Painting your rental home is a great way to increase interest in your properties without spending a fortune. A fresh coat of paint can drastically change the appeal of a place, as well as cover up old smells and make a home feel more modern. For many renters, a freshly painted house is a sign of a well-maintained property that they can enjoy living in worry-free. When it comes to painting and color choices, here are a few tips:
Remember to Prime
While it may add an extra step and a few hours of extra drying time, priming your walls before you paint is a surefire way to cover up any old stains, smells or other marks left behind by previous renters. Regular paint isn’t strong enough to cover up dark marks and stains unless it has a primer mixed in. The good news is that priming your walls gives you a clean surface so you can paint any color you want over it, and you won’t have to worry about paint chipping or peeling in the near future.
Choose the Right Finish
Matte and flat finishes are totally in style right now, but they are not the best choice for a rental property. This is because they do not provide enough protection against stains, grease, and other marks. They are difficult to keep clean, and once greasy fingers leave marks on them, it takes a lot of scrubbing to get them cleaned up again. If you don’t want to be repainting again in the near future, it is best to go with a semi-gloss finish that has more of a protective sheen. Stains wipe away easily from these smooth surfaces, so you can keep your walls looking good for a much longer period of time. This is especially important in kitchens and bathrooms where stains are most likely to occur.
Choosing a Color
You want your rental home to be warm and welcoming. For the most part, sticking to lighter neutral shades is the best way to go. Nobody wants to rent a home that is plain white without any color, but they also don’t want to walk into a home that looks like the inside of a crayon box. Choose a beige, cream or off-white color for your walls, and add some white trim for a clean look. For bathrooms, you may want to branch out a little bit with some blue or green accents. Just try not to go too bold because it will be difficult to match colors in the future, and you don’t want to choose a color that will clash with prospective renter’s furniture.
Taking Pictures
The best way to get your home rented is to post great pictures online. Once you’ve finished painting, you really need to have professional pictures taken that showcase the beauty of your home. That means you want proper lighting so that visitors can get a true idea of what they’re walking into. When you’re selecting your paint, make sure to keep your windows open wide so you can see how the color looks in bright sunlight, as this will be the best indicator of your final look.
A little bit of color and some quality paint can go a long way toward ensuring that your rental property gets rented quickly and stays filled. Don’t cut corners by skipping the primer or choosing the wrong paint for the job, because that will only require more work in the long run. If you need help selecting colors for your home, make sure to speak with a paint specialist at Professional Painting who can show you the most popular neutral colors today.
