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2024 Design & Paint Color Trends to Sell Your House

Design trends continue to shift drastically as we move away from the all white interior area and the all gray interior era. We’re seeing bolder colors and apparently the bolder the better! This applies not only to interior paint colors but our furniture as well. We’re seeing very moody rooms in our houses in many of our rooms. There doesn’t seem to be a limit on which room can get moody!

The pandemic changed the demands we put on our home and what we expect out of our house. Alot of people are working from home now or have a hybrid model which means home offices are more important than they were pre-pandemic days.

We got bored of staring at our all gray or all white walls & matching all white or all gray furniture. WARM +BOLD is unapologetically replacing the neutral walls and neutral décor look. We see lots of plants, big plants in interiors this year. Square big box neutral furniture is being replaced by leather, colors, curves and vintage pieces. We’ve come out of a cool minimalist approach to designing our homes into warmth, variety and life. It’s an exciting and much needed change.

How do we incorporate the new warm + bold design trends when we’re getting our house ready to sell?

So what does this mean for homeowners getting their house ready to sell? Do you need to replace all your gray & big box furniture and replace or paint your gray kitchens to appeal to the typical buyer in your neighborhood? No of course not, but with some tweaking, you can adapt your home to the new trends so it doesn’t look dated and will appeal to what buyers are looking for.

Design Trends that are out or on their way out!

  • Farmhouse style is being replaced by vintage + contemporary
  • All-gray or all-white interiors are out! Finally!
  • All Gray kitchens are out
  • Shiplap is out – or its being painted with a dark & moody color
  • Matchy matchy furniture sets are out
  • Open concept is out! Yep its true!!!We no longer want to live, eat & breath 7/24 in the same room!

How to use 2024 design & paint color trends when selling your house!

Just because a style or color is trending right now does not mean that you should incorporate it into your home. Some styles and trends will fit into some styles and neighborhoods while other may not. Green kitchens are predicted to be the most popular kitchen color for 2023 but the décor of your house AND the demographics of your neighborhood need to be a good fit to make this bold statement in your kitchen.

Similarly, more subtle and neutral trends may be too boring for your home and neighborhood. It’s wise to know what trends are going on in your neighborhood, and its just as important to know what trends are NOT going in your hood! Do your research! Check out your competition. Go online and check out new listings. Go to open houses and scoop out current listings on zillow and realtor to keep informed!

Read think like a buyer when selling your house

10 Design & Color Trends for 2023 to Sell Your House!

1. The go-to colors for neutrals are warm white, cream & beige.

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Cool mid-tone grays are out. The cool grays are being taken over by the warm greiges. White, light gray & beige has definitely taken over the mid-gray neutrals. White is definitely the leader as the new neutral for staging your house. BUT it can also be the trickiest to decorate with it. All white can look amazing on Instagram but in real life it can look like primer if the right light, furniture & accessories, AND the right white color is not chosen.

Read: What is a good warm white paint color?
Read: Best cool white paint colors
Read: Best Staging Paint Colors 2024

2. Warm & Bolder Colors are in!

For the past couple of years, the paint companies have been trying to push us out of our comfort zone moving us away from our neutral grays and whites.  This year, they’re not so subtle. Both major paint companies, Benjamin Moore And Sherwin Williams have announced green colors as their Color of the Year. Benjamin Moore has announced a gentle shade of sage green October Mist CC-550 as their color of the year whereas, Sherwin Williams has chosen a calming green-gray, Evergreen Fog, SW9130. This color is perfect for homes that are transitioning out of the all gray trend. It could be used in a room that has all gray furniture where you need to minimize some gray. But don’t overdo it. Use it in 1 – 2 rooms the most with your main room and hallways being a neutral paint color like white, beige, or light gray.

Other trending colors that we will see this year are warm beiges, various shades of clay, terracotta, blue-greens, warm mid-green tones and various shades of rose & copper. But before you think its going to be boring with all these softer warmer, shades, we’re also going to see pops of moody blacks, grays & deeper blues for accent walls & in various rooms like offices, bedrooms and perhaps some family rooms. We will see these colors on walls, painted furniture, couches, accent chairs, and accessories.

