
Strategic home staging prior to getting your listing photos and videos taken can make the difference between a potential buyer’s giving your listing little more than a passing glance and making a profitable sale.
As more and more people - over 90% - begin their initial “house shopping” online, and are even getting their first real look at a property that way via virtual open houses, it’s even more important that you create an engaging listing whe selling your Waterloo Region home.
But what catches the eye and what makes someone scroll past to the next listing without a second glance? Or fails to impress even if the home makes it to their 'see it in person' list?
It often comes down to colour, but not in the way you might expect. Here we are going to take a closer look at how something as simple as the right neutral interior paint colours can help lead to a faster, more profitable sale.
“Paint Your Home in Neutrals” … it’s very common, but good advice when staging your home for sale. But it's also terrible vague. What is a neutral colour palette when it comes to getting your home ready to sell? Should everything just be white?
Before you get a mental picture of your entire home painted stark bright white like a doctor’s office or completely in shades of ‘greige’ - whatever that really is - the fact is that “neutral” isn’t limited to white and beige.
You do want your home to stand out from others, especially when would be buyers are viewing homes online, and this can be done with neutral colour palettes rather than just a single stark shade of white.
Here is a look at some neutral colour options that will delight homebuyers and yet are subtle enough that they should be nicely inoffensive to live with in the meantime too!
Sunshine Infused Neutrals
Colors infused with yellow, the colour that evokes cheerfulness and hope, but great yellow neutrals can do more than that.
Yellow can brighten up a room that doesn’t have enough natural light. The trick is discovering the undertone of the shade of yellow. Yellow can have a green or orange undertone that can be pleasant or terrible, depending on the surroundings. It can even have a gold undertone that can be downright garish!
We recommend testing various shades of yellow on a wall and watching how the light changes throughout the day.
When it comes to yellow, subtle is best. You don’t want to accidentally end up with something brash because the evening light plays a trick on you!
One of the great things about yellow is that it can look good in any home style, whether Colonial, Contemporary, Victorian, or Traditional. Yellow has been loved by every generation because everyone gravitates to sunshine.
Check out this graphic from Better Homes and Gardens for some great yellow neutral inspiration

Natural Blues and Greens
Green hues are great for bringing a little of the natural world inside. Most people respond to natural shades of green and blue positively. Blue and green hues are soothing and relaxing and are traditionally great for bedrooms.
Kitchens and living rooms can also benefit from a wash of green or blue. Sometimes a busy room can be calmed with the addition of blue or green-tinted neutral walls. A blue-green shade can evoke a coastal or beach aura in a room but it can also add elegance, especially to a very modern room.
The key to using these shades successfully in home staging is keeping them very subtle. All the colours in the graphic below do that wonderfully well.

Grey
Grey is a colour that works well with modern home staging and in homes in general. Grey is clean, soothing, and appeals to both genders. According to color psychology, grey is the colour of compromise and cooperation, an unemotional color. It makes a great choice for a neutral shade when staging a contemporary space as it will add depth and interest without drawing attention away from the rest of the space.
There are many shades of grey (no movie reference intended!) to choose from “Greige” leans to the taupe end of the spectrum, and is a current home design favourite, while “steel” tends toward the blue end. All the paint colours below from Benjamin Moore are considered grey neutrals, but, as you can see are all rather different, proving that the colour does not have to be boring at all!

Wonderful Whites for Winning Home Staging
Just need a good white? Some spaces really do call for that simplicity. However, again, it’s not easy to make the right choice. Even ‘standard’ white comes in so many shades!
To help, we’ve assembled this little cheat sheet featuring some of the best shades of ‘decorating white’.
Du Jour

Valspar’s Du Jour is a very classic white that boasts just a hint of gray. The shade works well in any room and pairs nicely with other neutrals, pastels, or even brighter colors. Here it's been used to help create a perfectly staged kitchen dining area, but it's actually great for use all over the home.
White Dove

Benjamin Moore’s White Dove is one of the company’s bestselling whites, and it’s not hard to see why. Some whites are too bright for many rooms – especially those that already receive plenty of natural daylight – but this shade is just cool enough, as it has a hint of gray that softens it. It also does not yellow when it dries, something that some white shades do.
Wimborne White

Farrow and Ball is an English company, and this paint is named after the town in the south of England the company is based in. The town is known for being a bright, sunny tourist haven in the summer and the tiny amount of yellow in this shade of white reflects that. This shade is excellent for adding light and warmth to darker spaces and has a nice warmth that can soften a very angular, contemporary look perfectly.
Delicate White

Delicate White by Olympic is one of the best choices you can make if you need to touch up trim, windowsills or other similar details. It’s cool and creamy without being too stark and it will complement almost any color it is used alongside.
White Paint Selection Tips
Whatever white shades catch your eye, testing them out at home before you buy them is a must. The undertones in any white shade tend to become more prominent once applied, so the shade you see on the paint chip might turn out very differently.
The good news is that most paint stores do offer those tiny sampler paints. Make sure you paint an area of two to three feet square though, to get a proper feel for the way the color would look if it was the option you eventually chose.
In the bustling real estate market of Waterloo Region, where impressions can make or break a deal, choosing the right neutrals for home staging is more than just an aesthetic choice—it's a strategic one. Team Pinto knows that every detail matters when you're looking to sell your home quickly and at the best possible price. So don't leave anything to chance; get in touch with us today.
With our years of experience and keen understanding of what buyers are looking for, we'll guide you through the nuances of color psychology and home staging to ensure that your home appeals to the widest audience possible. Don't settle for less when it comes to one of your most valuable assets. T
Trust Team Pinto to bring the expertise, passion, and personalized service you need to make your home stand out in Waterloo Region's competitive market. Reach out now and let's turn your home into a buyer's dream!