Think about a freshly-cut, vibrant bouquet of multi-colored tulips. They’re bright. They’re beautiful. They’re refreshing and awakening to the senses, and the soul.
Put those colors on your walls, and you now have some of the boldest paints being used this spring.
“Most of it is pretty much a lot of different blues and pinks, or neutral colors like light brown and purple,” said Emille Holman, a manager at PJ’s Ace Hardware in Oak Park, customer preference trends lately. “They tend to look at more brighter colors right now.”
A new coat of paint is the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to spruce up any area. It can quickly transform a room from drab to fab within a few hours. If you’re considering selling your home, you might want to stick with colors that aren’t too shockingly bright. You may love it, but your potential buyer might not. Better to put something less drastic on your walls. The Benjamin Moore color of the year for 2016 is called “Simply White,” and that may be a good one for those thinking about putting their home up for sale, because it’s just simply white, said Dan Lala, a salesman over at Paulson’s Paint in Forest Park.
They’re not seeing too many vivid color sales at Paulson’s, Lala said. Most people are still sticking with grays and neutrals like tan. Both have been popular lately, he said.
“There are a few quirky customers who come in and want neon green, but bright colors aren’t the go-to these days,” Lala said. “Maybe something bold for an accent wall.”
Mark your calendars now, because you can easily get some new paint or dump your old paint at the village’s annual latex paint exchange April 16 at the Public Works Center, 201 South Blvd. Dispose of unwanted but useable half-to-full cans of latex paint from 9 to 11 a.m. and then come back and pick up your freebie paint from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Even though the experts are showing muted colors like grays and light greens, at Norridge Ace Hardware, store manager Larry Jandris said his paint sales have been mixed.
“It seems like mostly it’s kind of like politics – it’s polarizing,” Jandris said. “More people are getting neutral colors and more people are getting bold colors and the middle ground is not doing too well.”
What’s “weird” about the expert color predictions is that they’re always predicting every color is going to be good, Jandris said. What’s also weird, he said, is that Benjamin Moore chose white for its color of the year.
“We’re trying to sell color here,” Jandris said.
Felicia Dechter is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press. Got a real estate-related story idea? Email [email protected].