Why noone paints their garage dark solid colors?

[Onurkneez4nghi]

So I will be redoing a garage in a new house i am moving into... i have white cars and think it would look pretty good if i painted everything very dark grey almost black... trying to find some inspiration pictures but cant really find any... any reason no one paints their garages black?

Garage will have Swisstrax flooring (black/grey)

thanks for any comments or pictures you guys may have!

 

[superskaterxes]

hard to find things that drop, makes garage look smaller.

 

[The Cobbler]

need more light with dark colours too

 

[kmacht]

Because it makes the garage dark and dreary looking. Lighting doesn't reflect off the dark colors and the place just looks dim. If you want to do dark colors you will need at least a light floor and ceiling.

Keith

 

[Eslader]

Because no matter how much light you have in a shop, it's never enough. A lot of overall room lighting is made up of light that bounces off the walls. Painting them black would cut a lot of that bounce lighting out of the picture.

If you don't do any work in there at all, ever, you can get away with it. Those of us who do want at least part of the wall to be white.

I'm in the middle of a garage redo myself, and I'll be going with a darker color on the bottom 1/3 of the wall, mostly to hide grunge, and white on top.

BTW on that floor, if you are going to be doing any sort of work out there, avoid the Ribtrax and Sportrax lines - you do not want your floor to have a bunch of grooves and holes for small parts and fasteners to get lost in when you drop them.

Personally I tend to recommend an epoxy floor coating. It costs if you have it done professionally, but it's permanent floor armor that won't be damaged without a lot of effort on your part.

 

[Onurkneez4nghi]

Thanks for quick response guys... flooring is from old house so its just coming with me. Lots to think about... will update with pictures of current look of it.

 

[n20junkie]

I painted my race car trailer black inside to match the race car. It was dark no matter how many lights I put inside. Eventually I got sick of working in the dark and painted the inside semi-gloss white. What a difference!

I now paint my garages gloss or semi-gloss white. Looks like a laboratory when all the lights are on, just how I like it.

 

[LXCam]

As long as you're not having to work in there, go for it.

 

[seagravedriver]

Lighting. If the garage was not used to work on stuff, I would consider a darker color. Do what works for you!

 

[bczygan]

Strong colors will effect the color of things in the garage, as will the color temperature of the lighting.

So if you are painting, it will matter.

On the other hand, jewel tones make a rich environment, even if you need more lighting.

If my garage was a showplace it would be spare and sparsely furnished, with spartan furnishings, jewel tone colors and theatrical lighting.

As it is, my brick walls are gloss white. Floor is dirty concrete and ceiling is half open and half white plaster.

Lighting is extreme, but with a lot of tools and cabinets covering the walls, the overall illumination is not too much.

Bill

 

[Chevron Guy]

When I painted my last garage Behr ultra pure white in semi gloss, my neighbor walked in and said "it looks so sterile". I said "why thank you!"

 

[bwringer]

Just paint one wall. That way, you can admire the cars against the wall, but still have a reasonable amount of light.

Using a deep color on just one wall is a common interior design element for the same reasons.

 

[Viper98912]

Goes for any room and paint - dark colors always **** out all the light of the room and can make the room "feel" terrible. It completely ***** out all of energy as soon as you walk in, especially a color like black.

I do not recommend painting the garage a dark color. If you want dark contrast, do the bottom third like someone else suggested, and make the top a light color.

What I personally do (will be doing it for a fourth time...) is a light gray wall, white ceilings, a very dark gray trim baseboard. Floors are a light silver gloss epoxy. Gives it a garage-y industrial look, while still looking clean and bright.

 

[rburke65]

Really dark.....black walls.......now there's a good idea. Won't show the dirt. You won't need a sink to wash your hands as you'll never see the dirt on the wall switch and woodwork. Dark walls......bad idea.

 

[SteveL]

This is fairly dark and very cool:

 

[kbs2244]

But not black.
And more a show place than a work place.

