hi

For me and I'm lazy, I'd leave them whatever color they are now. Too much trouble to take everything out. we have those closet organizer shelves/stuff

HTH
MaiLynn ( aka Linda)

I leave mine white, so that I don't have to empty them and repaint them every time I paint the room.

Closets, in my world, get painted when I first move in to a place, because they're empty, & most probably never again.

It's really nice to clean & release the energy of the prior occupants with a fresh coat of paint, imho :)

And a nice, light color - definitely!

White. For the reasons teacat and valzone mentioned, but also it's easier to see a garment's color (when blue and black can look very close) when the background is white.

But do it now--you won't want to do it later down the line when you have to unload everything!

I've read to paint clothes closets white, or at least a very neutral color. The reasoning is because using a dark or dramatic paint can affect the lighting and make it hard to tell the exact color of your clothing. Now, if you're not trying to coordinate your outfits or you can remember the true colors of your clothing regardless of how they look hanging in the closet, maybe this isn't an issue!

Sarah

Not many people put the extra touch in painting the closets. I do- I guess I am the minority!

For me, it depends on what will be in the closet and whether it has a light of its own.

When I had to wear very conservative business attire, I had a closet full of dark suits. After coming to work in a blue-black silk jacket with a black skirt in the same fabric, I decided that my clothes closets had to be white. Color can be fun in a linen closet or a coat closet.

Wow thanks for the responses! I've always emptied closets for painting, but admittedly it is 10-15 years between new paint jobs so it's more worth it. I guess an off-white would still be a good choice for me.

I paint the same color as the room.

No one has had trouble finding clothes of the proper color... even in the medium smoke blue closet!

All my closets are painted white. I don't plan to repaint them ever if possible. The closet systems would have to come out, etc. Total PITA.

I painted all my closets white. It's easier to see in.

For our office remodel, we painted the ceiling and top 18" of the wall a camel color. The rest of the walls were painted dark red.

We painted the closet the same camel color as the freize and ceilings. It is a soft color so it works well. The contractor even trimed out the closet with scrap pieces of baseboard when I wasn't looking. I love it.

The colors are much darker and richer than they appear in this over-exposed photo.

My sewing room, linen, and bedroom closets are all white.

I always paint them white or off-white because I don't paint them as often as I do the rooms.

I want my closets white inside so I can see the true color of the clothes inside. I don't want the clothing reflecting some vivid color.

I buy a can of white paint and add one of my many little sample pots to tint it. (Makes me feel better using them up.) They are then a custom off-white.

Because we never close our closet door (bad bad) I wanted something more than just white. My bedroom ceilings are the palest blue and now the closet walls are as well. It adds a nice touch of color against the very white trim.

I see everyone else has the same suggestion as I did, white. We recently remodeled the kitchen area in our rental property, which included the laundry room and we left the laundry room white becuase we thought the brightness was better for seeing what your were doing.

I always think that when I see a white closet in an otherwise painted room, that the person didn't care enough to refresh the closet as well (my opinion, please don't freak out). A white closet in a bright room or a room in warm earthy colors feels like an afterthought, or no thought.

I always color coordinate the closet to the room, with at least the base color reflecting the room color. Something like kelly's suggetion of adding some of that color to white.

My opinion probably comes from our recent experiences shopping for a house. Closets get a lot of abuse, and we saw so many dingy white closets :o( I'd much rather see a refreshed closet done as often as the room was done. They're an important detail.

When we built our house 9 years ago, we painted our Master bedroom a very light creamy yellow, the master bathroom, the same color and also our large walk in closet the same color. I still love the color 9 years later.

Wow, you all are making me re-think my plan. We're having all new closets built in our (currently gutted) bedroom floor, and I was planning to use the rest of the paint samples, most of which are quarts, to paint the closets. At last count we have quarts of 9 or 10 different colors of paint, so no chance I'll run out...or if I do, I was just going to open another can and continue painting! But none of them are white. Hmmm....

We built new construction 2 years ago. The builder never asked and I was curious what he would do with our walk in closets. The bedroom color I'd chosen was a mossy green. He did the closets in the same creamy white as my trim. And he also did the entire closet in a semi gloss like the trim and I love it. The shinier finish doesn't get marked up as much and if it does it's easy to clean.

I'm kind of a semi gloss freak mimi...and closets are a great example of a wonderful application for the finish. It's heartier and will look better longer than all of the flat dingy white closets I've seen over the last several months.

You all are going to think I'm nuts, but I've been planning on painting my laundry room/pantry a happy pink color, just for fun. Then, I started thinking about painting all the closets a pinky-white color.

I'm a girly girl, but my place is blue...I think I need a little pink.

They're so easy to do and painting them is an excuse to do a really thorough cleaning of them, so if it doesn't work out, it's not the end of the world.

White. I just got my cottage and painted every closet the same color as my trim: simply white. I love opening the closet and seeing inside to a clean, fresh looking space. I used an eggshell finish. My walls are painted with matte finish in soft, greens but having color inside closets would look weird to me.

Like mimi, we use semi-gloss inside our closets (in a creamy color, which matches the trim in the room) and it looks really nice - like we intended it to match the trim, and we did. ;)

When DH repainted last time he did all the closets a slightly darker tone of the trim color. He said he never ever wanted to repaint them as we have closet systems in most of them so it would be difficult. He's agreed to repaint the trim and knows I'm choosing a slightly different tone but I know he'll never want to repaint all eight of the closets so they'll just have to "blend"!

