11/01/2026
First things first: if you love a bold red dining room or a dark green bedroom, paint it.
It’s YOUR home, and I’m a big believer that the spaces we live in should reflect the people who actually live there.
But when you decide to sell, the goal changes a little.
Better Homes & Gardens recently shared five paint colors that real estate professionals say could work against resale value, including bold reds, dark greens, certain browns and heavier beige tones.
Does that mean those colors are “bad”? Absolutely not.
It means a strong design choice that feels perfectly YOU might make it harder for a buyer to picture the space as THEIRS.
And this is exactly why I think staging and thoughtful preparation before listing are so valuable.
Sometimes staging means rearranging furniture or removing a few things. Sometimes it means freshening up a room with a more neutral paint color so the home photographs better, feels brighter and gives buyers a cleaner canvas for their own ideas.
You don’t need to strip all the personality out of your home to sell it. You just want to make it a little easier for someone else to imagine building a life there.
Better Homes & Gardens breaks down the five colors and some more universally appealing alternatives in the full article:
https://www.bhg.com/paint-colors-that-decrease-homes-value-11807978