What colour kids rooms to sell?

[purplewhitegreen]

My children's rooms currently both have murals.

DS's room has blue walls with a mural on two of them, a red contrast wall and a dark blue ceiling (with star stickers). His furniture is wood (mostly pine)

We're going to paint over all of that I think, he's a bit old for the style of mural anyway. Trying to keep costs down (and I'm thinking we'll need loads of coats!) but thinking probably white all over, then coloured furnishings in the room to brighten it. Is white too harsh? Would it put people off?

It'd be easier if we could keep the blue ceiling or the red accent wall, but am I right in thinking they'd put people off?

My DD's room is already white, (and it goes with her white furniture with colourful accents). One wall has a much more recent mural of a woodland scene, it's well done and looks lovely in my (biased!) opinion.

DD loves it. DP and I are in two minds over whether to paint over it foe viewings or not. Options are:

• paint it all white
• keep the mural but let potential buyers know, that we painted over a mural in the other room just fine, and offer to get rid of it if they don't like it?
• paint it all some other colour

WWYD?

The dining room is this colour (not my actual house, some random picture of the internet with the right colour!)

I love it! But - there's no question it has to be painted over, I know it's not everyone's taste. And, I usually hate pink, too. It's the vibrancy of this shade that I love.

Magnolia with white woodwork is less harsh!

This is what I want to know - do people still do magnolia or has it had its day?

People used to say white was too clinical or just too much, but I have a feeling that's maybe changed now?

(Personally I love a white background with vibrant furnishings but this isn't for me, it's for potential buyers)

Paint over it all and add the pops of colour accessories. It's not about explaining to potential buyers it's easy to paint over, its getting them through the door. It's currently a buyers market and they'll move quickly on to the next prospect if it's not on point, or they'll look to knock off money. It's better to look like a ready to move into property with zero work required vs hitting a certain percentage of prospective buyers imho.

Paint everything so it looks clean and fresh. Your mural won’t appeal to others.

Irregardless of the final colour you want, if you put several coats of grey over the mural as a base layer - it will give you better coverage. If you just try white you’ll be painting and repainting patches for days.

Magnolia’s horrible. Pure Brilliant White is cheap but actually has blue mixed in so is a bit cold. If room is north facing/doesn’t feel inviting it might not be nice. You can find a warm white sample and have it colour matched relatively inexpensively.

Don’t paint the whole thing white it just looks sterile / like a rental.

Go for some easy neutrals- “dove white” or “rum Carmel” 5 or 6 from Dulux are generally winners

Don’t do magnolia. Either white or pale off white type colours (if you trust your taste to pick good ones). Plaint over the mural. Unless it looks like a bottecelli most buyers will be looking at it thinking if the hassle of painting over it.

Can it all be white? (Would be so easy!)
Yes! Don’t do magnolia but get the modern version of it, whatever that is in the UK at the moment.
Also, get some undercoat to save yourself some work.

Go for grey in your dd room

White in dd room

Grey is the current magnolia whether you like it or not.

White it definitely the easiest as you don’t have to worry about the edges where the ceiling is.

Why the hell would a buyer care how you want to decorate a house your leaving.

If you ever want to undo your personalisation always go back to “new house white”

When people come to view you can always discuss things like carpets etc, they might want them replaced before you move it.

A house viewing is a two way process, they see the house as is and you find out what their hangups are and see how any can be addressed, you will sell far quicker that way.

Yes, paint the whole thing white, it will look so fresh.

And agree that you want to get boots through the front door.

We live in an area where houses were selling in a weekend for £££££££s. Now it’s taking months. It’s a buyers market. So pander to that buyer and make your home as neutral as possible.

Repainting it all is a good idea to make it look fresh but not bright white. It is too clinical. Go for a softer off white.

If you can mix and use it all in one go the mix 15l of magnolia with 15l of white. They are still the cheapest by far and it takes the starkness off the white and the datedness of the magnolia. Ceiling white though.

