When you move into a new place, the decision of which color to paint your room can be paralyzing. There are so many things you could base it on, like how the color might affect your mood, how well it matches your furniture, or what just looks best to you. But if you want to be really forward-thinking, you could consider this: The color of a place's interior affects how much people might be willing to pay for it down the line, Hello Giggles reports.
The real estate site Zillow analyzed 32,000 pictures of homes sold on its platform to see if there was any correlation between the color of their rooms and the price they sold for — and there definitely was. Whether they were looking at kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, or front doors, one color seemed to create more value: blue.
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If you're going to invest your time and money painting one room, it should probably be the bathroom. The biggest premium Zillow found was on blue bathrooms, which sold for $5,440 more than average. For the exterior, the best color was actually "greige" — a grey-beige hybrid — which increased the price by $3,496. And for the door, people who used "dark navy blue to slate gray" got $1,514 more.
This may not seem totally relevant if you're renting a place, but painting it this coveted color could make it more appealing to potential roommates or subletters. Plus, there must be a reason everyone's dying to live in a blue house. Steve Palmer, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, told Smithsonian that "cross-culturally, the most highly favored color is very saturated blue." That's probably because we associate it with water, skies, and other pleasant things. So even if you have no intention of selling your place, painting it blue — or whatever color brings up happy thoughts for you — might also benefit you.