Soften Up Your Home’s Interior Color Choices

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR(R) Magazine

Move over gray. Pastels and whites are softening up the color palette of more homes in 2016.

On-trend colors of pastels are entering more household décor, like in accessories from decorative bowls and vases to florals and throw pillows. The major paint companies all agree: Lighter colors and whites are this year’s go-to interior colors.

Pantone voted Rose Quartz (a pinkish hue) and Serenity (a soft blue) its colors of the year for 2016. Sherwin-Williams announced Alabaster – an off-white tone– as its 2016 Color of the Year, echoing Benjamin Moore’s choice of Simply White.

White can be a particularly great choice when prepping a home for sale. But to keep white walls from looking too sterile, layer in lots of rich texture when selling a home, sats home stager Julie Young with BY Design Home Staging in San Antonio, Texas.

“If it’s an all-white room, it can feel static and cold.” Texture – like through organic materials of branches or colored orchids or even different tones of white accessories – can help make an otherwise monotone space feel more warm and welcoming to buyers, Young says.