A bright pink dining room would def put me off buying as it’s just be another job to add to my list of things to do. Ditto murals in kids rooms.

I’d personally prefer magnolia to white throughout as a buyer but as a seller I’d paint it white as it’s dead easy to do walls and ceiling without being careful and all that cutting in faff. And white would be better than vivid colours for sure.

Also yes I’ve mixed trade magnolia and white together before and it’s lovely.

We've just bought a house with some vibrant colour choices - and a couple of kids murals on the walls despite the fact that we're a 60-something couple. It was the only house I wanted - perfect location in a vibrant village - beautiful kitchen and bathrooms. So I was perfectly happy to look past the colours. But now we're in - guess what? I love the mushroom colour in the sitting room, and the purple wall in the second sitting room and have upcycled some of my painted furniture to match. Combined with a deeply coloured red, pink and blue oriental rug and lots of large houseplants it looks stunning. Admittedly a bright pink feature wall in one of the bedrooms has to go, also the kids murals - but a small inconvenience compared to getting the house I wanted. I came from an all-white painted period cottage that admittedly sold in two weeks! So can identify with each selling tactic.

Magnolia with white woodwork is less harsh!

good god don't do magnolia. It has totally had its day and looks very dated.

If you are selling just do all the rooms in white. Timeless is nice. Almond white is also nice.

White rooms do not look harsh when you have furniture, windows with curtains, bedding, sofas, and a few nice pictures on the walls.

Any buyers who have a strong send of interior decoration will change and its easy to paint over. Anyone who doesn't will find the clean and fresh white easy to live with and easy to accessories.

Personally I'm a fan of PBW on all walls and ceilings if the house is light and airy it can take it... So much easier like PP says don't worr about wall and cealing join. Or alternatively Timeless as it seems to work well in sunny south facing rooms and dark north facing rooms.

I would decorate it all in a light cream. Don't forget buyers like me who don't have kids who will be looking at those bedrooms as potential offices/guest rooms!

I'd prefer magnolia with white woodwork but up to you. I don't think magnolia is really a fashionable thing so can't be dated. White all over can be really cold - my parents just bought a new build and it's filled with lovely things but until they paint it feels cold.

Magnolia is warm and clean. The buyer will most likely change it but it will make the rooms feel bigger without being too harsh or clinical imo.

When I say magnolia - I mean light cream/magnolia family. Farrow and ball do some great tones which you can colour match at Dulex.

Magnolia is cheapest though as you can buy huge pots of the stuff.

Ah I still remember the house we nearly bought with the whale mural. I'd vote for leaving DD's.

For the rest split the difference. Maybe something like cotton white upstairs and Egyptian cotton downstairs. All white is a bit too clinical, something vaguely taupe-y but still very pale will take the edge off without making it look too magnolia rental style. But I wouldn't paint the whole house, a spark of interest is a positive thing I think. House doctor back in the day would often inject colour, judiciously.

I'm very boring but my entire house is in a shed called 'Just Walnut.' It's a very pale, cool beige I suppose. And I have that in the kids room and everywhere - kitchen and bathroom.

I don't like brightly painted walls or murals but like to think I could see past it in the right house for me

I really don't understand this obsession with repainting. Where I come from it's customary to paint the house you move into to 'refresh' it.
Ditto foe flowers and baked bread/cake smell...

I really don't understand this obsession with repainting

It's because loads of buyers have absolutely no imagination and can't see beyond what's there. Or think it'll be a massive hassle. so it adds value to get rid of too much personality!

Also if you have a very expensive house then the people looking at it likely have access to large amounts of money for decoration. But for more ordinary houses, they may have stretched themselves to afford the house, and they may not be able to afford professional help but not really have the time or skills to take on jobs.

When I sold my flat, I did the kitchen up before leaving as it needed doing and I knew buyers would put ££££ on it mentally. But I knew where to get some great bargains so I did the entire (small) kitchen for about £1.5k and it looked great. That put significantly more value on the flat that £1.5k IMO.