The Easy Bathroom Upgrade That Adds Resale Value To Your House

Many times, bathroom upgrades that seem cheap and easy on the surface end up costing more than you thought. Worse yet, some don't offer much in terms of a return on investment (ROI). However, painting your bathroom is both cost effective and offers solid ROI. In fact, interior painting is one of the home upgrades that boosts resale value with Angi citing a whopping 107% ROI for interior paint jobs, adding resale value to your home.

Angi also notes that the average cost to hire professionals to paint a bathroom in 2026 is $300, with smaller bathrooms closer to $150 and larger primary bathrooms trending upwards of $900. If you decide to go the DIY route, you can save considerably on labor costs. With the average bathroom in the U.S. measuring 40 square feet, per Planner 5D, you could likely get by with a single gallon of paint, or even less. Per HomeGuide, the average gallon of paint costs between $20 and $80, depending on the quality you're looking to buy. Adding around $30 for other necessary supplies like brushes, rollers, tarps, masking tape, and paint trays, it's feasible that you could easily paint a bathroom for under $100 while enjoying significant gains when it comes time to sell your home. All told, that's a much more manageable upfront cost than other home improvement projects, like the kitchen upgrade that can boost your home value.

If you want to maximize possibilities, designers often recommend painting your bathroom either white or a soft and light color. Plus, Zillow notes that, in 2026, buyers are attracted to sage green in bathrooms. Discussing this finding, Emily Kantz, a Color Marketing Manager and Trendsight Team member at Sherwin-Williams, noted that pale blue seems to have a similar effect. She added, "Even lighter colors are evolving, feeling more intentional and nuanced rather than basic. The data reflects this same direction; that home-buyers are increasingly valuing depth, warmth, and that sense of lived-in character." And even if shades like sage green may not significantly boost resale value, it still helps to interest buyers and close the home sale, which can be valuable in its own right. 

Zillow also notes there are some bathroom colors that can be detrimental to a home's value. Specifically, it recommends avoiding bright reds, as they could potentially cut an offer from a buyer by an incredible $8,000. In fact, bold paint colors, overall, can be a home renovation mistake if you're planning on selling your house. And although soft or neutral colors can be more effective when selling, even some of those shades can endanger your ROI: Specifically, soft pinks in the bathroom can actually reduce demand, lowering offers by $6,000, per the same study.