I love flipping through color books and paint swatches, it totally brightens my mood and gives me energy.
For color consultations, I sometimes bring a few of my color books to a client’s home because not everyone is prepared to tell me what they like.
Flipping through the pages helps them figure out what look and mood they’re drawn to before I recommend their new paint colors.
That applies when I’m doing a color consultation as part of an interior redesign discussion.
When I’m choosing colors for home staging, I don’t care too much about what the client likes. It doesn’t matter what they’ll feel comfortable living with, because in a staging situation it’s all about decorating for home buyers.
Over the past week, I’ve done two color consultations (for people who aren’t moving) and this book by Leatrice Eiseman came in handy.
It’s called Colors For Your Every Mood: Discover Your True Decorating Colors
First Color Consultation
My first appointment was at a luxury home in Forest Hill that had been totally gutted top to bottom. It was really a challenge because the place was still a construction site. There was no furniture. Much of the final lighting was yet to be installed!
The owner had her iPad with photos of things she liked, and we went from there.
In this case, I had to stay fairly neutral because I had no idea what precise colors her furniture and art actually were.
And in most rooms, I didn’t have floor color as a reference because the hardwood had yet to be installed.
For this home I relied exclusively on the colors I recommend in the Staging Diva Ultimate Color Guide: The Easy Way to Pick Color for Home Staging Projects.
I know they work in a wide variety of homes and with different lighting and furniture styles.
Standing there surrounded by construction debris and wearing my coat because there was no heat, I managed to choose a color palette for this 5 bedroom, 3-story home in only two hours!
Since her husband had written out my $500 check in advance (before driving off to keep their son amused during our meeting), there was no way I wanted to go over the allotted 2 hours.
I believe in being paid for my advice, so I kept it short and sweet so we could finish within the deadline!
QUICK TIP: One of the ways I made it easier for myself to work in this situation was by opening one of my color fan decks and having her help me choose what color she thought the furniture for each room was.
Naturally, her visual memory of the actual colors may not be accurate, but I needed something to go by!
When evaluating wall color options, I’d put them up against the “red” of the couch, or the “blue” of the dining room chairs, for example.
Second Color Consultation
For my second color consulting client, I did a home in the Beaches area that was built in 1919. It had lots of dark wood trim (which they didn’t want to paint) and leaded glass windows.
The couple was very nice and the husband really warmed up to the whole process about 30 minutes into my visit.
When I arrived he had his arms crossed over his chest. Once we hit the kitchen and he showed off his new 6 burner gas stove, and told me about the chef certificate course he’s taking, he became much more open.
It turns out he’s a very talented (amateur) photographer and we had fun hanging many of his works in various rooms of the home.
His wife served tea, and together we finalized which glass tile to use for their newly renovated kitchen. Then we chose drapery for the living and dining rooms (from the many options she’d bought ahead of time), and finalized paint colors for the entire house.
In this client’s case we could have more courage with color because I could see what they liked and all the furniture and lighting were in place.
We came up with a fabulous color palette that really pulls the rooms together and works with the dark wood trim.
It was a lovely afternoon for all of us. I know because she hugged me at the end and said all her questions were answered (how many jobs does that happen in?).
And I left with a check equal to what many people make in an entire week after only 2.5 hours work. I don’t say this to brag, but to emphasize that it’s possible to be REALLY well paid for your creative talent when you understand the business of home staging and color consulting!
It really is a joy to do work that you love, help people and be well-paid for it at the same time.
If you love the idea of doing what I’ve just described, and you’re struggling to get paid what you’re worth, I encourage you to listen to the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.
I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at two of my color consultations for clients who aren’t selling their homes. I’d love for you to share some of your own experiences by commenting below.
I’m taking a poll and you can vote by commenting.
The question is: Do you have trouble choosing colors for your own home even if it’s “easy” to do it for a client? It’s really hard for me, how about you?
I have to admit, I truly surprise myself at most of my color consultations. Some how I’m able to zero in on color cues pretty easily. There have been many times where I’ve opened a fan deck and quickly gravitated straight to the color that really works. I found that I see color in layers. My eyes can dig down to the shade’s undertones, and also understand any highlights in the mix. I don’t know how this comes to me. I haven’t really studied color in an art course, but I always try to stay in tune with nature for guidance and influence. I guess you could say the world around me is my classroom.