We are seeing much bolder & warmer colors in 2023. We can reflect these in our homes as we’re getting ready to sell but in smaller doses. Painting a bedroom or a bathroom a warm & bold would appeal to buyers depending on the demographics. A living room or dining room accent wall as opposed to painting a whole room a dark and moody color would appeal to potential buyers.

3.  Accent walls are in! Bold paint colors + wallpaper

Accent walls are very popular now with bold paint colors, wallpaper, or decorative plastered walls. Shiplap walls are out BUT stylish decorative geometric molding accent walls are in! They can really add a lot of interest to a room, especially if you have chosen a neutral color like white paint for the walls and neutral furniture. Adding an accent wall will not only increase the value of your home, it will address interest to a neutral colored room, and appeal to contemporary buyers.

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Photo: Sherwin Williams, Urbane Bronze

How do you start adding these new trending colors when selling your house?

You can add these new trending colors in certain areas that will add a fun pop of color like a powder room, master bedroom, or a kitchen island. Home offices and entrance ways also a great way to introduce these new colors. Start with a plan and select 2 -3 coordinating colors.

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You don’t want your house to look like a checker board. One house I staged had a different paint color in every room. The house looked disjointed and did not flow. The homeowner had to repaint his entire main floor to make it look more cohesive and appealing to buyers.

Staging Tip: Add new colors into your house with intention!

When staging your house to sell, use a neutral paint color throughout the house. Add pops of color intentionally in a couple of areas, like a bedroom, bathroom, or an office. In theory, you should be able to take an upholstered chair to each room in your house and it should be able to fit in comfortably in terms of colors & style. There should be a flow to your home or the house will end up looking awkward and unbalanced. The ONLY exception to this rule is the powder room and kids rooms.  Add pops of color in your accessories like throw cushions, pictures, accent chairs etc for an easy way to update your look.

Read: How to choose a paint color to sell your house
Read: Best Paint Colors to Sell Your House
Read: Accent Wall Trends that will make your home stunning + add value to your home!
Read: Best Accent Wall Color Trends

Need help choosing color(s) for your house?

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You’re getting your house ready to sell but you have a room or room(s) in your house that have a dated paint color or the walls need a refresh coat of paint to show the house well to potential buyers.  But you need help in picking a paint color that suits the current furniture & fixtures in the room but is a current trendy staging color.

Click here to check out my staging paint color package.

4. Mid-Century meets contemporary

Farmhouse style, shabby chic, whatever you want to call the farmhouse style that has been around FOREVER, its out. Sorry Joanna Gaines. That means the “fresh eggs” signs should be coming down and being replaced by earthier more natural pictures. If you are thinking of adding shiplap to a room, don’t.

Replacing the farmhouse style is a new fresh wonderful mix of vintage + contemporary styles. It make be a bit challenging to get your head around it at first, but once you start pouring over pictures on Pinterest, you’ll start to really like it and think about how you can incorporate that into your home. It may feel like we’ve returned to the 60’s a bit, but with any new trend, the colors, shapes and styling have been updated for a fresh new look.

Photo: Plastolux

If you were in the farmhouse trend, or the up gray or all white trend, updating your look could be as easy as changing up a few cushions on the sofa, switching around some décor and/or adding in a couple of retro accent chairs to replace your worn looking sofa.

5.  Furniture color is bolder. Curved. Vintage. Matchy matchy is out!

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Thankfully we are starting to see variety in furniture. No more all gray or all white furniture. It use to be that all our furniture had to be matchy matchy.  Fortunately, that boring look is out.

Sofas are soft & curvy now. Bold accent chairs can replace one of the neutral sofas. Coffee and ends tables are vintage or contemporary. They DON’T need to match. In fact they look better if they don’t! The trend is to have rustic pieces with contemporary furniture. 

