With more people working from home—some of them permanently now—many are converting spaces in their homes into offices. Whether it’s a spare bedroom, a little-used dining room, a formal living room, or a loft area, you want to make the space conducive to productive work.
When you think about creating a great working environment, you probably think about things like minimizing distractions and getting the proper equipment and office furniture setup, but what about paint?
Did you know that the color of paint you choose can have an effect on how productive you are? It may sound far-fetched, but color psychology is a real thing!
The first thing you need to do when selecting a paint color is to consider the nature of your job. If your job is fast-paced and stress-inducing, you will want to select colors with a calming effect. On the other hand, if your job is somewhat monotonous, you may want a color that can help provide you with the energy to get through the day. If it requires a lot of concentration, you’ll want a color that helps improve focus.
Colors That Have a Calming Effect
If you find yourself anxious and stressed throughout your workday, the best paint colors for your home office would be cool colors. Shades of blue are particularly calming, and a navy accent wall looks great in a home office! Other calming colors to consider would be grays, greens, and cool whites. Greens invoke thoughts about nature, which can be calming. However, make sure you stay away from bright lime greens, which would have the opposite effect.
Colors That Provide Energy
If you struggle to stay awake during the workday, you may want to incorporate some colors that help with energy. In color psychology, reds and oranges are the colors of excitement and energy, but painting your entire office red or orange is not recommended. It would just be too much. You could choose to paint an accent wall in one of these colors, or just bring in some red or orange furnishings or accessories to help energize you. Both of these colors would go well with warm gray or white walls.
Colors That Help with Focus and Concentration
Shades of brown and tan are great for encouraging focus while you work. Not a fan of brown or tan? Try going with a grayish brown (also known as greige). Greige is a comfortable neutral that can be paired with almost any color or style of furniture.
Colors That Inspire Creativity
If you’re a writer, designer, engineer, or in any other type of business that requires creative thinking, you want to be in an inspiring space. Purple is a color that stimulates the imagination, but can also create a sense of calm. Yellow is another inspiring color. It increases positivity and mental activity. Both colors would be great as an accent wall if painting the whole room in that color would be too much.
No matter which color you choose for your home office, it is important to get the right shade and saturation. You also need to take into account things like the size of the office and the amount of natural and artificial light it receives. If you need help choosing a color, work with a San Diego painting company that has color consultants on hand. A good color consultant will be well versed in color psychology, as well as in interior design.
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