Painting Your Bathroom This Color Could Earn You $4,700

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Couple picking a paint color for their home
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Painting a bathroom blue can mean a lot of extra green when selling your home, according to a new Zillow interior paint color analysis.

Homes with light blue bathrooms could sell for up to $4,698 more than expected.

On the other hand, using the wrong color paint could backfire. Homes with trendy mint green kitchens might sell for $1,830 less than you expect, according to Zillow.

The Zillow-commissioned study of nearly 1,300 recent or prospective U.S. homebuyers looked at various colors and scored them based on how interested participants were in touring and buying a home. It also ranked colors in terms of how much participants would be willing to pay to purchase a home after viewing a specific color in a particular room

Zillow calculated the price premiums based on a typical U.S. home value of $290,000.

Light blue bathrooms scored a 93 out of 100 with participants, who said they were willing to pay 1.6% more than expected — or $4,698 — on a typical U.S. home.

Dark blue primary bedrooms also were a big hit, scoring 89 out of 100, and seeing a price premium of $1,491. Deep charcoal gray and rich forest green also earned top in the bedroom.

Amanda Pendleton, Zillow’s home trends expert, notes that the cost of interior painting averages $385 per room, adding that “the right colors can pay for themselves.”

Just make sure to avoid choosing the wrong colors. Zillow says that although mint green kitchens are trendy, participants said they would pay $1,830 less for a home with this feature.

Other kitchen colors that elicited negative comments — including “gross” and “really ugly” — were fire-hydrant red and sunshine yellow.

Ultimately, playing it safe might be your best bet, according to Zillow. That is especially true in common spaces, such as the kitchen and living room. The color white earned an 80 out of 100 in the kitchen. Light gray in the living room scored a 92.

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