Why Bother Painting My House Anyway You Ask?

Whether it’s your very first owned home or simply looking to stage your home for a real-estate listing or just needing a décor update, the reasons are personal and somewhere in the decision before hiring a painting company the question of why bother painting sometimes arises.

In this article we offer a few reasons and tips on why you should paint, why you need to paint, help you with selling your house faster, or moving in to your new home and personalizing it your way.

Painting the interior or exterior of your home is important to help maintain it’s beauty and continue to add value to your property, whether you choose to live in it or prepare it for selling one of the easiest, quickest and most cost saving ways to increase the property value of your home is to paint it. 

By investing in updating your interior home décor with fresh modern and neutral paint colours before listing the property for sale is the least expensive alternative to getting the biggest return on your investment. 

Home realtors will typically advise their clients that painting does help sell a home and that investing to paint the house before selling makes your home ready for all potential buyers as they search for a move in ready space to add their own personalities. 

Painting to maintain the exterior adds curb appeal and helps prevent wood surfaces from rotting, decay and deterioration. 

While the choice of how often you need to paint your house is entirely up to you, as you may decide to change the look of the interior décor more often because your love to follow the latest home décor trends and want the latest modern of interior décor paint colours it is also important to know how often you need to paint your house to properly maintain its beauty and surfaces. 

For interiors while not absolutely a must, it is recommended by expert painters to paint every 3 to 5 years to keep it always looking its best.  Some rooms in your home require updating with fresh paint more often than others simply on the fact of how they are used.  For example rooms such as bathrooms and kitchens may need to be painted more frequently than bedrooms as they are not highly trafficked spaces, don’t have humidity and moisture to deal with therefore not needing updates as frequently. 

Knowing how often to paint your home is valuable information to help you make the decision for when you want to hire painting companies to complete the project. 

While reasons can be many for why you should paint the interior and exterior of your home, homeowners will question why they should bother.  Reasons may be related to money constraints, time and energy the project requires and things get deferred over and over again. 

The importance of maintaining a home is key to keeping it looking its best and protecting it from the exterior elements of extreme temperatures, sun, rain, snow and ice as well as the interior elements such as high humidity that leads to mold issues, cracks or peeling paint. 

It is equally important to maintain both the interior and exterior of your home, by taking care of minor details such like the nail pops, or drywall imperfections and especially those stipple ceilings that can really out-date the look of any home.   Even though there could be pros and cons of stipple they just no longer fit the modern look of homes. 

Hiring expert and qualified painters to ensure the right paint finishes are used as well ensuring any drywall repairs are taken care of before applying the finishing coat of paint will ensure paint sheens are appropriate for the area they are required in.  Working with the right painters who can guide you to be informed in knowing the difference between paint finishes and paint sheens as well what types of best paint products to use for your specific project. 

Painting your home will help increase its value especially if you are considering to sell it as it helps keep it looking fresh and modern and more desirable to the potential new buyers. 

Choosing the best paint colours for staging your home isn’t always easy and asking expert painters in Ottawa may help make the decision a little easier.  Typical advice from any professional painter or home decorator is to paint with neutral colours since it always helps bring the feeling of comfort and calm to any space. 

The following are a  few choices for interior and exterior painting ideas to help get your home ready to sell or give it a whole new look that you can settle into. 

Interior Painting 

When choosing paint colours for the interior painting of your home you will want to go with appealing and easy on the eye in order to entice the potential new buyers.  That is why painting in neutrals is highly recommended as it helps the new buyer envision themselves settling into their new home almost immediately. 

Many of the popular paint colours today come in both dark hues and neutral tones, with many variations of trending and current shades of grays, greens, blues and others there is a paint colour for every room. 

A fresh coat of paint will more likely help your home sell faster since most new home buyers would rather avoid the added expense of hiring a painting company after the purchase.  The right paint colour has a way of adding a splash of colour to highlight an accent wall or entire room and the right paint colour can even help make a small room look larger. 

Paint is the simplest way to transform and change a space but if painting the entire house is not in the budget then prioritize the rooms that bring the most value for resale.  By prioritizing it can help reduce the costs of painting. 

To get the best bang for your buck and make the best impression start by painting the hallway entrance, then painting the kitchen and bathrooms  as these are the main and most used rooms in any home or condo. 

If there is any extra allowance in the decorating budget then make plans for painting the bedrooms, and living and dining room area especially if the home is an open concept space. 

Exterior Painting 

Exterior painting of the home makes the best first impression to potential buyers as it is the very first thing they see when they arrive.  You want them to notice the curb appeal that your house has over any other neighborhood in your area. 

When choosing paint colours to paint the exterior it is recommended to use no more than two or three different colours.  You don’t want to distract potential buyers by painting every colour of the rainbow.  You want your home to stand out for its well groomed and maintained look even if you start by just painting the front door as it can have a huge impact to attract that potential new home buyer. 

Take care of the minor details as to the condition of the exterior to get your home looking its best for show.  Before repainting the entire exterior of the house check on things that may need to be replaced, as the harsh environmental elements of snow, ice, rain and extreme cold and hot temperatures may cause damage over the years.  It’s always a great idea to follow a spring home maintenance checklist as well as a fall home maintenance checklist to help you identify whether you need to repaint or replace any of the exterior wood before starting to paint the entire home along with other issues that affect the outside of our homes. 

A well maintained exterior is attractive to a potential new buyer, therefore ensuring things like no peeling paint, no cracked or flaking paint that can make your home look faded and worn are important factors to keep your home looking its best. 

While painting the exterior can be a DIY project, it may be best if left to professional painting companies as they will have all the necessary equipment and tools, be able to recommend the right exterior paint products, and advise as to how often you should paint. 

Painting your house increases its value for you the homeowner as well as for the potential buyers, therefore making the investment to update and care for your home whether you are buying or selling is the most cost effective way to get the best return for your money.  It is recommended to paint the exterior every 2 to 5 years and every 5 to 7 years for the interior to keep all areas of your home in pristine condition. 

Start with a search for painters in Ottawa to meet with and discuss the painting services offered.  Schedule an appointment for a free in-home painting estimate where you can meet with the painters and ask questions so that you have all the information before you decide on which Ottawa painters you can trust to work with. 

This post was originally published on Jan. 13, 2015 and edited on Jan. 14, 2022