When customers ask you for color advice, do you chime in or clam up? Even if you’re not comfortable steering homeowners toward certain colors, perhaps you should at least begin steering them away from some colors. Why? Because some bold choices quickly become big regrets. A color that initially seems fun and different can quickly lose its charm. So here’s a list of colors that customers should think thrice before choosing:

Pastel pink? Preposterous!

An article by Dana Shulz on Best Life Online, called The 10 Worst Paint Colors for Your Home, calls out the highly trending pastel pink. Despite the Barbie craze, design experts consulted in this article say pink can make a house look perennially pre-teen. The color can simply take over a room – the way an exuberant drummer can drown a song. Designer Tonya Bruin says no one will even notice the purpose of the room…only that it’s pink. But if a customer demands pink, maybe suggest a small dose, which will go a long way.

Gray is a color many designers have wanted to put in the grave for years. These days, tell customers that gray has been replaced by greige and warmer tones, says Arrica Elin Sansone in an article called 9 Paint Colors Designers Wish Would Go Away Forever at www.Veranda.com. Sansone says gray is “cold and lacks depth and character.”

Yellow can be fun and happy, but it can also be too much of a good thing, and Sansone’s article says it can just be hard to do it right. A House Digest article called 10 Paint Colors You Shouldn’t Use Anywhere In Your Home gives yellow a front and center position, stating that “yellow may cause frustration and anger, despite the fact that it has the reputation of inspiring cheerfulness.” Author Sara Leduc goes on to say that yellow is better used in textiles and furnishings.

Even white is in for its share of a bruising; Leduc says that Warm White can make a room look dull and dingy and reminds us that there’s a skill in choosing the right type of white. Schulz’s article piles on, stating that white in a home office can sap the life out of you, in high traffic area it can show stains and scuffs, and in the bathroom? Eeewww. Sansone suggests making sure customers use plenty of swatches for this, as the wrong off-white can just be … off.

Bold? Meh.

There are plenty of colors on these lists that you might expect. Bright bold colors, neons, reds, and purples, for example. Sansone suggests “no” on red unless you can go with a more sophisticated version. Schulz quotes a designer as saying that as red often sparks a feeling of danger, it has no place in the bedroom, and that on the whole, bright, saturated colors are a no-go. Leduc notes that the in-your-face nature of red rules it out, and that also — and again despite the Barbie brouhaha — once that movie is in the dollar bin, bright pinks are going to lose their luster quickly. The article continues that Zillow is on board the anti-pink train, telling homeowners that any bright pinks or purples need to be repainted before a house goes on the market.

Bright colors on the outside of a house are ruled out as well, especially if it’s for sale.

And the winner/loser is…

The current holder of the ugliest color mantel is Pantone’s famously infamous Opaque Couché, a dark green-brown hue that one designer calls “The worst color you can paint your home,” reminds many people of baby poop, and that the Australian government determined was the best color for packaging cigarettes as it would deter people from buying them. In the UK, according to The Guardian, this color was required for cigarette packaging.

What it comes down to is that color choice is up to the customer, because one person’s “eeewww” is another person’s “whooo!” As the person hired to paint their home, knowing the risks of certain colors or color combos can help you help a client make a more informed choice. They’ll thank you for it. But the good news is if they don’t listen to you, they can always call you to paint again.