PET Felt Colour Range: Design Options for Commercial and Residential Spaces
Colour isn't secondary in acoustic panels
Acoustic panels have a reputation for being functional rather than beautiful - beige rectangles stuck to office walls. PET felt has changed that. The material is available in a wide range of colours, the colour is consistent and saturated, and the panels are increasingly being specified as deliberate design elements rather than remedial acoustic fixes.
Here's how to think about colour choice in PET felt panels, and what the range typically covers.
How PET felt gets its colour
The colour in PET felt is not a surface coating. It's added to the polymer melt during fibre extrusion - the pigment is distributed throughout the fibre from the inside. This means the colour runs all the way through the material. Cut an edge, scratch the surface, or cut a CNC shape into the panel - the colour is the same throughout. There's no risk of showing a different colour underneath the surface finish, and the colour doesn't fade or chip in the way that a surface coating would.
This through-body colour is one of PET felt's genuine advantages over surface-finished acoustic panels. It simplifies installation, makes edge finishing trivial, and means the panel holds its appearance over the long term.
The typical colour range
Most quality suppliers offer 40 to 80 standard colours. The range typically covers:
- Neutrals - white, off-white, light grey, mid grey, charcoal, near-black. These are the most commonly specified colours for commercial interiors
- Warm tones - cream, sand, stone, taupe, brown. Work well in hospitality and residential spaces
- Cooler tones - pale blue, mid blue, navy. Popular in offices and educational spaces
- Greens - sage, olive, forest green. The most fashionable direction in commercial colour specification right now
- Earth tones - terracotta, rust, ochre. Working their way into both hospitality and residential specifications
- Accent colours - red, yellow, orange, purple. Used sparingly for zones, wayfinding, or deliberately bold design statements
Using colour in commercial interiors
The standard commercial approach uses a neutral base colour for the majority of acoustic panel area - mid grey or off-white in most cases - with accent colours used on specific panels to create visual zones or brand alignment. This keeps the ceiling and walls from becoming visually noisy while using colour meaningfully.
Biophilic design briefs increasingly specify green and earth-tone PET felt panels to support the natural material aesthetic that's become common in offices and workspaces. Green felt panels combine well with timber surfaces, planting, and natural light.
Using colour in residential interiors
In residential spaces, PET felt panels are most often used in home offices, children's rooms, home studios, and media rooms. Colour choice in these contexts is more personal and less constrained by corporate guidelines.
For home offices, mid-grey or warm neutral panels are most common - they're professional in video calls and don't distract from work. For children's rooms, brighter and more playful colours are appropriate. For home studios and recording spaces, the aesthetic tends towards dark neutrals - charcoal and near-black - that reduce visual distraction during recording and look right in video content.
Specifying large-format custom sheets
PET felt is available in large-format sheets as well as standard panel sizes. Custom sheet orders allow panels to be cut to specific shapes and dimensions on site or in the factory. This is useful for:
- Covering large uninterrupted wall areas without visible joints
- CNC-cut decorative patterns and shapes within a single sheet
- Custom-dimensioned panels to fit non-standard wall dimensions
- Made-to-order colour in quantities that justify a custom production run
Lead times for custom sheet orders vary by supplier, typically two to four weeks. Standard stocked colours in standard panel sizes are usually available for fast delivery.
