Interior Paint Colours

[Queen Bee]

I'm about to start painting the entire inside of my new IP. I'm painting over the old wallpaper, which is very lovely 70's brown flower style paper. Maybe I could leave it, it might come back into style one day.

I'm having a debate with a number of people (including my partner) about colours. I want to paint all the walls the same colour, kind of a creamy colour (yuck I personally hate cream on cream - and it's going to be really hard for me to actually put the stuff on the walls). But then I'm getting my own way a bit by putting in "feature walls".

All of a sudden, everyone's a "painting expert" and "colour consultant". I think it will really bring the place (which is 50's) into the 21st century by having a bit of colour in the house. "People" seem to think that I should just paint the interior all one colour so that the tenants can make the place their own - and not having "my colours" intrude upon them.

I don't agree. Anyway, I've done alot of research over the past year regarding colour in houses. As Floorsanders, we go into alot of peoples homes and I know what works and what doesn't.

What do other people think or what are their personal experiences. I know it's more expensive to do feature walls because you have to get extra paint, but I've got heaps of paint left over from my various painting exercises at my house and one of my relations works in a paint shop so I can get the paint really cheap anyway.

Also, when I bought my first IP (a couple of weeks ago) I didn't have any problems getting good tenants, and I didn't get one negative remark from anyone about the colours in the house. The colours in that house had already been done, and I didn't do anything to the place, but they were pretty bright even by my standards.

Any feedback would be appreciated, or even directions to previous threads.

Cheers
Queen Bee

 

[foxysilvers]

After you have done a couple of hundred renoes I am positive you will not give a damm what prospective tenants colour preferences are..........as long as the place is clean , tidy and up to all legal requirements there is no need to go any further.
Property development or improvement for the rental market is just a business like any other and it pays to toughen up.

For the record, all my rental renoes have been the same cream and off white either sprayed or applied with the biggest rollers possible to lift.

Also to be fair I always do a quality job with good material but do not try to have anything but a business relationship with tenants.

And.........you are right...........I am an old fart........but a rich one!

 

[geoffw]

Have a look at Jas's before and after pix on http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8029 for some idea of what colours can do- the feature wall in the bedroom pictured is a feature through the house, and gives a good positive impact- and a Wow factor (as well as the furniture).

My picture in http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=49174#post49174 was mainly aimed at floors- but the feature wall is a Dulux "suede effects". You can't tell much from the picture, but it has a good textured feel- though much more expensive than normal paint.

People do have very different tastes- some of the bright contrasting colours which seem popular don't really appeal to me much at all.

But we have gone for looks which seem to be shown frequently in the display homes- I figure those people have done their research well.

Jas was aiming at selling her house, and I was after renting out. But, either way, something that adds a good positive impact quickly can add a lot to the appeal- which can easily translate into rent or sale price.

That can be especially important if there is a surpuls of properties- it makes your property stand out.

 

[asy]

Hey Bee!!

If you want 'A creamy colour'... Have a look at Dulux "Antique White USA"

It's a fantastic colour, just like a really warm creamy white, but with no brown or yellow tinges.

We have just painted the office in this colour (With highlights of a red called "Heart" by Wattyl.

I am really happy with the colour.

hope this helps,

asy

 

[Kevmeister]

My biggest surprise comes from your comment that you are going to paint over the old wallpaper. Is this normal?

 

[beech]

You read my mind Kev.
Does it actually come up as good over the top of wallpaper?

Darren

 

[XBenX]

ive noticed it before - doesnt look too bad - you cant really notice it other than when you get up close you can see the patterns in the paint (its not really a bad thing, just different)

 

[Michael Croft]

Hi all,

All my rental properties are the same colour on the inside, only the feature wall varies. The colours are white skirting and architraves, white doors, white ceilings and (you guessed it) cream walls.

The cream is a light cream to make the most of natural lighting and opens up the places. Over the years it has also been the least offensive to the greatest number of prospective tenants (I started renos when brown and burnt orange and/or lime green were all 'the go' and still used cream).

The feature wall I chose is the wall that will make the most impact on arrival and is usually in the lounge room (often the old fireplace jutout). This walls colour changes with fashion - if burnt orange ever seriously makes a reappearance, that'll be it.

Painting over wall paper is OK only if it ain't going to come off as you apply the paint - watch those edges/joins. If the wall paper is porous the water based paints will soak through the paper and may cause the glue to relaese. I had a funny experience 30 years ago putting the second coat on wall paper and the paper wrapping round the roller - well it seems funny now.

