I’m residing my house. The awful aluminum siding is getting chalky and I hate it. I’m looking at Hardiplank.
So I decided on Blue. Blue of the sky, of sapphires, of the eyes of an Alaskan Husky.
Immediately I began hearing from all sides, “Don’t get blue siding. It’s hard to sell blue houses!”
WTF?
So I drove around town and of the hundred or so houses in my historic neighborhood, only one was blue, and I thought it was very nice.
Anyone confirm the “Curse of the Blue Siding”? Any other colors that are traditionally avoided?
(I wish someone had told my neighbor not to use brown siding. A friend came over and said, “How does it feel to live next to the biggest turd in town?” It’s just this two story brown lump.)
At least that’s what the realtor (I refuse to capitalize that word) said when they couldn’t sell the neighbor’s over-priced and poorly maintained house. It finally sold when the price dropped to a reasonable price.
I remember when my parents sold the family home and moved out of state. “Red doors are all the rage now! Red doors sell houses! Too bad you can’t paint* your* door red; I kept an eye out for red doors during my market assessment and there’s already a red door eight houses down to the west and across the street five houses to the west, and multiple red doors on the next street up.”
Red doors are common around here. Apparently it’s an old ‘welcome’ custom to have a red door.
But god forbid you go with cherry red, or deep red, or vermillion because that’s too close to cherry. Scarlet is okay but avoid carmine. Or maybe carmine is okay but avoid scarlet. Fire engine red is too low class, and chili red is too orange. No one knows what they’re talking about.
I swear I’ll paint my door black and only welcome vampires.
And I wouldn’t have a red house, but I’ve seen houses with red shutters and they were very nice.
I wonder if there’s ever been a scientific study about house colors. The conventional wisdom I’ve heard is that yellow houses sell the best. Personally, I’m not drawn to a yellow house, but I’m not a fan of yellow in general. On the other hand, I don’t believe I’ve ever made such a big decision based on something so trivial.
There is a blue-sided house near me that’s been on the market for more than 5 years, but I’m pretty sure the blue isn’t the main factor. On the end of the house facing the road, red, white and blue siding has been used to fashion a huge American flag. It’s, um, classy… yeah, that’s the word. Frankly, I expect it’s not sold because of the price and/or its condition, not that I know about either. There’s no on-line listing and I’m not nosy enough to actually go there and look. But I’ve seen lots crappier-looking places around here sell lots faster.
Anyway, I can’t see blue siding being an issue just because of the color. Isn’t blue the most-cited “favorite” color that people claim? And frankly, unless you’re planning to sell in the next couple of years, why should you make your house appeal to anyone but you? Deal with resale when the time comes.
I see a lot of blue houses, but it’s a nice Wedgewoody-antiquey historical society blue, often mixed with a lot of grey.
The historic paint colors linked herehave a nice selection, though a couple of the bright blues made me do a double-take.
…but apparently we’ve been looking at historical colors all wrong anyway; they were much brighter in their time – think egg yolk yellow, carmine, Prussian blue. So basically the Founding Fathers and Mothers had the color sensibilities of hippies. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
I painted my house blue (with the help of the Dope) a few years ago. I got so many compliments on it. It was this color scheme. The picture is not my house (which I no longer own), but a very similar style.
ETA: While I did sell my house, I sold it to someone who wanted to do renovations on the inside, so I don’t think the color had any impact yay or nay.
Maybe then you’ll fade away and not have to face the facts…it’s not easy facing up when your whole world is black.
(Jeez I hope I’m not the only one who thought of that song)
I like the blue siding w/ the blue roof. I’ve got a gray roof so I’m looking at a pale blue-gray with a buff trim. (The buff trim is on the house and replacing it is a horrible expense)
I’ve seen a house with a similar color scheme and I liked it.
Paint the house whichever color you like. Well, not black and purple . We have one of those around here and I don’t like it…I had an golden orangey house withered trim. I loved it and we got lots of compliments. The color seemed to change with the light as well, so it was quite nice
A neighbor has a medium-darkish blue house with white trim that is lovely. Two other neighbors have lighter blue houses which are also quite nice. Much nicer than some of the the other blander houses, mine included.
I went with the old stand by creme and green. Creme siding, hunter green trim and soffit. Really it’s a light yellow. But that’s what I wanted. I wouldn’t have minded a canary yellow home. But, reconsidered because not everybody loves yellow as much as I do.
