Surprising Colour Trick to Selling a Red Hot House

There’s a little trick interior designers, architects and builders have been using to make buildings sell. This trick is to make the design red hot.

In the pre-historic days of building and interior design (let’s call these days the pre-2010’s) colour theory was all the rage. Different colours evoked different emotions and some colours drew the short straw. One of these colours was red.

Red was considered too loud, too bold, too demanding. It was supposed to represent a giant stop sign warning home buyers, corporate bodies and business entity’s that this property was a no-go.

And so builders were warned against it. Architects were told don’t even go there. Interior designers were told red is no longer part of the colourwheel. The red brick home was so longer the American dream – or the Kiwi dream for that matter.

Beige Brick by Boring Bring

“Stagers in large metropolitan markets have abandoned the bland, beige and neutral for a more vibrant style that employs color and eclectic decor,”

Home staging experts Robin DeCapua and Rachel Moore told Houzze. But on that note, you want to sell a canvas not a complete masterpiece. A house draped in red says I am pre-loved and finished. Buyers want to at least be able to envision a canvas to work on.

However red front doors won’t get people knocking

Red just isn’t appropriate in some places – like the front door. A recent survey found that red is the least favourite of colours for front doors, claims property website Asserta Homes.

Rules for Decorating with Red

The pre-historic days are long over. Red is back with avengance – and here are some simple suggestions from How To Choose to make it work for your design:

The truth is, there are no rules. Ignore any blog that tells you add a slice of red here or a touch of red here. Red is a daring colour. And if you’re a daring person, it does not matter how much red you use.

While there are no rules for red, there are some general decorating guidelines that can be used for any colour or design element:

• Balance is everything. Balance colour, balance space. Learn Feng Shui if you must
• Colours evoke certain moods – consider what rooms you want to evoke what reactions.
• Red can be bright and sexy. It can also be antique and rustic. Colour is less about it’s category and more about it’s tone.