I even go with white work bench tops.

 

[cvairwerks]

Put a 25 watt bulb in the current garage and close the doors. That's about how it will feel in the new one with dark paint. The darker the wall color, the more light needed.

 

[Coolabah]

As long as you're not having to work in there, go for it.

Yep. My garage - white walls AND ceilings grey/black racedeck floor. No Brainer if you actually want to SEE what you are doing

 

[MushCreek]

How about a dark color part way up the wall, and white upper walls and ceiling? BTW- really dark colors will show all kinds of dirt and dust. Ever own a black car?

 

[maxpower_hd]

Lighting is definitely the biggest reason people usually don't paint garages or any other rooms for that matter black. But black and other dark colors also show off imperfections in the finish and will show dirt much easier. Ever own and wax a black car?

 

[Speed4Life]

Mine is painted darkish color of gray at the moment and I don't have any issues, but I also have a ton of light in the garage. I've got some pics in another post on here somewhere. I'll try and find it an paste a link. But in general, what most have said is true. Darker colors do **** out the light and can make it look smaller.

 

[earlthegoat2]

If you work in your garage, there are only disadvantages to a dark interior color. If you have a lot of light, great. If you have a lot of light, you will have more yet with a light color.

 

[Mike.VA]

I have black granite counter tops in my kitchen (not my doing, I bought the house and they came with it) and even a few grains of sugar makes the counters look like they been never even been cleaned. Can't wait to change them out.

Black would be my last choice.

 

[sierradmax]

How about two tone colored walls?

 

[Falcon67]

Mine is the color of OSB. Very much like the above pic, but too lazy and cheap to take it to that level.

 

[dmcintosh]

I like the look of darker colors. Mine is a blue color with a grey Rust Bullet floor. Ceiling is white, but so far I like the color and it is not overly dark. I'll admit I was a little concerned that it would look dreary, but I love it now that it is up. I have 1/2 of my space finished with the ecpection of adding a baseboard to cover the drywall to concrete seam.

 

[iamhomeless]

If you cover the walls in MDF and skin coat them with Bondo, you can spray them with an automotive gloss color and clear, which will make light reflect off of them quite well. Especially if you keep your walls washed and waxed.

 

[rburke65]

Ooooh.......you could start a mushroom farm in your garage!

 

[-Brent-]

I even go with white work bench tops.

This piqued my interest. What material are you using? HDPE or melamine or something else?

 

[n20junkie]

I painted the inside of my race car trailer black to match my race car.


Now the walls in the trailer are white, because the black made the inside look like a bad night club and you could see pretty much nothing.

 

[WhiskeyRanger]

Just like in plants, color part way up, then white ceiling and upper walls. Hides dirt down low, adds light up top.

 

[TractorJeff]

In post 15, the blue doesn't cover everything which is why it looks good!
The downstairs family room was done in mid 70's dark paneling which makes it the most dreary room in the house. Its on the list of winter projects this year!

 

[isb cornbinder]

On the dark and black interior color scheme, I have a problem. Against the best advice I did the interior on my 1940 Ford in black leather. The floor is black square weave German wool and the headliner is black perforated material. The inside of the car is like a tomb. If something gets dropped, forget about finding the dropped item with the interior lighting.
I am going to spend another $1000 to have the headliner and accessory floor-mats changed to a light grey.
Same rules apply to garage interiors. Lighten up.

 

[joseywales]

"Dad, my bike chain popped off."

"Quick, to the Batcave!"


.

 

[DblDog]

The floor area and ceiling height should be taken into account. A standard two car garage with a 9' flat ceiling, no windows and walls lined with stuff will look confined in dark colors. Larger spaces, high ceilings with a blank wall or two will take darker colors better. A white car against a contrasting dark warm gray would look spectacular!

 

[rayra]

because people want to be able to see and work on things in their garage, not have a BatCave.