In football they call it “narrowing the angle”, where the goalkeeper moves towards the striker to increase your chance of preventing a goal. And a mathematician would understand it as the “lowest common denominator.” For landlords, it’s magnolia.
When it comes to decorating a property for let, the best idea is to provide a neutral space that the tenants feel that they can transpose their own lives and style upon. Properties that exude too much personality or style will doubtless delight some potential tenants but they will also repel many more.
So that’s why we’ve ended up with magnolia. It’s warmer than brilliant white, but it’s neutral and inoffensive. A base colour that no one loves and few object to. Magnolia serves its function by being boring.
So criticising magnolia for being unfunky is rather unfair because that’s the point. It’s the very neutrality of magnolia, its inoffensiveness, its quiet and dull ability to provoke absolutely no response at all that makes it so very magnolia.
Is there something more funky? Sure. But do you really want funky? The problem with funky is it becomes unfunky quickly. And, anyway, one person’s funky is another person’s skanky.
But if you insist. Here are some ideas. Don’t go too crazy. Black walls, scarlet bathrooms, and deep purple ceilings are right out. But tasteful, gentle blues, greens and pinks can be much more interesting than, and almost as inoffensive, as magnolia. Cream can be nice too, but it’s not that far from magnolia.
In larger rooms consider feature walls or areas. In alcoves or on complete walls add a striking colour or wallpaper to add interest and make the whole room much more funky. If it’s just in a small area, you can choose bold purples and brighter colours to jazz the place up.
But remember, when you’re in the lettings lark, you’re in it for the money. Not the funk. Is added funkiness adding to the rent? If not, what’s the point? Magnolia does the trick.
photo credit: Nils Geylen
I use a mix of magnolia and beige alternating in different rooms. Just a very subtle difference, but just enough to allow the eye to differentiate the rooms. Paper lampshades and bold curtains focus the eye to a what would otherwise be a barren room.
I hate Magnolia, if you then colour to the shade you end up with some miserable browns. An acceptable alternative is Gardenia, but the best results are to be had by using a Blue/Purple shade of White.
As the inhabitant of a magnolia-painted rented flat, I'm still going to argue in favour of funky
The feature wall idea is a nice one.
Magnolia is boring, boring, boring, and since everyone and their dog uses it, especially in flats, tenants are forced to trail around a succession of near-identical properties utterly lacking in any kind of style or distinguishing feature. I also don't buy the argument that a bland facade enables the tenant to stamp their personality on the flat: they're not allowed to decorate the place themselves, so all they can do is introduce a bit of colour with their furnishings and spend their lives surrounded by washed-out magnolia, so they come to hate the colour. I prefer to vary the colours a bit, with an Off White modelled on Farrow and Ball's version as the base: it's warmer, it takes on different subtle shades depending on the exterior light (greener in spring, for example, or more blue on a sunny day), and to my eye it harmonises better with wood furniture, especially the oak veneer which is so popular at the moment.
There's a punctuation mistake thid para, last sentence. Does anyone nowadays know the difference between "it's" and "its"?
Thanks Tony, superfluous apostrophe removed.