Choosing a Color Code & Gloss

Colors can be an expression of one’s personality.  When living in your home colors can add a layer of expression that truly make it feel like home.  Common items can be having accent walls in the main living spaces like a living or family room, adding wallpaper which can add personality to a room and choosing to color the nursery with kids’ colors that give a nice and warm look and feel.  Though these are all great when living in your own home, an owner must consider what is in their best interest when turning a property into a rental.  At this checkpoint, a decision must be made as to what Color Code will be used for the rental property.  Best practices are to choose one neutral color code throughout the property as this gives a cohesive look and feel to the home, neutral colors will appeal to most renters therefore making it easier rent quickly and finally… it helps lower costs during The Turn Process!

Three Components

Though a property has many surface areas that may need painting it can be narrowed down to three components. The following are the three components with our recommendation of color and gloss:

1. Ceilings: White with a Flat paint.

2. Walls: Choice of white or light gray with a Low Sheen paint.  

3. Millwork: This category includes crown molding, baseboards, trim, window casings, doors, cabinets, etc.  We recommend white with a Semi-Gloss paint.  

CHOOSING A COLOR CODE

Dunn Edwards

With hundreds of options to choose from it can be overwhelming to settle on a color code.  Our go-to brand of choice is Dunn Edwards and the following two colors are neutral choices that do well with virtually all properties:

OPTION ONE: White

Name: Swiss Coffee  

Code: DEW 341

3-D Tour

OPTION TWO: Light Gray

Name: Crisp Muslin

Code:  DE 6212

3-D Tour

STEP TWO: CHOOSING A GLOSS

Types of Glosses

With dozens of pain stores in the marketplace (Dunn Edwards, Sherwin Williams, Vista Paint, Behr, Benjamin Moore, etc.) each may have their own word for the type of gloss’ they offer.  For more information on glosses, you can view the article Selecting Paint Gloss by Dunn Edwards.  The following are the categories as offered by Dunn Edwards:

• Flat

• Velvet

• Eggshell

• Low Sheen

• Semi-Gloss

• Gloss

• High Gloss

Notating Your File

While we recommend the above colors and glosses, we are happy to work with any color or gloss of an owner’s choosing and will update an owner’s Property Spec Sheet to notate the Ceiling, Walls & Millwork.