What color to paint my walls

Grimmy2016

Administrator
Scott
I currently have the old fake wood panel walls from the early 80s up in my workshop. My work room is about 15'x15' ish with 8' ceilings and cement floor. I am thinking of painting the walls a lighter color to improve the feeling of space and overall brightness inthe room. Does anyone have any suggestions for color, things to consider, etc, etc.

OH I have 4 2'x4' flourescent cases for lighting. Each has 4 bulbs (though 2 seem to have 1 that wont light)

I have thought of putting one of those epoxy floor coverings down as well but not sure its really necessary given the current smoothness of the cement. Thoughts on that?
 

fulldec

Don
Corporate Member
I painted my last two shops gloss white. It really helps with reflecting light (one basement, one surface level addition). Gloss paint will show every imperfection in surface preparation of sheetrock(no problem for me, it is a shop), but you are painting paneling (I assume from your description). I am very happy with white walls and ceiling. I also think the gloss paint does not attract as much dust as flat paint.

I also painted my floors with medium light gray enamel floor paint. In my first shop, that was very durable and I liked it a lot. In my current shop, which has two coats, the adhesion between the two coat hasn't been as good. Still, no concrete showing. Painted floors are much easier to keep clean and dust free than bare concrete. That is, if you bother to vacuum or sweep them. Paint on the floor may also help keep humidity in check, which is good.

Good luck,

Don
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
I currently have the old fake wood panel walls from the early 80s up in my workshop. My work room is about 15'x15' ish with 8' ceilings and cement floor. I am thinking of painting the walls a lighter color to improve the feeling of space and overall brightness inthe room. Does anyone have any suggestions for color, things to consider, etc, etc.

OH I have 4 2'x4' flourescent cases for lighting. Each has 4 bulbs (though 2 seem to have 1 that wont light)

I have thought of putting one of those epoxy floor coverings down as well but not sure its really necessary given the current smoothness of the cement. Thoughts on that?
I would go with white. Boring, maybe, but wood on white always works. Use oil-based Kilz primer first. Smelly, but excellent on 80's paneling.
For the floor, epoxy will help brighten things up, and reflect light. But, it's still concrete, and those cool flakes you can add in would make it impossible to find screws. Consider putting in something that's friendlier on your feet, like Dricore, or engineered vinyl plank. Easier to clean up than concrete as well.

You can make a boring white wall much more interesting if you attach some furring strips painted in blue, purple, green etc. and use that to hang tools.
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
White is great and boring. Make one small wall a bright color to add some depth and excitement.

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Graywolf

Board of Directors, President
Richard
Staff member
Corporate Member
An off white or my favorite is a light green. You get the reflective light and you get the pleasant color. One of the things o do as well is I flood the ceiling with light from spots clamped in various locations in the room. It helps eliminate shadows. However, I really like the accent wall Mike is showing.
 

drw

Donn
Corporate Member
Scott, I went with sandstone color. Even though the walls have a lot of adhering sawdust, it doesn't show up too badly unless you look closely.
 

ScottM

Scott
Staff member
Corporate Member
When I built my shop I used OSB on the walls and ceiling. After a coat of primer I applied 5 gallons of builders white. I think the 5 gallon bucket was about $30. Made a big difference. WARNING all that latex paint puts a lot of moisture in a confined space. It will take a lot of time to dry.
 

Pop Golden

New User
Pop
My walls are yellow it seems to keep the room bright. My ceiling is unfinished. Floor joist & insulation. My floor! When I was building the City TV studio I abandoned my shop. My 2 sons put it to use. 1st. was a skate board shop, then came the trick bicycle shop, then it was off road motorcycle modify & repair. Then it became a practice room for a rock band. When that was going on they painted a few guitars on the floor. Folks if you drop a screw etc. on that floor it's gone. There's so many mixed colors that it approaches abstract art.

I found at Pep Boys floor pads at a low cost. I've surrounded my workbench with them. They are around 3/8 in. thick, but they seam to work ok. I agree with Gary on the epoxy floor. I have enough trouble not tripping on concrete. Good luck with your choices. Remember if you go to 12 different shops you'll find 12 different ways of doing things. Shops are personal. SO! Do things the way you want. The way you like.

Pop
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Depends on the Lighting, if the lighting is marginal or there is no direct sunlight, then some version of white is best, but if you have good lighting, then stick with earth tone colors, they will not mess with how you see color in the shop. If you put bold colors in a shop the color can refract enough to cause you to misinterpret colors in stains and paints, especially if you are mixing in the shop.
 

Ed D

Ed
Senior User
I currently have the old fake wood panel walls from the early 80s up in my workshop. My work room is about 15'x15' ish with 8' ceilings and cement floor. I am thinking of painting the walls a lighter color to improve the feeling of space and overall brightness inthe room. Does anyone have any suggestions for color, things to consider, etc, etc.

OH I have 4 2'x4' flourescent cases for lighting. Each has 4 bulbs (though 2 seem to have 1 that wont light)

I have thought of putting one of those epoxy floor coverings down as well but not sure its really necessary given the current smoothness of the cement. Thoughts on that?
I painted some of the same older fake wood paneling about 10 years ago, and learned a valuable lesson. Prime the paneling with a shellac based white primer. Without it the paint won't adhere well, and all the knots and some grain will bleed through.
 

Charlie

Charlie
Corporate Member
Zinsser B-I-N , which is a shellac base, is by far, IMO, the the best primer for paneling, knots, crayon, greasy kitchen ceilings, ceiling water spots, etc. Far superior to Kilz.
I have tested BIN vs Kilz on scraps of prefinished plywood. Bin dries almost instantly, Kilz takes much longer. Once cured the Kilz can be scrapped off with a fingernail. The bin is almost impossible to scrap off. A screwdriver will dent the wood before the BIN fails.
I don't know if it is still used in hospitals, but it was for many years.
 

rcarmac

Board of Directors, Secretary
Robert
Staff member
Corporate Member
I did white walls. I have the walls so full of hanging tools that they become the accent. White also really helped brighten up the space in my small shop. Makes it feel a lot bigger then it really is
 

Grimmy2016

Administrator
Scott
THanks all. I did a primer and then white latex as that is what I had in a light color. Finished 2 walls so far.

I already have matts infront of each machine, but I might consider adding more just for comfort and safety sake (tripping going on and off)

Thanks all
 

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