10 Colors You Shouldn’t Have in Your Home
Updated: Apr. 13, 2023
You'll regret adding these colors at home.
Finding the Right Color
Picking out the perfect color for different parts of your house is challenging. On top of that, certain colors can add or decrease the value of your home. Check out the following colors pros say you shouldn’t have in your home.
Painting in Pastels
Baby blue and millennial candy pink are lovely and soothing, but they don’t translate well on the face of the home. “Curb appeal is very important, whether your home is on the market or not,” says Leneiva Head, owner of Welcome Home Realty in Tennessee. “You always want your home to feel welcoming.” And don’t forget the front door. It’s part of the all-important first impression.
Using Loud and Bold Colors
Hey, it’s your house, and if you want to paint your living room blood red and your kitchen pumpkin orange, go for it. But real estate agents would rather dip their paintbrushes into neutral colors. “There is a reason real estate agents and house flippers use neutral colors—they appeal to larger audiences,” says Parks. She also advises against wallpaper. There’s a slim chance a buyer will like it, and most buyers will take one look and think of the cost and labor to remove it.
Red and Yellow
In a 2019 episode of the popular home improvement show, Property Brothers: Buying and Selling, the duo—Jonathan and Drew Scott—noted that there are two colors that should never be used to paint interior walls: Red and yellow.
Warm White
Any white with a warm undertone can look dingy, especially in the wrong light. Consider Benjamin Moore’s Decorator’s White or Farrow & Ball’s All White, both of which are crisp without being clinical.
Builder’s Beige
The neutrals that can help sell a home can also give off a dirty cast. Avoid yellowy or greenish beige or khaki, which don’t cast anyone in a flattering light. If you want a nice neutral, consider something like Sherwin Williams’ Agreeable Gray, which deftly toes the line between taupe and gray.
Green
Again, those sneaky yellow undertones. Pale greens can sometimes feel like sickrooms, or cast a pallor upon your favorite faces. Instead of worrying about the relative minty-ness or sage-like qualities of light greens, consider cashing in on one of the latest trends, which looks flattering in both modern and historic homes: hunter green. Shy away from the browner undertones (such as Benjamin Moore’s Green Grove or Forest Hills) and opt for something like the deep, bold Chrome Green or the bluish Narragansett Green.
Pink
Pink can be a struggle. Too light and it feels sickly-sweet. Too muddy, and you guessed it—dirty. But the current pink trend has turned into using pink as a neutral, so choosing the right one may be in your future. Farrow & Ball’s Sulking Room Pink is sophisticated, muted and it has good depth. This is also an appropriate substitute for any terra-cotta tones you’re considering.
Copper Red
Zillow came out with a paint analysis back that took a look at the best colors to use to paint different parts of a house and found that kitchens painted brick red, terracotta or copper red sold for an average of $2,031 less than other homes.
Blue
A study by Appetite found that people ate more snack foods and drank more soft drinks that were in blue packaging, so that could extend into the kitchen if you decided to use that color.
Brown
Zillow’s analysis also found that homes that have a medium brown, taupe or stucco color sold on average $1,970 less than homes painted other colors.
