The Power of Paint and Curb Appeal
- The exterior transformation that got my name out on social media and this house sold quickly!
This has been a wonderful year! I am working more in my town of Greenville, Texas more than ever. It’s been a blessing to help my community and not to have to drive so much! A lot of that is thanks to a wonderful local Realtor, Sarah Norris, who has teamed up with me.
Let me tell you about one of our latest selling projects that was not only a fantastic addition to my portfolio, but also a transformation that caught the eye of THE Kylie of Kylie M. Interiors. Even though we have been very friendly on Instagram, Kylie made a surprise post about me, telling her followers to give me a follow on Instagram and Threads. I am still in awe and incredibly grateful! If you don’t know of the paint color guru that is Kylie M. Interiors, you should definitely follow her too!
This summer Sarah had a listing that she and buyers knew needed paint and stain, but they were thinking white for the paint color. Sarah wanted me to make sure that was a good idea, so she contacted me. I am so glad she did, because white was not it for this cutie! These are the photos I first saw from her:
Before - This is the photo I was sent in text of the front of the home. Very drab and sad.
Before - the side of the home sent to me in text.
Oh, and they needed help quickly because in real estate everything needed to be done yesterday! Eek!
I knew right away that this little home needed a bit more color than just white, but not dark since it sits in a lot of shade. And it needed a little pop of color for the front door. I wanted buyers to be impressed from the online photos, and from their view of it on the road!
So after a quick consultation with Sarah at the house, I had the paint colors for the body, trim, porch ceiling, and front door selected. I also selected a stain color. Plus, I gave the sellers suggestions to power wash everything, remove the lattice on the front porch, and to put the money and time into staining the back deck too that wasn’t in the plan instead of worrying about changing the design of the front porch columns like the seller was thinking of doing. Not shown are the shed and shop, but I suggested having the shop match the house and reversing the color scheme for the shed that is small and in between the buildings.
This was a quick consultation, so there wasn’t time for larger swatches.
And for those of you who haven’t seen it, here is the result!
It’s like a different house! You might want to scroll back up to the before. There’s some body to the color so it contrasts with the white trim, and a pop of color for the door.
Here you can see the shed and shop behind it. The shed has the opposite color scheme from the house and shop.
The door color adds so much cheer, but fits this country home. I knew we needed to paint the ceiling to brighten the porch.
Staining the deck made sense because when you start making parts of a home fresh, the old and tired stick out like sore thumbs! Plus, here in Texas, it’s deck season for most of the year. Which means that deck was a selling point!
I am sure you want to know what colors I used. Just keep in mind that not all colors will work on all houses. The body is Benjamin Moore’s Edgecomb Gray. It’s a lovely greige that actually does work inside and outside on many homes that are different styles. I have also used it on cabinets for baths and kitchens. The trim is the wonderful one and only White Dove by Benjamin Moore, and the door color is Benjamin Moore’s Wythe Blue. The stain is Behr’s Tugboat. My favorite sheen for exteriors is satin because it looks expensive; it’s just enough shine, but not so much that it shows all the flaws.
I also had the privilege of staging this home on acreage, and it was sold in a little over a month! I’ll show you some of the staging I did. This house had a strange layout that would’ve confused buyers without some visual aid. I was even a bit confused at first, which is how I knew we had to stage it! Sarah loved it! She gave me probably the best reaction I’ve had to my work. I was a bit concerned my head wouldn’t fit through doors after that. Haha!
View from the front door. What’s really cool to me is that I hadn’t seen the inside of the home when I selected the paint colors. I think houses talk to me! :)
Without staging you probably wouldn’t know you could fit an 8×10 rug and comfortable seating for 5 in a smaller, 3 bedroom home.
Let me know what you think of all this! Which part is your favorite? If you have any questions about paint, staging, or design please ask! I serve a one hour radius around Greenville, Texas and would love to help you!