Best Colors for a Home Office 

Increasingly, people are starting to work from home, and carving out a place in your house to work for eight hours is becoming common. You have your desk, computer, and all the accessories you need to do your work. Those vital items will help you get your work done, but you’ll also likely try to create an atmosphere. When you work from home, you can create a space that motivates you throughout the day.

How can you do this?

Color. The walls of your working space can dictate how you feel and how productive you are, so choosing the right color for your workspace is something you should consider. Do you want to feel energized or perhaps add a sense of balance to your day? Looking to feel calm throughout the workday? Whatever feeling and ambiance you’re trying to create, you can craft it with the right color.

How Color Impacts Productivity and Focus

We often think of color as a purely subjective topic. We ask others what their favorite color is and dress frequently in the colors we love most. But there’s also a hard science to color, and though we’re still in the early stages of it, we have learned a lot about how color can impact how we behave.

Color likely started out as an evolutionary necessity — we learned to be wary of the bright and aggressive hues of red for survival, and those lingering effects are still seen today. We’ve come a long way from that early history, as we can now learn how to manipulate color to create atmospheres in our own homes. For a home office, you’ll probably be looking for something that promotes productivity and focus.

Many people didn’t start paying attention to office color psychology until fairly recently. For a long while, you had the usual grays, whites and blacks that signaled the dreary, boring atmosphere of your typical office. Though many might think this neutral coloring is perfect for a place where you need to focus on the task at hand, it may do the opposite. If all we see are boring colors around us, that boredom might leak into our own subconscious minds, and we could lose the motivation we need to get our work done.

Colors with more life have the power to increase productivity, creativity, emotion and even well-being. For mere office paint ideas, that’s a lot of power to have over a workspace. Now that people have started creating offices in their own homes, they too can craft the ideal atmosphere that will make them most productive.

Choosing the right home office paint colors may offer that boost you need to get more done during the workday. At Shoreline Painting, we can help you bring your home office color schemes to life and build the atmosphere that suits your needs.

Best Colors for a Home Office

With a little background about the psychology of color and how it impacts a workspace, you could be wondering what the best home office paint colors are. Before you start looking at different hues, it might help to start narrowing down your options. Asking yourself what feelings you want to create in your home office will point you toward the right paint color. Here are some various choices to consider:

• Safety: Sometimes all we want is to feel safe in our space. Safety frees us up to do the things we love — be creative, stay focused and get our work done.
• Energy: Some might complete their most work when they feel energized and happy. Brighter, more intense colors like yellow and red could offer the kind of aesthetics that motivate you.
• Balance: Many people crave balance in their daily workdays — staying at a calm, neutral level allows them to be productive. Grounding, earthy colors like green and blue can help create this balanced feel.

While thinking about your home office’s atmosphere, you likely want to achieve one primary goal — staying productive. Especially with remote work, finding the key to staying focused in your home is paramount.

What color increases productivity?

Blue

For a calming, focusing effect, blue is a great color for your home office. There have been several studies conducted linking blue to a boost in productivity over colors such as red. Some ressearch points to our universal connection to water and the ocean as providing a calming, open space where we feel free to be creative and productive.

Green

The color green, like blue, has an earthy, familiar quality that can ground an office space and inspire balance. If you’re looking for neutrality and stability above all else during your workday, green might be the perfect color for you. Studies have proven the mental health benefits of being around green spaces while working — even having a window nearby can help inspire a sense of calm and focus. Our associations with green spaces may point to the reasons for those similar feelings evoked by green paint.

Yellow

If you thrive on energy and optimism, a brighter, more energizing color might be a better fit for you. Blue and greens are harmonious, calming hues, but they may also invoke some sadness and nostalgia, which may slow some of us down during the workday. A bright color like yellow has the power to energize you, symbolizing themes such as joy and happiness.

Perhaps because of the hue’s association with the sun, many people have attempted to use yellow to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) by wearing yellow-tinted glasses to block blue light. Other people in darker and grayer climates have opted to paint their rooms yellow to feel like they’re being bathed in warm sunlight. Using the healing power of yellow also has a deep history — during World War I, a “colorist” used yellow on the walls of a hospital, believing it would help treat shell-shocked soldiers.

While the scientific healing benefits of yellow are still being researched, there may be an easier explanation — if you think it’s working, then maybe it is. For those looking for a warm, sunny disposition in their office, yellow is their color.

Red

For bold, aggressive energy, you can choose red. For home offices, red is a slightly controversial color. Studies have shown that red can sometimes undermine cognitive performance, though the color has also been shown to receive an attentional advantage.

Red is one of humanity’s most familiar and intense colors — we often associate it with authority or aggression. Its basis in our biology has leaked into modern day, revealed to us through a slight tip in the balance of winning sports teams or studies on attractiveness.

It’s clear that red has some hidden powers. Those looking to harness those intrinsic powers in their home office can boldly choose red.

