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29 December 2006

Extremely Important Ask Mecha Question What color should I paint my office? →[More:]Orange or green? My office is a windowless rectangle locked deep within a subbasement of concrete. If the atom bomb goes off, y'all can come live in my office where no radiation will ever reach us. Cel phones do not work down here; there is one wavering fluorescent light; I share my office with the printer and the xerox machine and the server and out in the hall closet is a big machine that goes thump whistle bang groan - it's pretty damn horrible, actually. However, they have offered to paint. I think I need something BRIGHT. I am thinking like this green or this orange. I am thinking intense. I am thinking bright. Am I crazy?

post by: mygothlaundry at: 12:14 | 30 comments

One of my favorite rooms was a teeny tiny bedroom with hardly any natural light that was painted a deep, rich burgundy-red. It felt so cozy.

So for me, I'd go with intense rich, rather than intense bright, to in some way play up the "I work in a cave, but it's a cozy cave" thing. A teeny room of bright green starts to feel a bit Yellow Wallpaper to me, but I think that's because I'm just not really a fan of bright green. I do like the orange, though (but I'd go more pumpkin-y if it were me).

posted by occhiblu 29 December | 12:21

I think a tiny office in a bright color would drive me insane. Maybe do one wall in a bright color and the other walls in something more neutral?

posted by matildaben 29 December | 12:34

Stay in the white/very light grey range, and eggshell finish, for a business office. Especially if the only source of light is a fluorescent fixture. Cool white or even daylight fluorescent bulbs don't put out much green or yellow light, and your office is going to be a dungeon if you go with either of those colors.

posted by paulsc 29 December | 12:46

I think this guy from Office Space had a similar problem:

≡ Click to see image ≡

I'd love to paint my classroom, myself. Currently it's a horrible institutional powder blue. And each time, after breaks, we return to disturbingly shiny blue floors.

posted by Pips 29 December | 12:53

Pink pink pink pink pink!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 29 December | 13:02

Orange. My Auntie just recently painted her office an orange sherbet color, and it looks so very nice. It is both warm and bright, and not putrescent at all.

posted by getoffmylawn 29 December | 13:36

Of the two choices given, I'd pick orange. For my added imput, I would select green, but more of a sage color instead of the neon-ish one you've looked at, but not pastel enough to be like my grade school or a hospital. If, however you decide to go with a neutral white-ish something, I recommend Swiss Mocha from Behr. It's really a white, so I don't know why they call it 'mocha' - I would not want to drink a mocha that color.

posted by youngergirl44 29 December | 13:56

No, neutral is right out. Forget neutral. Neutral is boring. It's all my coworkers can do to stop me from painting huge hot pink polka dots all over or possibly stripes and polka dots, which is where I'm kind of leaning now. That's why someone else is going to do the painting - to stop me before I do it myself in patterns. ;-)

The more I look at the paint chips on my desk the more I'm leaning towards the green though, so I'm interested that noone is liking the green. Hmmm.

posted by mygothlaundry 29 December | 14:05

I'd go for something like Persimon, myself. Either that or paint the entire thing dark blue and then add sharks, jellyfish and corals to create the impression that instead of underground, you're under the sea. You could then call your office the Sealab.

If you do go green, I'd choose a bright pea green.

posted by pieisexactlythree 29 December | 14:11

I officially change my vote to Sealab!

posted by youngergirl44 29 December | 14:13

I love the orange as it shows on my screen. I think warm colors are best for walls. YAY PAINT!

posted by rainbaby 29 December | 14:23

Or, since it's a gem and mineral museum, you could paint it like an underground gem mine and get sparkly paint to make the shiny rocks on the walls - give yourself a treasure cave!

posted by matildaben 29 December | 14:26

Isn't green one of those colors that doesn't work very well online? It may just be that the color we're seeing on our individual monitors is not the color you're actually looking at.

I love matildaben's idea -- paint it like you're inside a geode!

posted by occhiblu 29 December | 15:02

Sealab sounds wonderful! You could play whale songs! Hang green and blue streamers from the ceiling so they look like seaweed! Fishies, too, from invisible thread!

Ahem.

Limiting myself to your choices, I'd go for orange but a more pumpkin-ish orange as occhiblu suggests. The green hurts my eyes.

posted by deborah 29 December | 15:05

Found on the tubes, this advice for a small room with no windows:

Consider painting the walls with two or three different colors; a dark, warm color on the lower 3 or 4 feet, a lighter, warm color up to the ceeling and then a medium color trim. I would also consider painting the ceeling the same color as the medium. This will draw the eye laterally and provide some continuity throughout the room.

Could be nice.

Where is that link for the strange hotel with all sorts of different rooms? Some ideas might be found there - does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Personally, I hate the green, but what about toned down a tiny bit, with a second color?

