment…..as long as you are careful!

Is it really true that painting your home can be one of the best investment when trying to sell?  Only if the painting is done in a professional manner and if the correct paint colours are chosen. If done right painting your house can add a lot of value. If you choose that beautiful aqua or neon green colour that you simply love… then maybe not. If you decide to paint the walls yourself, try to not get paint on the ceilings, baseboards and floors.. because that doesn’t add any value to your home.

There are several reasons why painting is a good idea, but I need to stress, the right colour for selling your home and a professional looking paint job are required.

You don’t want to be flushing your money down the toilet or having to re-do this tedious task. Below are a few things you should keep in mind when painting your home.

3 Reasons to Paint Your Home

1. 90% of the population cannot visualize what a house will look like painted another colour. About 75% of my clients will tell me they can. But take them to a house with bright or dirty walls and the majority cannot see past it.
2. A fresh coat of paint makes your home look clean and well maintained. People want to buy a home that looks like it has been loved.
3. Even though some people may eventually re-paint to their personal favourite colour, a home freshly painted with neutral colours is something that majority of people feel they can move in to and live with for a while.

3 Things to Think About When Picking Paint Colours

1. Neutral, Neutral, Neutral. Boring maybe, but by adding interesting wall art and accessories you can make the home very appealing.
2. The grey’s and whites are the more “in” colours right now. So if you are going to paint a room, it makes sense to use the “neutral colour” that is in style. A couple of my favourites are Benjamin Moore  Revere Pewter HC-172 , Collingwood OC28 & Cloud white CC-40.
3. Don’t get creative with TRIM colours – semi-gloss white is best. Same thing for doors. 

6 Steps to Professionally Painting Your Home

1. Properly preparing a room can be half the work. Start by cleaning the wall quickly with a sponge and water. You can add a bit of dish soap as well for the tough spots.
2. Use painter tape to tape baseboards and trim around windows and doors. This is a very important step!
3. Do one wall at a time. Start with edging: corners, baseboards, trim and wall/ceiling joint cut in about 2 to 3 inches. If you get any paint on the ceiling remove it immediately as is will be very hard to remove later as most ceilings today are textured.
4. Roll the paint on the wall by making a W shape. The W should be 3 feet by 3 feet. Then fill in the blank spaces in the W. Repeat with this process until the entire wall is painted.
5. Remove painter tape before the paint dries to avoid peeling the paint off with the tape.
6. When the walls are completely dry, tape (painter’s tape) the wall where it meets the baseboard and paint the trim. Again, remove the tape before the baseboard is dry to avoid peeling.

Remember if you don’t think you can do a good professional job, hire a painter. A bad paint job can hurt the sale of your home more than help it.

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