Brighten Your Workshop with Color

For Workshop Wednes-DIY I want to chat about a seldom thought about workshop topic – wall color. What color are your shop walls? If you’re like me, the last thing you think about are your shop walls. Why? Because when I get to my shop all I can think about is starting my next project!

If you have an established shop or are just setting up shop, wall color is important. Especially if your shop is small.

My shop was set up for many years, before it dawned on me that as much as I love working on projects, I didn’t enjoy going to work in my shop. It took some thought to figure out why. There was plenty of lighting. I have fluorescent shop lights coast-to-coast on the ceiling. Despite the lighting, the shop always seemed dark, uninviting and unwelcoming. Just a place to go until my project was assembled.

There are only two small windows that provide the only natural light for my shop. And there’s not really an easy way to add more windows. But there was a lot of wall space. Well, as much wall space as you can have in a tiny 10×13 shop. So, really no wall space at all. OK, so let’s just say there’s more wall space than windows!

The walls were dingy. Dingy, white walls. Dingy, white depressing walls. There were plenty of shop lights and if I couldn’t add more windows, maybe the answer was to paint the walls a bright color.

shop wall 2

But what color? White would be the brightest, but I already have dingy white walls. Googling “best shop wall color” yields many pics of white, off white and grey shop walls. BORING! I needed something bright. Something other than the excitement of a new project to entice me into the shop.

shop wall 4

I like color and I’m not afraid of it. I also don’t like common. So my shop wall color choice is pretty uncommon. I chose lime green and… I LOVE it! It’s bright, it livens up the shop.

shop wall 3

I should tell you that I don’t apply finish (paint, stain, etc.) in my shop.  I would recommend if you finish projects in your shop not to use a color like this. White walls are the best if you’re going to apply finish as they won’t skew the final color of your project.

shop wall color 1

So, if you don’t finish projects in your shop, I recommend giving a bright, fun color a try. What color would you paint your shop?

3 Comments

  1. I painted my workspace in the garage…bright green, gray, and orange. I need to repaint as my son has used the back wall as a hockey put stop! First I need to repair the walls! Hahahaha. Love the color of your workshop! Take care, Koko

      1. I will post as soon as I finish my re-organizing! I’ve had to do several big projects and everything had to go into my work space! So sad having to hop around everything! The orange really is a happy color! There are a lot of trees where I am so the house can feel a little dark. The orange helps!

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