≡ Click to see image ≡

I like the orange, but would probably leave one wall a light color. BUT MOST IMPORTANT - the lighting would make me certifiably insane right away... Do you have lamps, or something to mellow that out? I've almost always ended up putting lamps in offices I have in the past - and plants. People always thought I was kind of crazy, but liked my office.

posted by taz 29 December | 15:08

Yes! Lamps!

posted by occhiblu 29 December | 15:19

I vote green. My bedroom is Sherwood Green from Benjamin Moore and my bathrooms are both a pale spa green. The light spa green is very bright and inviting in my small bathrooms. I also love the bright greens--the apples and grass greens. One of my ceilings is painted Apple Green from Laura Ashley. I love, love, love Silver Sage and Sea Green from Restoration Hardware, but I don't know if they are bright enough.

If it were me I would choose a clear, pale yellow with lots of artificial light brought in. I know that you don't want neutral or boring so that is out.

Good luck with your choice. Green is keen.

posted by LoriFLA 29 December | 15:42

Much as I like the geode idea (GLITTER! I LOVE GLITTER!) unfortunately, I'm not the person who's going to be doing the actual painting, so no murals & no fun, which also excludes more than one color, alas. I think occhiblu is on the right track: rich color and I think I'm going to get a betta, too. A warm bright office! With fish! And plants & a gro light! Wow, this is making my miserable hole sound better & better.

posted by mygothlaundry 29 December | 15:55

The more I look at the paint chips on my desk the more I'm leaning towards the green though, so I'm interested that noone is liking the green. Hmmm

.

I will tell you from experience that green is NOT a popular color. Come to think of it, orange isn't either. Since I like to blabber on about my decorating choices and ask everybody's opinion and such, I have found that not a lot of people like green. Especially men. This is just anecdotal of course.

I like green and orange, but there is a reason why the green and orange tops are always left on the sale racks.

posted by LoriFLA 29 December | 15:57

Italians love orange. The entire country is orange. Really. I hated orange until I lived in Italy.

I suspect this is because Italians actually look good in orange; their coloring tends to be good for pumpkin-y colored things. I actually started getting jealous that I couldn't wear it.

posted by occhiblu 29 December | 16:05

aw. Not more than one color? Boo! Because I found this - both your colors (roughly), plus a third!

≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by taz 29 December | 16:39

ooooh, taz, that is gorgeous! That sort of peachy shade is exactly what I was originally looking for but then all they seemed to have was orangey and then I went green, but I love love love that room.

posted by mygothlaundry 29 December | 16:50

speaking of murals, just by the way, how cool is this?

In the first room:

≡ Click to see image ≡

In the adjoining room:

≡ Click to see image ≡

From this artist.

posted by taz 29 December | 17:09

That orange is gorgeous with the green and the blue-green color. Great ideas for accessory colors. I love that particular orange color, what would you call that, a terra-cotta, salmon? It's tough to pick a good terra-cotta. Sometimes they look too pink, sometimes too muddy brown. I always tell myself to buy the small little sample sizes or quarts to try a couple shades before taking the plunge. I never take this great advice, but I will in the future. I have made so many mistakes.

occhiblu, I love orange also, but can't wear it near the face unless I want to look like death. I have an orange bag and sneakers instead.

posted by LoriFLA 29 December | 17:37

Have you considered covering the walls in funky fabric? If you use starch, you can take it down and replace it at will.

posted by jrossi4r 29 December | 17:45

Plants and a grow light? Just don't let any cops come around.

posted by matildaben 29 December | 17:47

I love green, just not acid green. The silvery-sagey green that Lori linked is the colour I want my our bedroom to be when we get around to painting. That with a soft white on the trim will be gorgeous and soothing.

I used to be not-so-fond of orange but it has grown on me, but I tend to like the softer, more pumpkin-y colours.

I like the room taz shows but I couldn't live with it myself.

posted by deborah 29 December | 18:57

In the only apartment I lived in that I was allowed to paint, we did a deep sage green in the dining room, and a very cool subtle sponge painted silvery peach on sherbety orange in the living room (it looked like very warm peach unless you were really close). I did my bedroom in a really deep plum. I love having deep colors on the walls. (And I think the sage was my favorite. It felt cool and welcoming and sophisticated and inviting all at once.)

posted by occhiblu 29 December | 19:42

A couple years ago I painted my office bright lime green. Loved it. Then on a whim decided to paint it bright pink. Ended up getting sick of that after six months or so. Then painted the room in green and white stripes. Am now sick of the stripes and am going back to bright lime green (planning on painting tonight, actually).

posted by fluffy battle kitten 30 December | 00:53

It's hard for me to read colors well on the web. For a small space with flourescent light, I'd go with an orange, rather than green, to warm up the space. I would add really big, really colorful posters on the wall, so you might consider shoosing a great poster, then choosing a color.

I do love green; my living room is a sage-y green that I refer to as Old Boy Scout Tent, but without the smell.

posted by theora55 30 December | 11:51

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