Garages work best with paints that are both durable and good-looking. When your garage is covered on the inside with drywall, a paint that is attractive but easy-to-clean gives it a professional look. When you add an epoxy paint coating to the garage floor, it results in car-dealer showroom quality while hiding a world of sins.
The color you choose for the exterior of the garage should match the house, especially when the garage is attached to it. For detached garages, you may want to use a different color, but choose one that is already in the three-part color scheme you used on the house for a cohesive look.
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Interior Colors
Garages become the go-to workshop for car repairs, carpentry or woodworking projects, or painting and staining furniture. Because of this, avoid white or yellow paints that show dirt easily. Choose colors such as:
- Beiges
- Taupes and sand colors
- Light browns
- Light and medium grays
For a different look, add chalkboard paint to one wall to write out shopping lists, project to-do steps or plans. You can also split the color in a garage to create a visual type of wainscoting. On the lower half of the wall, add a darker color such as a gunmetal gray that can take tool and dirt abuse, with a lighter color atop it.
Exterior Colors
The idea behind choosing colors for your home and garage exteriors is two-fold: to protect the exterior from the elements and to create curb-appeal. Most home exteriors use three colors: a primary or field color, trim and accent hues. Some of the best color schemes include: gray for the field, a muted green for trim, and muted rusty red for the garage door and front door of the home. For a touch of nature, opt for a pale moss green for the field, gray-green for the trim, and a muted and tinted brown for the doors. You can also opt for a straw-colored house and garage, trimmed in sand with dark gray garage and front door or a more traditional look with a gray field, white trim and blue-gray doors.
Floor Colors
Whether you plan to add an epoxy coating or paint to the garage floor that protects against stains and spills, you must first ready it to accept the coating. First clean the garage floor thoroughly and then ready it for the coating by appling a concrete etching product to it.
Step 1
Cover oil stains with sawdust or cat litter a day before you plan to clean the garage. Let it sit for 24 hours to soak up excess oil.
Step 2
Adhere plastic sheeting to the base of the wall a few inches up to protect the drywall from spills or splatters. Secure it to the drywall with painter's tape so that it drapes to the bottom of the garage floor. If you have stem walls, make certain the plastic sheeting covers them.
Step 3
Sweep the garage floor thoroughly, using an old paintbrush to get into the corners and crevices. Sweep the debris into a dustpan and discard.
Step 4
Clean the garage floor by applying a cement cleaner or dishwasher detergent directly to the floor. Mix powdered detergent with water; scrub stained areas vigorously with a long-handled stiff brush. For tough stains, let the cleaning agent soak the stain for about 45 minutes while you scour the rest of the garage floor.
Step 5
Rinse with clean water or wash the garage floor down with the wand attachment on the pressure washer. Let the garage floor dry from 24 to 48 hours, depending on the weather conditions.
Step 6
Apply a concrete etching product to the floor to ready it to accept paint or epoxy. Let it sit overnight on the garage floor; do not wash it off.
Step 7
Paint the epoxy on the garage floor using a long-handled paint roller. Follow the manufacturer's instructions to mix the two-part epoxy before application.