01
Deep blue-grey: concentration
A deep blue-grey on all four walls and the bookcase: the study that cuts you off from the rest of the house. For writing, numbers, law. North-facing or windowless, by lamplight.
Help with paint Advice by room
Colours for a home study
A home study is painted for two things the other rooms ignore: the screen, which reflects anything shiny or light behind you, and the video call, which shows the wall behind you to strangers. So the colour is mid or deep in tone, matt, calm — a blue-grey, a green, a brown, a warm grey — with the deepest wall facing the desk, where the eye rests between two sentences, and a plain wall behind you for the camera. Whites and brights tire over eight hours; deep tones concentrate. Marble Matt Emulsion throughout, shelves and desk in Eggshell, and a lamp that does not light the screen.
Page updated September 2026 · by the Mylands France colour team
Understanding
The screen, the video call, the eight hours: what a study asks
Three constraints make the study. The screen: a light or shiny wall behind the chair reflects in the screen; a light wall facing the screen makes a contrast that tires the eyes. The answer is a mid or deep, matt tone on the walls around the screen — and a window to the side, never at your back or in front. The video call: the wall behind you becomes a backdrop that colleagues and clients see; it should be plain, calm, in a colour that flatters the face — blue-greys, greens, warm browns, warm greys; not white, which burns out the image, nor a bright, which tints it. The eight hours: a colour that excites in the morning exhausts by 5 pm; a colour that calms without sending you to sleep lasts the day.
And concentration has a geography: the eye, between two sentences, rests on the wall facing the desk — that is the one that takes the deepest colour, the one that "holds" the gaze; the wall behind the chair stays in the same tone or a little lighter for the camera; the ceiling in the companion white or the colour lightened. Our guide by family: Colours for a study.
Six palettes
Six studies, by the work done in them
For each: the walls, the wall facing the desk, the shelves and the desk. Walls in Marble Matt Emulsion, desk and bookcase in Eggshell.
02
Grey-green and deep green: the video call
A mid grey-green on the walls, the wall facing the desk in deep green: the most flattering camera backdrop, calm, reflection-free. For whoever spends the day in meetings.
03
Warm brown and linen: the evening study
A warm brown-taupe on the walls, the shelves in the same brown, the ceiling in linen: the study you retreat to after dinner, by lamplight. For reading and writing.
04
Warm grey and stone: the bright study
A warm grey-beige on the walls, a deeper stone facing the desk: the south-facing study, light without glare, for drawing and colour screens. South, east.
05
Mid blue and warm white: the creative study
A mid blue on the walls, the bookcase and desk in warm white: lively without agitating, for ideas and notebooks. East, west.
06
Ochre and olive green: the garden study
A soft ochre on the walls, an olive on the shelves and door: the study that looks onto the garden, warm in the morning, golden in the evening. North (the ochre warms), west.
By room
Closed study, desk corner in the living room, study–guest room, cupboard desk
| The situation | The challenge | The colour | The move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed study | Concentration, video calls | Mid or deep tone on all four walls, the deepest facing the desk | Bookcase in the wall colour; lamp to the side |
| Desk corner in the living room | That it does not look like an open-plan office | The living room colour, deeper on the desk's stretch of wall, up to the ceiling | See Creating a focal point; closed storage |
| Study–guest room | Neither dormitory nor office | One colour, deeper behind the desk and behind the bed | See Decorating the guest bedroom |
| Cupboard desk, alcove | Two square metres to hide or to celebrate | Inside of the cupboard in a deep colour, doors in the wall colour | Opening it is going to work; closing it is finishing the day |
| Attic study | Slopes, skylight, heat | One mid colour on walls and slopes, drenched | No white on the slopes; the skylight to the side of the screen |
| Windowless study | No daylight | A deep colour worn with conviction, drenched, or warm linen with 4,000 K lighting | Two sources: a desk lamp and an indirect light |
In every case, the window — or the main lamp — to the side of the screen, never behind the chair or facing it.
The finish
Matt throughout, and a bookcase in the tone
Matt is the study's finish: Marble Matt Emulsion on walls and ceiling throws nothing back into the screen, absorbs the lamp's light and gives the colour its depth. A satin or gloss on a study wall reflects in the screen from every angle. The shelves, the bookcase, the desk itself if painted: Eggshell, barely sheened, in the wall colour — a bookcase in the wall colour disappears and the books become the décor. The desk top, which gets rubbed, in Satin; or in wood, oiled.
And the light: a warm desk lamp to the side, an indirect light on the wall facing the desk, never a ceiling light alone above the screen. The deep wall in front of you, softly lit, is what makes a study restful.
To avoid
What tires in a study
- Pure white. It reflects in the screen, burns out the image on calls and tires over eight hours; a mid tone, at least.
- The accent wall behind the screen. A dark wall in front of you with three white walls: the contrast exhausts the eyes. The walls around the screen in a close tone.
- Brights. Red, orange and strong yellow agitate; they go on an object, not a wall.
- Satin on the walls. Reflections in the screen from every angle; matt.
- The window at your back. Backlit on calls, reflections on the screen; to the side.
- The study that looks like an office. Corporate cold grey and white; at home, a colour you love.
Frequently asked questions
Your questions, our answers
What is the best colour for concentration?
Mid to deep tones of low saturation: blue-greys, greens, warm browns, warm greys. They hold the gaze without agitating it, do not reflect in the screen and flatter on calls. White and brights tire; black sends you to sleep.
Which colour behind me on video calls?
A plain, matt, mid-tone wall — blue-grey, grey-green, warm brown — that flatters the complexion and does not burn out the image. No white (overexposed), no brights (which tint the face), no pattern. The light comes from the front or the side, never from behind.
Doesn't a dark study send you to sleep?
No, if the colour is deep but not black — a blue-grey, a bottle green, a brown — and if the lighting is good: a desk lamp and an indirect light on the wall in front of you. A dark study concentrates; it is the badly lit study that sends you to sleep.
How do I fit a desk into the living room?
One stretch of wall, floor to ceiling, in the living room colour one or two steps deeper; the desk and shelves in that colour; closed storage. The desk corner has its place without looking like an open-plan office. See Creating a focal point.
Can the desk itself be painted?
Yes: the legs and carcass in Eggshell in the wall or bookcase colour, the top in Satin, which gets rubbed — or in oiled wood. On a melamine desk, Multi-Surface Primer first. See Refreshing wooden furniture.
See also
Going further
Pleasing everyone three nights running: calming mid tones, a deeper bedhead wall. Six palettes, and the guest...
The place the eye lands on walking in: seven ways to make one with a tin of paint, and not a feature wall.
Soothe, wake, stimulate, gather: what colours do to mood, and how to choose for the feel you want.
Comfort starts at the walls: six palettes for a sitting room you stay in at night, from deep neutral to autumn...
“A study is painted for the place the eye rests between two sentences.”
