Help me colour my office
OK, I realise this is a bit of a departure for this blog, and arguably a complete waste of your time. But if you can be bothered, I’d welcome your views on which of these colours I should paint my office, which is being redecorated next week.
Answers to frequently asked questions
- Yes, you can discuss the colour names (and colour names in general) if you want. In fact, that will give this post some badly needed legitimacy.
- Yes, the choice of blue is non-negotiable. I’m using it because blue light is supposed to make you more alert.
- Yes, I know it will ‘feel cold’. I feel cold all the time anyway.
- Yes, I realise that this mobile-phone snap is a hopeless reproduction of the colours. Deal with it. I’ve fiddled with the variations in Photoshop until it looks like what I can see on the wall. That’s as good as it gets I’m afraid.
- No, I’m not going back to B&Q to get any more sample pots. They were all in the wrong racks and even finding these ones took far too long.
- The carpet will be a sort of nondescript browny beige oatmeal sort of colour that I chose so I’d be able to change the wall colour if I wanted (pathetic fence-sitting in other words).
- Yes, I am finally replacing the green carpet with a hole that was mentioned in this post.
- Any comments including jokes along the lines of ‘getting the blues’ etc are liable to be redacted or deleted.
- Yes, it has to be blue. I told you before. I don’t care if it makes me ‘feel sad’, this isn’t a toy shop.
Comments (12)
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I’d go for sarong. It’s “sarong, it’s right”!
Get it? Sarong sounds like so wrong.
Why on earth call a colour sarong?
Blue Babe, but with a lot more white…
I thought about it until I was ‘cerulean skies’ in the face and I decided on sea blue.
I’d go for Sea Blue or Blue Babe. Not that I’m sitting on the fence or anything…
Hi Tom, my serious answer is ‘electric’. My not so serious answer is to divide the room up into 5 (four walls and a ceiling) and paint each one a different colour. Imagine the fun you could have 🙂
On second thoughts, a lot more white without any blue.
I think it has to be indigo infusion for three reasons:
1. It is the only one (with the possible exception of electric)that will help you attain your desired benefit of “alertness”.
2. It is way cooler than the others.
3. The name contains four times as many i’s as all of the other color names combined.
I’m going to say either sarong or indigo infusion…that is, if it’s just a feature wall (hello, ’90s). I’m not sure how big your office is, but I think those dark colours will make it look really closed-in if it’s spare room-size. If you’re doing all the walls go with sea blue. I like electric as a colour, but I think it might be a bit vibrant for a work space – especially if you ever have to work in the evenings. Blue babe just seems insipid to me.
Side note: I would love to be the person who comes up with the names for paint colours. Last time I was in my local paint shop, I was struck by how many of them were named after alcoholic drinks (Gin Fizz, Galliano, Buttered Rum, Hot Toddy). I think I’d do well.
Thanks to everyone for the ideas. Lucy’s comments re feature walls remind me that I should have described the room. It’s long and thin, roughly 2.5m x 6m, and nestled under the roof of our house, with the slope running from one long edge to the other. The high wall is normal height, and the low wall is formed by cupboards about 1.5m high that are painted white. The two short walls each have a window in. So it is really only the main (high) wall that will be painted blue, plus some bits around the two windows, making it kind of a feature wall by default – and I’m not too worried about feeling like I’m in a little blue box.
I think Indigo Infusion might be emerging as a front runner. We had a pale blue room before, and I didn’t really like it – the weakness of the colour was depressing in itself. By contrast, we painted the next-door room lime green, to match my iMac at the time, and it was fantastic. Just stepping into the room made you feel happier.
I like blue as a colour. It’s uplifting. So uplifting I used it in my company name. Anyway my experience of painting rooms vibrant colours is that when the whole room is done or even just a long wall they are way more zingy than the sample gives you a feel for. Even blue babe which looks quite pale in the pic is going to be quite bright when a whole wall is done. Indigo infusion and sarong I think will actually feel quite dark in large quantity. So electric if you want very vibrant and sea blue if you want something like a fab summer sky.
My office is blue and I love it.
Well, I was going to go for Indigo Infusion, but in the end I wussed out and chose Sea Blue. Just as well, because the painting is in progress now, and Sea Blue is actually pretty strong – but in a good way.
I’m sorry to report that the blue story has come to a sad end. I went for Sea Blue, and quite liked it at first, but I’ve just repainted it to a more neutral off-white (Farrow & Ball ‘Strong White’, No 2001, if anyone’s interested).
I didn’t find the room cold, or sad, as some had warned me. Instead, I found I had an overload of the very thing I was looking for: improved alertness. While I got through a huge amount of work – I’ve had my busiest-ever three-month period in the Sea Blue Room – the effect eventually became a bit oppressive. I felt awake, but in a rather mad, overdriven way.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who offered their views. I hope this is useful to anyone else who’s considering a strong blue for their office…