Best Paint Colors & Finishes for Rental Properties

Rental properties need to be kept in good repair, and that includes painting. At the same time, landlords need to think about the specific needs of rental properties. Paint for rental properties needs to be affordable, durable, and typically in neutral colors.

Knowing the best colors and finishes for rental properties can help you attract tenants and show your professionalism as a landlord.

Best Paint Colors for Rental Properties

If you’re planning to use commercial painting services for a rental property, guessing your tenants’ style can be tricky. Because of this, you should choose neutral colors that make the room look like a blank slate and go with whatever decor your tenants will be bringing with them. Light colors make rooms look better and maximize natural light. However, white can look sanitized or institutional and tends to show dirt. Instead go with beige and off-white tones.

Using the same color throughout promotes unity, while different colors break up space. There is no right or wrong here, but different colors can help with open plan spaces. Here are some tips for different rooms:

Living Rooms

The living room is where your tenants will spend most of their time. Greys and beiges support serenity and relaxation, and help people who just got home from a long day. For smaller apartments, consider a very light beige that maximizes light and space. Greige can be a great choice as it is particularly neutral and your tenants' furniture and decor will pop against it. A darker grey might suit a larger space, but avoid very dark colors - they always make a room look small.

Kitchens

Kitchens add an extra layer of complexity when choosing colors because they need to coordinate with cabinets and appliances. If your kitchen features painted cabinets, consider pairing them with a darker gray for a stylish contrast. For wooden cabinets, cream tones work beautifully to create warmth. White is also a classic choice for kitchens, as it evokes the clean look of professional spaces, but opt for a warmer white rather than a stark, cool tone. Keep in mind that tenants will likely bring in their own accent colors, so choose a backdrop that complements vibrant kitchen towels and potholders.

Bedrooms

Bedrooms need to be relaxing. This is one place you might want to drift away from neutrals; light blue will soothe while still providing a good backdrop for personal decorations. An even better choice, though, is cream or gray. Choose a cooler gray that works well with more colors and has blue undertones. Some people like white for bedrooms, but it can be very stark to wake up to...off-white is better.

Bathrooms

Like kitchens, bathrooms have fittings and cabinets that need to be taken into account, but another issue is lighting. Bathrooms need to be very well lit for people performing daily tasks, especially applying makeup. If you are setting up your bathroom well, it will have bright task lighting, ideally with natural light options. This impacts the colors that look good. Combined with the small size of the room, it is even more important to choose light colors for bathrooms. Light grey always looks good, whether warm or cold, but you can opt for white here as long as it's warm.  Light cream or off-white also works well. Consider making the bathroom and kitchen match to tie the place together.

Best Paint Finishes for Rental Properties

Paint finish can be just as important. Durability is vital in rental properties as it reduces the amount you have to disturb tenants...ideally you only want to repaint between tenants, and sometimes people will stay a while.

You also want paint that doesn't show dirt and is low maintenance. Tenants can seldom be trusted to do maintenance and don't want to be disturbed. Consider these thoughts for each room in the home.

Living Rooms

If your tenant entertains, it will be here. The highest traffic is here. Satin and eggshell finishes give a good balance between durability and aesthetics, providing a bit of a sheen and being easy to clean. Matte finishes, while they work well for dark colors, are not always the best for the lighter colors you're going to be using. That said, if there are large picture windows, a matte finish reduces shine and glare.

Consider scuff resistant paint if your building attracts a lot of families and/or is pet friendly.

Kitchens

Ideally use semi-gloss finish. This handles heavy traffic and kitchen stains well. Semi-gloss (and satin, but satin can glare a little under task lighting) tends to resist stains and grease and is easy to clean when a spill happens.

If the kitchen is small, consider high gloss, because that is really easy to clean if there's backsplash or soot escapes from a gas stove. If you do this, though, avoid white, or it will look way too much like an operating theater. High gloss paint can take scrubbing much better, too.

Bedrooms

Bedrooms are places of relaxation and also tend to be low traffic. Use eggshell or matte here to give a softer ambiance and minimize light reflection, supporting better sleep. Matte coating is often the best as it absorbs light and prevents glare. However, it tends to be less durable. Eggshell may be a better choice for rentals where people stay a while, as it attracts less dust and dirt and is easy to clean.

Bathrooms

Any paint used in a bathroom must be moisture resistant. Mold in bathrooms is a health hazard and can result in tenant lawsuits. Semi-gloss is very water resistant and also resists mildew. You may want to consider special mold resistant paint (and some people put this in the kitchen too). This has more of an up front cost but, especially if you live somewhere more humid, but is worth it. However, this is for high risk areas...if your property has a history of mold, it's a great way to fix that and your reputation, though.

How Often Should You Paint a Rental Property?

As interior painting requires your tenants to move all of their furniture, some landlords prefer to pay more for more durable paint to reduce the frequency. A good, professional interior paint job lasts five to ten years, which typically allows landlords not to repaint during a lease. However, some recommend painting every three to five years regardless.

Properties should typically be repainted between tenants. Most tenants do some wear-and-tear damage to the property from things like hanging pictures and moving furniture. Fresh paint attracts new renters. In some states, landlords might be required to repaint units at a specific frequency - New York is one - but this is pretty rare.

In most cases, how often you repaint is impacted by the quality of paint you use and by your tenant turnover rates. Using durable paint helps you avoid disturbing tenants while keeping the property fresh.