subject: What Does Light Have To Do With Selling A Home? [print this page] Maybe, everything. Maybe, everything.
Real estate pros will tell you that when people are looking for a home they will nearly always say they want a place that feels light and airy. Donna Freeman says no one ever asked to see a dark and dreary house.
Its the real reason dark wall finishes dont work well at resale.
Buyers want LIGHT.
There are actually 3 aspects to the LIGHT problem in homes.
1. The first things that bring light to interior spaces are WINDOWS. When your house is for sale you want the windows to be front and center in the lookers eyes. How do you do it? You open all drapes and curtains. You hang all drapes and curtains so that when they are open the glass is completely uncovered. Finally you hang all drapes and curtains high, just under the crown molding and wide to make the window look bigger. Windows are the most expensive item in any house so it is important to make them look good!
2. The next part of making a house look lighter is to have lots of great LIGHTING and have it all on when people are looking at the house. There are 3 kinds of lighting. Ambient lighting is the background lighting that gives a room a warm glow all over. Many homes lack good ambient lighting. It is the kind of lighting where you want to see the LIGHT, not the fixture that produces the light. You can get it with a few can lights that wash light up the walls in dark corners, rope lighting that can light the tops of cabinets and wardrobes, and overhead lighting like the kind builders put in rooms. The next lighting you may have is feature lighting like chandeliers or eyeball lights around fireplaces, fountains, art or other special features. The third lighting is lamps and work lighting for counters, end tables and mid-level spaces in rooms. Good lighting can help make up for less than stellar windows.
3. The third aspect of light in spaces is the COLOR and PAINT finishes in your house. The relocation companies that help corporations sell transferred employees homes buy ivory paint by the hundreds of gallons. They do it so they can cover up all those paint mistakes, kid art projects, color disasters and worn walls that homeowners messed up. You dont HAVE to go with ivory but do go LIGHT. Light neutrals with white trim always do better than dark colors at resale.
A light filled interior is something that buyers want that many homeowners fail to understand or provide when they try to sell their homes. But the magic lighting brings to homes is very important to creating a favorable image and glow in buyers minds. Give buyers what they want. Let there be LIGHT.