If you're in a hurry give a small room a try and see how you go, if succesful well and good. If not hire a steamer, remove paper, then sugar soap the walls. If you are succesful and want to repaint properly in a few years time you may need to prick the painted paper with a special roller first to allow the steam to penetrate. I found just ripping the bulk of the paper off first worked just as well if not better than the roller.

Some of the advantages of using the same colours (and gloss levels) on all my properties;
I don't have to think about colours except the feature wall
I only need one set of paint tins for touch ups
Repaints are a breeze and usually only take one coat
The feature wall is usually done with a litre tin
When I did it myself it was easier and now pros charge me less.

It may seem boring but the tenants don't know that I have a formula - they think the place is clean, fresh and unique; and it saves me time and money.

Regards, Michael Croft

 

[adaran01]

Hello
Here are my feature walls, they are done with Dulux Suede effects, and the colour is palermo.
Underneath this is timber panelling as can be seen in the before picture, I filled the gaps in with a filler, after a year, I had some small problems with cracking, however I put selleys no more gaps in these cracks (I like to now call them expansion joints), painted back over them, and its as good as new.
Regards Adam

 

[adaran01]

picture 2

 

[adaran01]

Before photo, a bit dark !!!!!

 

[adaran01]

And yes one light is higher than the other, I must fix that !!!

 

[Queen Bee]

That room that you painted over the wood looks awesome. Nice colour too.

If I was painting the interior of my own house (and I have) I personally wouldn't even think about painting over the old wallpaper. But I go into alot of houses (for my business) and that's what 99.9% of investors do, paint straight over the old wallpaper. Just stick down any paper with glue that's come unstuck. Works fine. As long as the old paper is washed down with sugar soap first. Did a job for an investor this week - him and his wife went in with two buckets and two squeege mops. He squeeged the ceilings and walls with sugar soap and she came in behind him with clean water.

They started painting the next day. He said he didn't even use undercoat. Just used two top coats, although he said he had to put another coat on his red feature wall in the lounge because that quite often happens with dark colours anyway.

Last year alot of the feature walls were red, blue and green. This year it seems to be changing again. Starting to get into oranges, terrocottas, dark browns, etc. I even saw one recently where the guy had used a charcoal feature wall in his lounge. I thought it didn't look too bad, he liked it, his wife hated it.

Just like the polished floors, last year everyone wanted gloss, this year 90% are using satin or matt.

To each his own I suppose.

Cheers
Queen Bee

 

[Andrew]

Adaran, what timber have you used for your floor there?
It looks great.

andy

 

[adaran01]

Hello Andrew
The timber is tasmanian Oak (a soft hardwood), the area was exactly 50 SQM, and the cost was around $6000 for the boards, laying, sanding, and varnishing.
I noticed another thread here about sanding your own floors, I have renovated the entire house myself, and the only thing I did not, and would not do is the floor boards.
To much work, to much cost to hire equipment, and buying the floor boards is the biggest expense, if you stuff them up, it would not be good.
regards Adam

 

[Andrew]

Whoa, $120psqm!!! But it does look beautiful. Tenants are
people too but I don't treat mine this nicely, or is this for
your own enjoyment?

andy

 

[Elizabeth L]

A question for Michael Croft.
Anychance you could tell us what brand/colour of cream you use? I know it varies quite a bit. I've used Taubmans Cream, and more recently Dulux Regency White, but would be interested to know what has stood the test of time over the years.
Cheers
ElizabethL

 

[adaran01]

Hi Andrew
At $450 per week for a house I paid $260k for, I think its worth it.

 

[ndavy]

I am soon to be renovating an IP unit. As it is small I am painting the whole thing white to give a feeling of spaciousness. I personally like to use all the one colour as the uniformity is attractive to most people. Forget the orange/blue polka dot feature walls etc, if my reading of Australian taste is correct (esp in lower end of the market), then it's all about off-white! Changing Rooms has a lot to answer for. BTW, the above photos to look awesome though.

 

[Queen Bee]

Changing Rooms

Getting of the subject a bit - talking about Changing Rooms.

I was speaking to a guy the other day who said he'd been on Changing Rooms a while back to do some paint stripping with this product called Coopers. (Actually it's pretty amazing stuff). Anyway, he reckons Changing Rooms is actually 7 days long and not the 2 that they make us believe.

He said the bits we see on TV with the neighbours and designers doing all the work is crap. He said they tape all that beforehand and then they get professionals in to do all the rest. It doesn't surprise me though, because I was always amazed at how well all those women (and sometimes men) could sew. They say things like "can you sew" and the women goes "no". And then at the end of the show amazingly she's sewed all these roman blinds and couch covers. Believe me, I've tried couch covers and they're not that easy. And roman blinds - I wouldn't even go there!

Just a comment, sorry for getting off track!