If you currently have the farmhouse look and live in the city or suburbia, this look is dated and needs to be tweaked to sell your house. If you have succumbed to the all gray, all white, or all big box store furniture, this look needs to be updated to appeal to potential buyers. This can easily be done by switching some furniture pieces like accent chairs, tables and or adding a couple of contemporary accent chairs to update your look. This is where you can have fun with your furniture and explore different possibilities. If you are switching up styles to get your house ready to sell, you can either rent furniture depending on your area, or if you need to buy furniture, be sure to buy furniture and/or accessories that you will be able to use in your new home.

6. Texture & Layers

We’ve already seen movement into textures for styling our interiors, but 2023, is going to bring this to an all new level. We are going to see nubby, furry and cozy fabrics like boucle and natural fabrics. We will see many types of layers using the new color palettes. But texture won’t just be limited to our fabrics, we will also see texture in our furniture and accessories using a variety of materials like leather, wood, rattan, cane, metal and stone.

Do you need to transition from an all gray or all white room to sell your house? Switching out some accessories like cushions, pictures, and other accessories with the new trends will update your look without having to start all over and incurring unnecessary expenses when getting your house ready to sell.

Read: Is gray out of style? 5 Tips to neutralize gray

7.  Kitchens are… Wood. Two-toned. Darker

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Photo: BigLarkinYan.ca

Kitchens are also taking a dramatic turn from all white and all gray colors where the cabinets, counters and backsplash were one monochromatic color. It will be common to see either the uppers or lowers to be a different color, or a different color like a bank of cabinets above, or a kitchen island with a different color. An entire wall of pantries is also another feature you will see in kitchens this year with large islands and counters.

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If you find yourself with an all gray mid-tone kitchen, considering painting one of these areas a trending color to make it look less like your kitchen belongs from a previous decade. A kitchen can be the place were it can really date a house. Hiring a professional kitchen cabinet paint company would be a good investment if your house is in a high-end area, or your paint skills are at the amateur level range. Cutting back on costs in this area could have significant repercussions on the value of your home if the paint job is not up to what your area commands.

Photos: Left: ChrislovesJulia.com Middle: Pinterest Right: ACE Architects

We also see wood kitchens coming back (pictured above). Much different and more sophisticated from the 70’s.We will also see wood cabinets on either the upper or lower half with a different color in the opposite cabinet which makes for some interesting combinations. Greige is replacing gray for kitchens color (middle photo) and green has taken over as the most popular kitchen color for 2023.

Read 2024 Kitchen Color Cabinet Trends

8. Flooring is warm, more natural, and wide

We are steering away from cool gray floors after this flooring color has dominated strongly over the past decade. If you still have alot of gray in your home, some flooring addresses this by having planks of gray and planks of beige in their mix to combine the outgoing trend with the incoming trend. Lighter oak flooring and white-washed flooring is becoming very popular, a great combination with the new rustic + contemporary mix that we are seeing in furniture & design styles. Browns are dominating in mid-tones and darker browns.

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Photo: Wayfair.com

With the new trends, we are also seeing wider planks, anywhere from 5′ to 7 or even 8′ wide in rarer cases. Scraped flooring follows the rustic trends we’re seeing everywhere.

Read the full post on 2024 Flooring Trends here.
Read Hardwood vs. Laminate vs. Vinyl Plank Flooring: Which one should you choose?

Read: Should I renovate my house before selling? What’s my profit potential?

9. Home Offices are important!!!

Because of the pandemic, we found ourselves working from home. Spare bedrooms were turned into offices, basements were refinished so that we could make room for an office. Dining rooms became offices, closets were turned into offices and even living rooms had to share with an office in some cases were there just wasn’t enough room to accommodate home offices + online schooling.

But as we start to begin life in our new normal, some people are going back to the office full-time, whereas others are working from home permanently now, whereas others are doing a combination of both.

If you find yourself living in a monochromatic home of all white or all gray, the office would be a great place to break that look. Try a trendy color on your walls or perhaps keep your wall neutral and paint your furniture in a warm and new color. Experiment! Have fun!