I love pics of closets that are wallpapered but won't happen in this house.

a few things to take into consideration with closets is what is going to go into them..if they are walkin ..etc.

if they are walkin and you are dressing in them or need to see clothing..sometimes white is best to not cast a colored glow on the clothes, which might not be helpful in dressing..

but there is always the aspect of a pretty surprise as well..Alexandra Stoddard, designer, suggests making a surprise in some of your closets, so that you can see them and enjoy them when you open the closet..she would paint some of her closets sky blue and put a colored rug on the floor, for her own enjoyment..she also suggest pretty pretty surprises inside your linen closets and cupboard and drawers and even in your refrigerator (like a bouquet in water to keep it fresh or a pretty bowl of fruit)

depends on your use of the closet and what YOU want..it is all up to you

also sometimes a contrasting closet is gorgeous when you open the door..

it is never too much trouble if it is what you want

Since this is a poll.........This is what I did........When I bought my home I painted all of my closets soft lemon yellow. All of my wall colors are painted a very deep color, and a white would look unfinished. White gets dingy after a while too. The wood trim is natural wood and looks better with some color on the walls.

I used a semi gloss to repel dirt and scuffs, and to reflect light. All my closets are reach-in type and packed to the gills so you can barely even detect the closet color when filled with it's contents. The yellow color does not make choosing the clothing a difficult task since clothes are pulled out to view.

I planned to never have to paint them again and probably never will.

If you have a large elongated closet, you could paint it white and paint color on the end wall as an accent wall. This way you could have the white for good clothing selection and a beautiful pop of color for style.

I agree on white. I have trouble distinguishing between black and navy, so I like a neutral background that's bright.

In my previous home the closet was painted the same green as the bedroom. I craved white!

I am in the process of painting my whole small cottage walls the same color except laundry room and all closets which I will paint white like the ceilings and trim, but I will use the color from the rooms to paint 2-3 different width horizontal bands around the laundry room and closets to tie everything all together and repainting a few bands of color when I decide to change the color scheme will not be a pain.

What an interesting thread! I looked at it because I am trying to decide on colour for the inside of my KITCHEN cupboards. Last time I painted (admittedly about 15 years ago) I didn't do them and regretted it afterwards. It's a big job though, emptying them. I think maybe I will empty one at a time and try a few diferent colours to see which one I like. I have red/black cabinets with white walls planned. I'm leaning towards red in there.

Love this thread. I’m having my bedroom/bath painted a warm, toasty deep camel. I am rethinking the white walk in closet. After reading these ideas, I think the closet walls the same would look coordinated and clean. Thoughts?

phyllis, yes, this was fun to read. we are building a house, I picked out a light camel color for the walls. i went to the house and the builder had the painter paint EVERYTHING that color! Walls, ceilings, closets, shelving, everything. After a few weeks of going back and forth to check other things that were going on, we decided to have them paint the ceilings white. (I just couldnt stand everything the same color) A painful decision, as we are having to pay for this even though our builder never asked about the ceilings, and I assumed I picked the "wall" color for the walls. I figured ceilings were white as a given. Now, after reading this thread, I realize that the closets should have been white too! All of my closets in my current home are bright, white and pretty! If he had asked me, I would have said white. They could have sprayed the trim, ceiling and walls in the closets the white they used on all the trim in the house. Easy. Coulda, woulda, shoulda....

In my new home, I painted the closets the same colors as the rooms. Back when I re-painted the old home, I simply ignored the closets (since I didn't feel like dragging clothing hither and yon), but were I to do it today, I could see either the same color as the room, or a shade or two lighter than the room.

But leaving them white or off-white is fine, too. Especially if your room color is dark or you don't have a light in there.

I like the idea of a tint that relates to the wall color in the room. I had not thought much about it before, but will now go to each closet in the house and repaint. We did a remodel awhile back, & they painted closets same as walls, but lighting is not great. I look forward to repainting all our closets to cheer them up and create a more neutral background. I am not a fan of white, so I like the ideas of cream, pastels or tinted white. Thanks everyone for all the tips and ideas! Also, something fun on neutral laundry room walls sounds nice, and inside drawers too. Love that🙏🏻👍Thx for sharing!

Just decided on house pain colors today and was second guessing myself until I found this thread! Thank you!

Bedroom and closet walls are pearly white, trim in bedroom and closet is painted a crisp white that my painter had mixed at the paint store he deals with. If I had my walls painted a color I would prefer my closets to be white unless the color was very pale.

Our master bedroom is SW Sea Salt and leads to a white bath that leads into white walk in closet. Doing closet ceiling in the Sea Salt. Devine.

My wife and I are rebuilding our wall closet. She wants to paint/decorate the walls of the closet and have really been enjoying this discussion. We'll be adding some nice lighting so want the walls to be something to enjoy. I'm loving the SW Sea Salt that Jack mentioned. Also even thinking of sections of print wall paper to beautify the walls, although I don't know how much it would be seen once the closet is inhabited with all our clothes. But, I agree that a closet shouldn't be neglected. We see it everyday. Here's something fun we saw while browsing.