What Color to Paint the Studio??

rpe

rpe

NM - Land of Excrement
I'm getting ready to paint my bedroom studio (it's currently a cream color) and I've seen many photos of studios with dark colors (reds, blues, etc) that I think look real cool. What do you think about dark colors for the walls? Does it "set a mood" Is there a functional purpose? Just a personal preference? What do you think? Help me pick a color.

thanks,

rpe
 
I went with a dark color to try and hide my bad taping and mudding job that I did on the walls that I built :D

It worked. :)
 
Just remember dark colors make the room appear smaller. But I still like the dark colors. Personally, I painted my old studios ceiling a dark berry red. Looked great with silver slatwall and black melamine cabinetry. I have a lot of chrome and aluminum extrusion stuff for trim etc, which really looks great against dark colors. In fact, I'm building a quasi quadriatic residue type diffusing unit for my rear ceiling, which is made of Stylemark extrusions, and colored backlit plex for lighting.
fitZ
 
rpe said:
I'm getting ready to paint my bedroom studio (it's currently a cream color) and I've seen many photos of studios with dark colors (reds, blues, etc) that I think look real cool. What do you think about dark colors for the walls? Does it "set a mood" Is there a functional purpose? Just a personal preference? What do you think? Help me pick a color.

thanks,

rpe
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If you have windows, consider the direction the windows face (presuming the windows are permanently covered). The type of light you get makes a big difference in what color you should select.

Also consider the psychological impact of color. warm colors are stimulating; cool colors are relaxing.
 
I've owned several pro studios, as well as various rooms I've called home studios over the years, and I prefer light woods, soft but lighter colors, and lots of sunlight. I find this enhances atmosphere and makes for a more comfortable setting.

By light colors I'm not talking bright yellow or orange, burger king can keep those... but my home studio I just finished painting, has "hint of mint" walls, a bright white ceiling, and a light beech floor. The mouldings floor and ceiling are painted a constrasting dark, high gloss hunter green, to bring out the lines and define the space visually.

I've always tried to stay away from creams and beiges, not because there is anything wrong with them, just that I've been in corporate America most my life and I'm really sick of beige walls, beige carpeting, beige computers, keyboards, mice, disk drives, printers and monitors. I've unfortunately been oversaturated with beige, I guess :(

Regardless of the colors you choose, lighting I feel is more important. I've found that lighter color studios require less lighting, making design and installation easier. If you want it darker, simply dim the lights or twist out every other bulb. I'd also stay away from flourescent lights as they tend to tire your eyes faster than halogens, because they blink on and off 60 times a second. While most people can't see the flickering, your brain actually does and your eyes tire out sooner.

Hope that helps... and do know this is all subjective.

Scientists have determined that shades of green are the most soothing/relaxing, and beige for whatever reason, encourages the most productivity - probably because its the least offensive, non-white color there is, and probably why most companies saturate their offices in beige.
 
I just am finishing my jam room studio, and after browsing thru a lot of photos, I went with a basic burgandy in one large area. Looks killer. It goes with tan good- which is the color of the rest of the building. It looks great with black speaker and amp cabs. I have two exposed trusses in the ceiling, they are black and look awesome. My window trim is also black. Perfect. I hung some of those 'starbucks' looking yellowish hanging lights and they stand out nice. All
I took the hint from someone here that finished their studio and it was close to a burgandy, and had the yellow lights hanging from the lid.

My switches and plugs are ivory, and all my plates will eventually be brass. Some day I ll post pics...

I was worried about it being too dark, as my acoustic tiles on the ceiling are painted a dark grey, but when carpet was installed, and all the lights, it sets a really relaxed mood. We threw in a disco ball with a couple spot lights and a beer fridge for the old man.... I just can get enough of it.

I can compare the mood of the dark paint to remembering how playing in a basic white room feels. Its SO different. Go dark, do.. not ... be... afraid.

D
 
I'd love to see any available pictures from all of you!

thanks,

rpe
 
I went neutral...

I just painted my studio an in between shade of grey.. I will post a pic tomorrow...
 
rpe said:
I'd love to see any available pictures from all of you!

thanks,

rpe
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I guess I am on the exact opposite end of the color spectrum here. I just recently painted my whole control room except the back wall black. I was very suprised at the results. It's really nice actually. In fact, I may even go paint the one wall that I didn't black as well. It's not nearly the "dark" or "evil" atmosphere that i was afraid it might be. The only problem is that you may need to double you amount of lighting. On nice thing though, is that with the black room, your lighting has much much more effect to it. I know dark is supposed to make a room seem smaller, but mine actually feels larger right now. So far, all of my clients have really liked it and to both me and them it feels very relaxing.
 
Thanks for the pics Frederic, I like the soft green. Black sounds interesting too vestat. I do have to choose a color that my wife can live with since the studio is within the house and she may not see the beauty in black.

rpe
 
You will need more coats of paint with a dark color, especially reds and browns. Not trying to dissuade you, I like dark walls. But plan for four coats or three coats with a tinted primer.
 
rpe said:
Thanks for the pics Frederic, I like the soft green. Black sounds interesting too vestat. I do have to choose a color that my wife can live with since the studio is within the house and she may not see the beauty in black.

rpe
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I had an all black home studio maybe, 15 years ago. Walls and ceiling were black, and the carpet was black. It looked cool for about a week, then it kinda started to torque my brain funny. I could put a 1000W halogen worklight in there and still trip!
 
Well, it's been a month, and I love it. We are putting a light colored hard wood floor in and just mad red velvet curtains for all of the windows. I don't think I could handle black carpet in there also though:D

When we painted it, we only used 2 coats, no primer at all.
 
xstatic said:
Well, it's been a month, and I love it. We are putting a light colored hard wood floor in and just mad red velvet curtains for all of the windows. I don't think I could handle black carpet in there also though:D

When we painted it, we only used 2 coats, no primer at all.
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That's cool... and as they say... to each their own. It's you're studio, make it anyway you like, as did I :)
 
Looks good bigdaddyd. I wish I had that much room. Thanks again for all the replies.

rpe
 
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