Office furniture is a great way to try out Benjamin Moore’s bold and warm color of the year for 2021, Aegean Teal. Photo: BenjaminMoore.com

Sherwin Williams Rosemary 6187, gives this office a fresh warm update. Its a very warm green, and a good way to update one room in the house with a trendy moody green that potential buyers will find inviting. Photo: Sherwin Williams

10. Outdoor spaces are multi-functional

Another change in how we live in our houses due to the pandemic is the use of our backyard outdoor space. We made entertaining outside more to see our family and friends a top priority. As a result of this, we are demanding more out of our outdoor spaces. We are adding outdoor living rooms to be able to relax outside, we are making our dining room areas bigger to accommodate more friends and family, and we have created outdoor kitchens.

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Photos: StyledbyEmilyHenderson.com

When you’re getting your house ready to sell, there is one important space that often gets overlooked. Its like an outdoor bonus room. That room, of course, is our backyard patio. If you’re selling in the spring, summer and early fall, you definitely want to set up this space. If you’re selling in the winter time and your patio furniture is covered in snow, hopefully you have some fun pictures from the patio that your realtor can put in your listing. You don’t need to add an outdoor kitchen to your space, but jazzing up the existing patio with either a dining room table set or lounge furniture would definitely be an asset.

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Bonus Tip: House plants

In past decades, we used to have alot of house plants in our home. With the busyness of the world, and working outside the home, houseplants were ignored and became hard to keep up. They were replaced by fake plants or home décor such as long sticks in vases. But plants has made a comeback. And its an easy addition to add plants when you’re styling your home to sell. Plants instantly warm up any room and add a coziness that wasn’t there without plants.

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You know you need to declutter and depersonalize to get your house ready to sell but you’re not sure what to do or where to start.  You need direction and guidance.

In a zoom call, with you, your computer & camera, we will “walk” through your house where I will give you my savvy staging advise as a professional stager and house flipper on what should stay for staging, what you should remove, and make color, furniture arrangements & appropriate suggestions for your home based on the demographics of your neighborhood. You can record the call for your notes!

Click here to learn more about my online staging consult.
debi-collinson-interior-stylist-color-expert-real-estate-investor

Hi! I’m Debi Collinson. Designer. Color Consultant & Real Estate Investor. 

I grew up looking at blue prints, going on construction sites and helping my dad, an Engineer|General Contractor|Co-Owner of a Design|Build|Engineering firm pick out paint colors for his buildings. Since 2006, I have been styling & staging hundreds of homes to make them look like they belong in a magazine page whether the client is styling to stay or staging to sell. 

In my spare time, LOL, I buy “fixer uppers” to fix up & either sell for a healthy profit or to rent. I’m currently looking for my 10th “fixer upper.” Sign up to receive my e-mails of how to make your home stunning, how to sell your house for top dollar AND how to become financially independent one fixer upper at a time! Read my full story including my design credentials here.

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14 Comments

  1. I was really drawn to the segment of your article that talked about how bolder and more daring styles are being used nowadays. With how boring my house has felt recently, I started to wonder what kinds of styles and designs can help make it feel energetic and stylish again. These ideas sound perfect for that, so I’ll start using bolder colors when I hire an interior painting expert to complement the stylish furniture we’ll get.

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed the post! Yes we’re so used to using “neutrals” that we are apprehensive on using bolder colors. We can start out in smaller areas like an accent wall or an office or hallway so we get used to bolder colors before we may want to dive deeper. Thanks for dropping by! Good luck with your bolder color choices!

  2. Wonderful site you have here but I was wanting to know if you knew of any message boards that cover the same topics talked about in this article? I’d really like to be a part of group where I can get feedback from other experienced people that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Thanks a lot!

    1. Try Facebook – HGTV Fixer Upper Show Followers. It’s a very interactive forum if you have questions. Also, you are welcome to email me any questions or topics you want covered here.

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