Neutral

Though those gray, drab offices of the past may have inspired boredom, they also had many benefits. In many ways, having an understated paint color will let you focus on a given task. An overwhelming color could negatively impact your productivity, so having a nice balance will let you enjoy the atmosphere while also letting you do your work.

If you’re set on a certain choice and know it will be the perfect fit for your home office, a solid color might be the way to go. You could also use whites and grays and mix them with your chosen color — say, green — to create a nice neutral hue. In modern-style homes, you’ll often see neutral colors on the walls. Using neutral colors offers a few different benefits, including:

• Flexibility: Neutral colors can go with various designs. If you think you’ll be moving new furniture in or switching up your design frequently, you can match almost anything with neutral colors.
• Resale value: If you’re one to look into the future, neutral colors could offer you some comfort. Their versatility makes them appealing to a wide array of tastes, and their understated, muted nature is easy to work with and easy to like. Potential buyers will appreciate the neutrality, and it could help boost your home value.
• Simplicity: Neutral colors are also simple. In a space where you’re trying to do focused work for a long time, those muted colors can offer the perfect counterbalance to distraction. They offer clarity and can keep your mind clear with their simple elegance. Depending on the color you choose, you can likely still get those hidden benefits that each one brings — energy with yellow, balance with green and more.

Whatever color you go with, Shoreline Painting is here to match your exact specifications.

Choosing the Right Hue for a Home Office

After you’ve found your color, it’s time to choose a hue. You have an endless array of shades to choose from. Thinking about various factors such as lightness, darkness and warm and cool shades can help you find the perfect home office color schemes.

Lightness and Darkness

One of the first things you’ll want to identify is whether you want to lean toward lightness or darkness. Adding some brightness will create a more energetic look within the room by opening the space up and inspiring good feelings. Darker tones will create calmness and balance and ground the space.

Choosing between light and dark will depend on the feel you’re going for in your office space.

Neutrality

Sometimes neutrality is the best way to go. You can choose a base color and add white or gray to create a more understated version. A lighter, more muted blue can be a perfect color for a home office, offering a calming hue that’s easy on the eyes.

Warm and Cold

Another aspect to consider is the temperature of the color you choose. Adding brighter paints like yellow adds warmth, while using blue adds coolness. Think about which colors and tones make you most productive, and try to target a shade in that warm or cool category.

Shoreline Painting can craft the perfect temperature for you by blending colors to find an ideal match.

Combinations

Shoreline Painting can combine colors for you, too. Blending blue and green may provide the ideal mix of calmness and equilibrium for your home office. You can take your time, consult the professionals at Shoreline Painting and gain the confidence you need to choose a combination that satisfies.

Other Factors for Choosing an Office Color

Besides the paint color itself, there are some other factors you should consider.

Lighting

Your color could look one way when you view it on a screen and completely different when it’s on your walls. That’s why it’s important to get a good sample and see how it will look in certain lighting. There are a few different aspects to consider with your lighting:

• Natural or artificial lighting: Do you have a lot of big glass windows letting in natural light? Or a more enclosed space with lots of artificial light? The type of lighting you have will impact the shade, making it appear lighter or darker based on the circumstances.
• Light direction: What direction is the light coming from? Natural light coming from the north is different from light coming from the south.
• Lightbulb style: Even choosing the right lightbulb will impact your color. Incandescent bulbs will add intensity to reds and oranges while muting blues and greens.
• Time of day: If you have a lot of natural light coming into your home, the time of day will affect your walls, too. Early morning light can add warmth, while midday natural light can appear to wash out colors.

Furniture

Certain furniture can create a cohesive design when combined with your paint and bring a room together. If you’re going for a calming atmosphere, a cool blue chair could be the perfect addition. In an energetic room, something brighter and more vibrant like an orange table will be an excellent match.

Finishes

You can also think about the finishes you’ll want on your paint. High-gloss finishes will add a beautiful, elegant style that’s also durable and easy to clean. Matte finishes are low-maintenance as well and effectively hide imperfections in your walls. Shoreline Painting has both of these finishes and more.

Accents

Accents will help bring out the room’s color by providing contrast or complementary elements. Types of accents you can use include:

• Wall accents: A separate wall with a different design — wallpaper or contrasting colors — can create a bold, interesting atmosphere. It’s a great way to make a room appear larger or add some texture.
• Lamps: You know lighting impacts a room’s colors — try out various lamps to see how they intensify colors or lighten them.
• Artwork: Some artwork might go great with the color you choose, providing another option to personalize your home office.

Contact Shoreline Painting for Your Painting Project

If you’re looking for ways to freshen up your workspace, Shoreline Painting can offer the paint you want in your home office. As a Fine Paints of Europe Master Certified Painter, we know what it takes to give our customers quality work. If you’re looking for some help choosing the right color, you can schedule a color consultation with our team. Our color consultants will help you find the right color schemes based on the room’s size, light exposure, architectural features and more.

From helping you choose a color to painting your walls and adding finishes, Shoreline Painting can offer you a quality, comprehensive luxury painting process. Contact us today!