What color or colors are your buildings inside? I'm ready to paint the inside of my new shop and usually do semi gloss white. But my last building started looking bad over the years with welding fume/smoke staining etc. They are just so hard to keep clean with "real" shop use... lol. Its always turned into repainting walls. I've seen some very nice buildings but most are usually mancave type shops and looking for realistic options. Easy hiding durability etc. Anyways I'm thinking grey. Something bright enough to not be a dungeon though. The building is finished in drywall. Thanks for any ideas.

Satin sheen should do the trick. Less shiny than semi gloss.

If you paint it (fill in any color) and do a lot of welding, the walls will become discolored in time from the fumes. Unless you install a ventilation system to remove the fumes, there is no magic color that I'm aware of that won't discolor over time. So my advice? Paint it satin white and get a fume hood.

I always stuck with semi-gloss white. Easy to wash. You may as well paint it white for brightness because any color will show the dirt that welding smoke generates. As anal as I am about the cleanliness of my shop, the reality is: its a shop - and its gonna get dirty, but at least its bright! I figure in a couple years when I'm done my projects and done welding for income I'll move everything out, get the floors cleaned and epoxy'd and repaint the shop - by then it'll be due yo have some wall dings patched, etc anyway but till then its where I work and make some money.

I can state for a fact that this doesn't solve the issue. It WILL contribute greatly to prevent you from breathing the crap but it does very little to keeping the shop clean.

Maybe a light grey? Flat black would not show the buildup (LOL). Make sure to use a washable paint and plan on cleaning it every so often. I didn't think far enough ahead 25 years ago and used flat white (was on a budget) and it was just a hobby then. Shortly after it turned into a full time business with 4 employees. It's showing it's use but not horrible. It would likely be a lot better had it not turned in to a full time business

I like how mine turned out gray but I do have white semi gloss wainscoting too.

A couple fabricator buddies who are also pretty obsessed with keeping a clean shop paint them white with a medium-grey lower area, maybe 36" up from the floor.
A replaceable barrier behind the grinders & belt sanders helps keep the walls decent.
Another buddy - doing more mechanical than fab - has a light grey shop but a lot of lights.
My shop buildings (one's more storage than workspace) are all white but no heavy fab or welding happens here.

I did Gray walls with White celing...

If you actually want to be able to clean the paint then satin, eggshell, flat, etc are out.

Semi gloss is easier to clean than the above.

Gloss is best. I painted my walls with gloss white enamel barn paint, instructions say it takes 8 hours to dry, they are not kidding.

Nice and bright, I can blow the walls off with my leaf blower for dust and spider webs. Don't weld so I cannot comment there.

I did mine in white semi gloss. I'd do it again.

The forum on garagejournal.com is a good site to check out
for inspiration if you want to get fancier with the paint.

FRP on the walls near where you do the dirty work might be an idea. It's washable and non-absorbent and is frequently used in commercial kitchens/janitors closets ect.. Hose it with some Simple Green every so often and wipe it down. Not sure what the cost is..

Enamel ?? With todays technology a good latex will hold up to anything. They even paint building EXTERIORS with the stuff. No messy cleanup and no significant fumes.

Home Depot sell that stuff. You'd want the "smooth" as opposed to the textured. They also sell the joiner, end and corner strips.

When I built my prefab shed, wood and preprimed, I used a "good latex". 5 years later I was scraping and painting again. The UV out here is extreme.

I'll pass on latex for HD use.

When I moved into my current location, the guy before me painted the inside of the garage an off white, with a yellowish tint. I did welding inside that garage for 20+ years. Other then blowing off the walls a few times, the paint is still original. I've closed the shop and have moved some things around that have been in the same place for most of those 20 years, except the color in the usually covered area being a slightly lighter shade then the colors in the open to abuse areas, and have much less "dings", most of the paint still looks decent. It was a somewhat more glossy when I first moved in, its a lot less glossy now, even the protected areas have less gloss, but that paint is almost 22 years old now.

Is this where we put the "They just don't make stuff as good as they used to" statement? LOL!

The welding fumes and grinding dust tends to give stuff a yellowish tint, a color with a yellow tint may be more forgiving over time. Gene

Don't have a big enough hood.

Pretty much why I used steel siding as a finish surface on the walls. Easy to clean, durable and a fire break.

While my garage has OSB walls instead of drywall, I can only offer my suggestion as to what I've been very happy with. Bear in mind I don't weld much, but I do a LOT of cutting, and the torch is a way of life here.

When I moved in, the walls were up and painted a satin-finish white. The satin finish was hard to clean. In 2004 we painted the walls from the lights down with American Traditions 1-coat semi-gloss white, which worked pretty good. In 2013, we repainted the walls from the lights down in gloss white and used a pricey paint from Lowes. I was unhappy with the application as the pigments seemed a bit light, and needed two coats. But I have to say...easy to clean, and still looking good, even with the cr@p I do in there. So... I suggest a gloss finish, and while I prefer white walls, almost any light color would probably do you well.

Wow guys thanks alot for all the replies and a happy new year! I had originally wanted to do the entire building inside with steel paneling the same color as the exterior but drywall was a more reasonable option. Plus I had fears of an echo chamber with the steel. So I've decided on a very light gloss grey. All my outlets and switches are grey. My prior profession as a bodyman/painter hasn't left me..lol.. So I picked up an autobody prep station to help with the fume evac. its going to get put in a corner. Needs some curtains but hopefully help with most of the fumes and overspray. Here's some photos of the building. It started out life as a basic pole barn with 2" insulation and vapor barrier. Then we framed it up, added more insulation and another vapor barrier then drywall. Its been a multi year project but hopefully some light at the end of the tunnel! HAPPY NEW YEAR!