This 2026 Study Says to Paint Your Bedroom This Color (It’ll Increase Its Value!)

I’m a renter, so painting my walls has always seemed like a risky move. My more daring friends have revamped their rooms with eye-catching color, but even the nicest paint jobs always had to be reverted back to plain old white upon moving out. But is that actually the best move? 

Zillow, in partnership with paint brand Sherwin-Williams, recently conducted a study to see which colors helped “maximize offer prices” for people selling their homes. The winning paint shades varied by room, and while color triumphed over whites (this classic color reigned supreme in the kitchen), the best hue for the bedroom is comfortingly dark — and surprisingly bold. 

Zillow’s 2026 Paint Color Analysis found that buyers are most drawn to “warm, grounded colors over stark, all-white interiors,” and for the bedroom, chocolate brown hues got the best response. “Buyers may offer an estimated $2,277 more” for a home with Sherwin-Williams’ Turkish Coffee (the company’s “top-performing” chocolate brown shade) on the bedroom walls compared to one with “a white room,” the study says. It’s not a paint color I’ve considered myself, but definitely see how decompressing in a room with dark walls could be nice.

If brown isn’t speaking to you, consider sage green for your bedroom … or any other room. The color “was the only shade to rank in the top tier in every room” of Zillow’s study, and bedrooms painted this particular hue reportedly raised a home’s value by $1,000. Sherwin-Williams’ Tradewind, a pale blue hue deemed best for living rooms, also ranked highly for bedrooms. 

Technically speaking, colors have no inherent value, but when it comes to the color you’re going to see on your walls when you start and end each day, some are more desirable than others. To find this out, Zillow and Sherwin-Williams talked to “thousands of home buyers across the country” to better understand how room color may impact someone’s home-buying process, including “their likelihood to tour a home, and the price they would be willing to offer.” So, if you’re not selling, take this with a grain of salt. Maybe it’ll inspire you to break out the painter’s tape and try something new.