10 Best Home Gym Paint Colors From Benjamin Moore

By Diana Hathaway Timmons
Updated on 09/13/23
Light green-painted walls in workout room with yoga mats, hand weights and exercise bench

The Spruce / Sanja Kostic

When you commit to using space in your home for a workout room, your color choices are critical. The right or wrong color can make or break your home gym. The best color choices can not only lift your mood but make working out more inviting. There is a perfect color for every type of workout space, whether you're a ​powerlifter or love yoga. There are even some wall colors that work for both types of workout styles.

If your workout style is high-energy, high-impact, fast, or heavy, then colors that can get your heart pumping are in the warm family: reds, oranges, yellows. Think about the color of blood as your heart is pumping, and you've got your color family.

Another type of workout is meditative and intentional; it's more relaxing, calm, and soothing. Those colors are in the cool color family with more blues, teal, and purples. You can even find some balance between both color families by picking colors from each as accent walls. For the safest bet, choose white or a warm or cool neutral. You can always add color accents for pops of motivating color.

  • Color Family: Depends on the workout style; reds for running, cycling, powerlifting; blues for yoga, pilates, tai chi, meditation
  • Complementary Colors: Reds are complemented by green; blues are complemented by orange
  • Pairs Well With: All of the colors can work with white trim, hardwoods, most neutrals
  • Mood: Reds and oranges evoke high energy, excitement; blues and greens promote calm and relaxation
  • Where to Use: The blues for calm and relaxation work for a yoga room and would match the overall mood for a bedroom or nursery; the passionate reds may translate well in a den or family room with rich wood tones or brick; reds are often inviting and feel comfortable

Here are the picks for the best home gym paint color ideas from Benjamin Moore, according to designers:

  • 01 of 10

    Best for Cardio: Dragons Blood

    Maximum intensity dragon's blood

    Benjamin Moore

    If your workout style includes heart-pumping cardio and going full-throttle, vibrant colors like Benjamin Moore Dragons Blood can be your motivator. Fiery reds and oranges bring excitement and energy to any space. A bold color like this is perfect for an accent wall or half of a wall divided by a chair rail, especially in a small area.

  • 02 of 10

    Best for Yoga: Peace and Happiness

    The yoga room color

    Benjamin Moore

    If you're looking for a peaceful color for yoga or meditation, a touch of lavender like Benjamin Moore's Peace and Happiness is calming and natural. Balance the rest of the space with off-white and light raw materials like bamboo for a serene yoga space.

    Tip

    Don't break your concentration by focusing on a paint mistake on the wall. When picking out your paints, pick up several rolls of blue painter's tape is a painting essential. Apply this wax-coated tape along all the baseboards, windows, doors, and the edges where the wall meets the trim.

  • 03 of 10

    Best Cooling: Harbor Haze

    harbor haze workout room color

    Benjamin Moore

    Working out can get you heated up pretty quickly, mainly if your exercise space receives a lot of natural light streaming in. Using cool colors like Benjamin Moore's Harbor Haze can create a relaxed and fresh vibe easily. Choose colors for your workout room that are relaxing but not sleepy. You don't want to fall asleep on your yoga mat.

  • 04 of 10

    Best for Dance: Nautilus Shell

    nautilus shell workout room color

    Benjamin Moore

    If you're a dancer, partial to ballet, barre work, or other styles, choose a welcoming, attractive color that's not too distracting. A rich pink-peach paint color like Nautilus Shell provides energy to the room with its warm reddish undertone while maintaining a dream-like softness. If your dance style is more energetic, like Latin ballroom, hip-hop, or Zumba, add hot accent colors for pops of high energy.

    Continue to 5 of 10 below.
  • 05 of 10

    Best for Focus: Paradiso

    Blue workout room color

    Benjamin Moore

    Does your workout require a lot of concentration? Color psychology suggests blue as your go-to home gym color if you're looking for focus. While blue may seem too relaxed for a workout room, its special gift increases focus and production. Choose a livable blue like Paradiso that is slightly muted, with a hint of green, to avoid the "baby blue" effect, which is not motivating at all.

  • 06 of 10

    Best Neutral: Green Earth

    Green earth workout room

    Benjamin Moore

    Not everyone has space enough for a dedicated home gym. Many workout spaces serve double duty with playrooms, guest rooms, or home offices. The color you choose for your walls should unify the room—working for both. Choose a lively yet neutral color like Green Earth. It can work in many types of rooms, including a personal exercise studio. This natural and neutral green is perfect for eco-friendly accessories and furnishings and is easily accented by other soft colors.

  • 07 of 10

    Best Inviting: Silver Mist

    minimalist workout room color

    Benjamin Moore

    For those who want to work out without any distractions, a rich gray paint color like Silver Mist could be the perfect choice for a home gym. A simple cool gray with a hint of blue helps you focus on your workout while still being an inviting and attractive alternative to white. Silver Mist also has a beach-inspired vibe that is perfect for a yoga studio or luxury spa space outfitted with a massage table.

  • 08 of 10

    Best Versatile: Brushed Aluminum

    aluminum workout room color

    Benjamin Moore

    Exercising is not just a physical activity; it's also a mental one. To put yourself in a serious and ambitious frame of mind, look for greige colors like Benjamin Moore's Brushed Aluminum for your walls. This hue and other greiges paint colors are weighty neutrals with a "let's get down to business" appeal. Benjamin Moore's Brushed Aluminum works best with white trim and cool color accents to keep the room balanced. This color also works as an excellent choice for a workout space that also doubles as a home office.

    Continue to 9 of 10 below.
  • 09 of 10

    Best Intense: Vermilion

    Vermilion

    Benjamin Moore

    Much like red, orange is a color that can light a fire under you and get you going to hit a stride and then push it to the limit. This orange-red hue is a color of confidence, excitement, and energy. Vermilion is a stimulating color that can help you go the extra mile. This color works well with various trims: white, black, natural woods, and brick. If you have a black rubberized or foam-tiled floor surface for your home gym, this bright, energetic color complements it.

    Tip

    Ultimately, pick a color that makes you happy. Some colors may "inspire," but they won't work for motivating you if you get a negative feeling with it. Before committing a paint color to an entire room, paint one wall as an accent wall or a half-wall divided by chair rail trim and try it out for a month before going all the way.

  • 10 of 10

    Best Energetic: Chic Lime

    Benjamin Moore Chic Lime

    Benjamin Moore

    Colors in the yellow-green category evoke energy and excitement, much like a bright red or orange. This more relaxed yellow-green tone skirts the boundary of energy and calm. It's perfect if you like to mix up your gym days with some days devoted to running or cycling, then switching gears to yoga or pilates. Chic Lime complements natural wood trim or hardwood flooring and accents in gray, beige, or white. Turn up the energy in this hue by brightly lighting up the room or throwing open all the curtains and raising the blinds. This room color is also perfect for a cool down.

FAQ
  • What colors are the most motivational?

    Orange is typically seen as the most motivating color for a workout space, however, other warm, energetic colors like red and yellow are also great colors to keep optimism and enthusiasm up.

  • Should you use warm or cool colors to paint a gym?

    It depends on how you plan on using the gym. If you want to keep energy levels up, then warm colors are better since they encourage activity and movement. Cool colors are better in a space you want to use for more relaxed workouts, like yoga, stretching, pilates, or barre.

Creating a Gym in Your Garage