Garage paint enhances the look of your garage and protects its structure from elements. There are three primary parts of your garage that you often need to paint: its floor, its walls and its door. All of these three parts take different roles and are made from different materials, so the way they are painted is obviously different.
Here we will explore some garage paint ideas that give you clues of how to paint every part of your garage.
Garage Paint Ideas for the Wall
Choosing the best garage paint ideas to paint your garage wall is important because the wall occupies the biggest portion of your garage’s interior, making it the most obvious part that determines the atmosphere of your garage. You can pick any color for your garage wall, but remember that any color that you choose for your garage wall will determine the color that you will choose for your floor and your door.
Therefore, when you are contemplating about the color that you want to pick for the wall, you actually also need to contemplate about the color that you want to pick for your garage floor and door. Make sure that all colors that you choose for the three garage parts complement each other.
There are actually two categories of color that you can choose for your garage wall: bright and dark colors. Bright colors make your garage look brighter and help enhance its lighting whereas dark colors conceal grime, dust and oil. If you want wall color that enhances garage lighting and conceals dirt at the same time, you can choose a third option: earthy colors like tan or beige.
You can also use wall color that sports decorative flakes, like the ones you see on garage floor, because the flakes effectively conceal dirt. Whichever color that you pick, make sure that you choose semi-gloss paint because it is easier to clean.
Garage Paint Ideas for the Floor
The floor of your garage must always be in perfect condition because it has to bear the weight of all of your heavy vehicles plus any cabinets, tools and machineries that you store there. There are two primary procedures that can be done to maintain your garage floor: painting it or applying epoxy coating on it.
Both procedures involve changing the color of the floor. There are several reasons why you should at least paint the floor of your garage if you don’t plan to coat it.
1. Paint makes the floor look brighter and conceals any imperfections that are found on the floor surface. |
2. Paint makes the floor less slippery. |
3. Painted floor is easier to clean. |
4. Painting is the easiest and cheapest procedure to make your garage floor look more appealing. |
To paint your garage floor, the first thing to do is choosing the color. Any color actually works as long as it complements the color of other parts of your garage, especially wall and door. Therefore, choose a color that is in accordance with the overall theme of your garage.
Neutral colors complement each other, bolder colors can make your garage look brighter and more sparkling, and calmer colors can cool down the bold colors of your garage’s walls and door. Decorative flakes that are sprinkled on your garage floor, be it painted or coated with resin, will make the floor appear richer and conceal dirt and dust.
After choosing your color, clean the floor to remove dust and debris. Use degreaser if needed to remove stubborn grime and oil. If there are broken parts on the floor, you may want to fix them with the same material used by the floor. Let the floor dry before you start the painting job.
Paint the floor with your preferred color. Paint evenly and then sprinkle fine or coarse sand on the floor while the paint is still wet to make the floor less slippery. If you can spare more money, consider coating your garage floor with resin to improve its durability and to make it shinier and more appealing.
Garage Paint Ideas for the Door
The door of your garage may require painting because it is the most obvious part of your garage when seen from the outside and because paint helps protect it from elements, to which the door is constantly exposed. Before you paint your door, however, you need to decide first whether painting your garage door is needed.
Painting garage door is not always required. If your garage door is made from wood, you may want to leave its natural look uncovered by paint. The door is already look good with its wood texture. To protect it from the elements, you can simply use wood coating or transparent resin that effectively protects its structure without concealing its beauty.
Some garage owners who use aluminum door also prefer not to paint their garage door because the aluminum itself already looks great and is resistant to rust. Aluminum and steel doors also mostly have baked enamel or powder coat finish that protects them from elements and give them shiny look.
So, painting garage door is optional. It becomes necessary only if you are concerned with its look, which may not match the neighboring house wall, or if its coating has begun to wear away. Although the coating that comes with the door is extremely resilient and durable, it will eventually wear away. At that time, recoating and painting might be required to enhance the door’s durability.
When choosing the color of the door paint, you can follow the rules of painting wall and floor: make sure that you choose a paint that complements the color of its surroundings. If you paint the door over its coating, the paint might not be as durable as the wall paint because of the lack of cohesion between the paint and the coating and because the paint is constantly exposed to elements. Therefore, you may need repaint the door once every 5 or 10 years to keep the paint looking fresh.