Paint workshop walls or leave natural wood?

[BloomingtonMike]

Took me months to paint my ply before I built my slat wall walls. VERY happy I did it and I could only afford cheap paint. Amazing difference with good lighting.

[Admiral]

I'm currently moving into my new shop.  Had to build out an existing  unfinished basement room.  Very dark and no windows.  Brightening the space is a must.  It had one unpainted sheetrock wall, the rest were insulated studs and open ceiling with lots of exposed pipes and wire.  Put in a drop down ceiling with 2x2 led lights for general lighting.  Currently installing can lights for task lighting over work stations.  I painted the one sheetrock wall, but wanted the versatility of plywood for the other walls.  Found a plywood at Lowes that was pre-sanded and primed on one side.  The primed side was more like a whitewash, where you could see the grain.  The grain is very straight and uniform.  Lowes sells it as cabinet grade.  They sell it in 1/4", 1/2", and 3/4".  It wasn't pure white, is had some tan to it.  Screwed it up with white finish screws and covered the walls with a poly to minimize staining.  Painted the sheetrock to match.  Very pleased with how bright it is now.

Nice.  It's so CLEAN!  Puts me to shame.....

[TomFromStLouis]

I think it is a mistake to not paint now. You could spray the entire shop lickity split and thank yourself every single day thereafter.

[sniper]

Well, I expected a more even opinion, but almost everyone says paint. I think at this point, I'm going to leave it raw. I can change my mind later. Besides, it gets me done sooner.

Mike, I've got OSB walls and never painted them. I've got so much stuff hanging on the walls (cabinets, peg brd, clamps, etc.) that there isn't enough wall showing to matter.

One of these years I'm going to tape, mud and paint my ceiling to help with light. Of course, I've been saying that for almost 14 years now.

[Tapper]

My vote is for paint, light in color for good reflection. Did it in my basement shop after finishing out with sheetrock. Really like the way it looks!

Doug

[Big Dave]

Well, I expected a more even opinion, but almost everyone says paint.  I think at this point, I'm going to leave it raw.  I can change my mind later. Besides, it gets me done sooner.

Personally, I think you made the right choice, but that's just me.

My eyes are very sensitive to glare, and I wasn't about to paint my shop with anything that would give me reflected light from almost every direction. The last thing I want at the end of a day in the shop is a headache. Someone else had mentioned using warm colors. I did this for the areas that I did paint. Combined with the natural wood, I couldn't be more happy with the results...

Dave

[toolmiser]

Call me a fence sitter, but how about a compromise such as something like a "whitewash"? You get more white, but still some wood grain. Like most, it would have been easier when laying down.

[smithgl12]

Call me a fence sitter, but how about a compromise such as something like a "whitewash"?  You get more white, but still some wood grain.  Like most, it would have been easier when laying down.

Maybe you can Tom Sawyer someone into whitewashing it for you. (The Mark Twain Tom Sawyer not the Rush Tom Sawyer
)

[jstraw]

We did a whitewash on the walls of my prior shop. It looked pretty nice I thought. Definitely brightened up the shop.

[toolmiser]

We did a whitewash on the walls of my prior shop.  It looked pretty nice I thought.  Definitely brightened up the shop.

Maybe I wasn't so crazy with the whitewash idea.  Kind of like having your cake and eat it too.

Remember you can always go to paint, but it's hard to remove it.