Paint colors for your home, inside and out
Home office · colors from 4 paintings
Office paint colors should help you focus without making the room feel dull. These four schemes come from paintings, each split into walls, furniture, wood, one bold piece and one textile, with LRV for every key color.
Quick answer
For most home offices, start with the light warm walls from the Kemble scheme (#FFDF9A) or the calmer green-gray #A2A294, and keep dark colors for shelves, a desk or one accent.
Each scheme is one painting's palette, split into walls, main furniture, wood, one bold piece and one textile.
From John Philip Kemble, Martin Archer Shee
#FFDF9A#BF9160#583219#363019#7C2F1APale yellow walls (#FFDF9A, LRV 76) with a tan desk, dark brown wood and a dark olive bold piece make a warm, bright office.
From Portrait of Emperor Jahangir, Mughal
#D3E0AB#C1C771#6B5440#3D5129#C0A859Light green walls (#D3E0AB, LRV 70) with olive furniture and a dark green accent suit an office that gets plenty of daylight.
From Christ among the Doctors, Spanish (Catalan) Painter
#F9D8A5#B59474#957050#BC532B#ECA95FSoft peach-cream walls (#F9D8A5, LRV 72), tan furniture and a rust-red accent give a warm, traditional work room.
From Mary (Polly) Lawton Bringhurst, James Peale
#FFEF9F#AAAA9C#797052#B08342#D5AC67Very light yellow walls (#FFEF9F, LRV 85) with gray-green furniture and gold details keep the room bright but calm.
The same paint reads differently in cool north light, warm south sun and under evening lamps. Find the column closest to your room.
| Color | Neutral daylight | North light | South light | Evening lamps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh Leaf Green | ||||
| Sage Gray Green |
Pick which color goes on the walls, the big furniture and the bold piece. Floors, shadows and trim follow your choice.
The framed picture on the wall is John Philip Kemble.
The four schemes on this page share one idea: light, warm walls and a few deep colors in furniture and wood. The wall colors range from LRV 70 to 85, so all of them keep a work space bright.
If you spend long hours at a screen, the calmest choice is the sage gray green #A2A294. At LRV 36 it is not a bright wall, but it avoids glare and fits almost any desk.
If your office is small or has one window, pick one of the light wall colors. The Kemble and Catalan schemes are warmest, the Jahangir scheme is the greenest, and the Peale scheme is the lightest of all.
Pale warm walls look best with a trim color slightly lighter or the same color in a different sheen. For ceilings, use the lightest color in your chosen scheme.
For floors and desks, the dark walnut brown #543D2B shows the depth of wood that works with these walls. If you have a dark desk, keep the floor lighter or add a rug so the room does not feel heavy.
Use the bold piece sparingly. A deep green, a rust red or a gold on a chair, a lamp or a bookshelf gives the room a point of focus. Keep to one bold piece, since a work room can feel busy if every item has its own color.
Offices are often lit by a mix of daylight, a desk lamp and overhead lights. That mix changes how color reads, so look at your walls under each of them.
In north light, the pale yellows look slightly grayer and calm. In strong south light they brighten and can look more yellow, so a very light yellow with an LRV of 85 is best in a room with moderate light.
The green #9FD991 is the most vivid color here. On a large wall it can feel intense under bright bulbs, so many people use it on one wall only. The sage gray green stays steady across the day, which is why it suits a screen-heavy room.
Paint a sample board about two feet square and place it behind your desk or the wall you face most. Check it at the time of day when you work.
Look at the sample on screen days as well. If you video call from the room, see how the color appears behind you, since light walls can wash out and dark ones can look heavy on camera.
Place the sample beside your desk, shelves and floor. Compare two options for at least two days before deciding. Colors that feel energizing at first sometimes feel tiring after a week, so a calmer sample is often the right pick for long working hours.
Light warm yellows, a soft sage gray green and a pale green are the wall colors in these schemes, with dark brown for wood and furniture.
The sage gray green #A2A294 is calm, with an LRV of 36. It stays in the background and does not glare.
You can, but use dark colors such as #543D2B for shelves, a desk or paneling. Very dark walls with LRV under 10 need strong lighting for work.
A light wall color with an LRV above 70, such as the Kemble or Catalan wall colors, reflects more light and helps a small office feel open.
Match the light in your room first, then pick the scheme whose wall color you can still enjoy after a few days of testing.
A card with every color on this page, its LRV and the paintings it comes from. Pin it, or take it to the paint store.
Painting images: The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain (CC0). Colors measured by Light & Pigment. Paint names belong to their brands and matches are approximate. Colors look different on screen than on a wall, so always test a sample.
