When you’re trying to appeal to home buyers, some details that might seem small, like paint colors, can have a big impact on your home’s overall appeal. Learning how paint colors can change the value of your home will help you stand out on the real estate market in a good way.

When it comes to painting your home, appealing to your interests is the most important thing. When you’re preparing to sell the home, however, it’s time to start appealing to potential buyers instead. With so many different buyers with different tastes, how do you appeal to everyone? In recent years, Zillow did a study on paint colors that broke down how choosing the right color can potentially boost or diminish the value of your home.

An interesting takeaway from the study is the fact that black seems to be a great way to improve a home’s value. Wait—before you start painting everything in your home black, it’s crucial to understand the specific areas of your house that can benefit from this color. According to the study, specific areas of the home, such as the front door and the kitchen cabinets, can benefit most from a shade of black.

Apparently, a black door can potentially boost your home value by more than $6,000. In the case of kitchen cabinets, you can potentially boost the home value even further by applying a tuxedo design. By “tuxedo design,” we mean using a mixture of white upper cabinets and black lower cabinets. It can benefit you to use lighter colors for the walls in the kitchen, but according to Zillow’s study, one color that can actually lower the value of your home is the color red, specifically shades of red like raspberry and brick. Likewise, using yellow on the exterior of your home can potentially bring down your home value by more than $3,000.

However, it appears that according to the study, one area that benefits from lighter colors is the bathroom. Specifically, if you want to raise your home value by nearly $3,000, you should paint the walls a light blue. Two of the most important places of your home to upgrade before putting it on the market are the kitchen and bathrooms, so even if these shades don’t follow your personal taste, you should consider using them before potential buyers stop by.

Another intriguing takeaway from this research is the use of two neutral shades in the living room and dining room. Neutral shades are typically a great choice when you’re trying to appeal to buyers, but Zillow’s study suggests that using brown in the dining room can knock nearly $2,000 off your home’s value. On the other hand, the study shows that using light taupe (which is basically a greyish-brown color) in the living room can raise the value by more than $2,700.

Although this research shows how paint colors can change the value of your home, it’s important to remember that this isn’t an absolute guarantee. That said, if you’re trying to attract buyers, it’s well worth the effort to take advantage of this research. When redesigning your home with these colors, you have to be careful with exactly how you use them in each room. At The Staging Company, our interior designers in Texas can help local homeowners understand how to use these colors and more to create a stunning display for potential buyers.