Leah, I loved that you shared this experience with everyone!!! I totally know what you mean about seeing colors in layers, I do that too and I believe it’s pretty much an instinct.
Though I do believe many people can fine-tune this ability by spending time comparing colors to each other within the fan deck. The more you look at color (and especially colors relative to each other) the more you become more aware of the subtleties of color.
Choosing colors gets easier the more you do it, with one exception — when you’re choosing them for your own home. I can do an entire house (and have it turn out fantastic), in the same time it takes me to fret about the color I want in my own master bedroom. Does anyone else find that?
It can take me longer to choose a color for my own bedroom then it takes to do an entire client’s house. Do you have that problem too??
Hi Debra,
Yes, in spite of the fact that I absolutely love colour and do many colour consultations, it takes ages to decide when it is for my own home. Most decorators that I know have that challenge. I actually end up asking my friend who is talented in that way for an opinion. I think it is partly because we see it everyday and we have the advantage that often we are walking into the client’s room for the first time. Nothing like a first impression! Which works very well for staging as that is how potential buyers are also seeing it.
Karen, thanks so much for your comments! You’re right, that objectivity is so key!
Debra, you are probably just fussier than most about what colours are in your home – not any less capable in that setting. I am the same. And there are times when I have a colour in my head but cannot find it (my Dulux atlas has 4,500 colours in it, and yes, sometimes what I am after is just not there!) You probably also have, like me, a good colour memory – which, I didn’t realise until a few years ago, is very rare. I often shop for items to match a colour that I haven’t brought along samples for – no problems! It is the greatest boon to me to know personal colour typing (I am image consultant too) – this gives the most fantastic head start when working with a client and fast, foolproof schemes they love.
Hi Jeanette, thanks for your comments. Totally know what you mean about color memory. When I was a kid my mother would take me shopping for her work wardrobe. She’d carry fabric swatches from skirts she’d had shortened so she could find blouses to match. I didn’t need to look at the swatches because I could always remember the exact shades if I’d seen them before. I too didn’t know this was unusual, I just thought she was “bad” at color 🙂
I’ve been thinking about changing up the colors in my own home and I do admit that I struggle more with this decision than I ever do with my staging or redesign clients. Home sellers in general are more than willing to neutralize the interior color of their for-sale property because they know they are moving on to a new home. But redesign projects, even when it involves our own homes, cause some hesitation because changes with interior color are more permanent and long-lasting. I don’t know about you, but I also have a family members who like to give me their opinions when they realize I may be changing the colors inside our home. That does tend to neutralize my enthusiasm if I have any bold ideas!
Stacy, So appreciate you commenting! I can totally relate to what you said.
On a personal note, I find with most of my “life decisions” when people around me think I’m crazy, I’m on the right track!
I am a HUGE color person. Nothing turns me off more than a beige blah house. That being said when preparing our “cottage in the country” as I call it here to put on the market, I did change most of the colors in the house to more subdued softer shades of yellow, sage and blues instead of the darker bolder colors that I had for my taste. Though I did keep some rooms the same color because I just liked them and the rooms were already completely decorated for that color. Having had two open houses so far, many people wanted to know who staged our home and loved everything! Hopefully we will get an offer soon so we can move to FL and I can look more seriously into your home staging courses and a future in it as well! That is a dream I hope will come true very soon.
Thanks for sharing your experience Becky! It does sound like you’re a natural. I hope you take lots of photos of your home for your future home staging portfolio. Even if you don’t have “before” of your rooms, you could shoot those after you sell and start dismantling everything.
Here’s where you can learn more about the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.
Yes! I do have trouble choosing wall color for my own home even though it’s easy to help someone else! I’ve had gray walls before gray was in! I have white washed oak floors and light gray area carpets and I think I’m headed for an almost white blue hue, just to freshen things up. I think all my current pictures, Knick knacks, and curtain will remain the same! It’s hard though, changing your own home!
I actually have gotten much quicker choosing colors for my own home over the last 11 years I’ve been staging — the knowledge from classes I’ve taken and my experience choosing for other people has helped me know better what works best for me 🙂 I love these 2 real-life examples — I would have found choosing for new construction without the lighting in place and at least photos of the owner’s rugs and furniture very difficult, but sounds like you made it work well!
Thanks for commenting Amy! It’s a pleasure to still have you in the Staging Diva community after all these years. Congratulations on your success as a home stager!