Favorite White Paint Colors
If you are looking to paint at least one room in your house white, you aren’t alone. White paint colors have been back for a while now and don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. It is such a versatile color and makes the perfect backdrop for any style, be it modern, traditional, modern traditional, transitional, cottage-y,… The list goes on and on and on. And so do your white paint color choices. Having just helped with a white dining room and painted our own living room white, I feel fairly well versed in the area. Keep reading for my favorite white paint colors.
HOW TO NARROW DOWN YOUR WHITE PAINT COLOR CHOICES
As with most paint projects, multiple trips were made to the paint store for samples. Many articles and inspiration photos were pinned. The Top 7 tips that seem to work for me when choosing a paint color are as follows:
1) Pin inspiration photos and accompanying articles that give reasons/info on the color.
2) Ask friends/acquaintances/strangers on the street (jk, as my daughter would say) for the name of their paint color if you are in their home and notice the walls/cabinets/etc.
3) Narrow down your choices to 3-5 options. Choosing a paint color can be such a rabbit hole for me. I need to create limits.
4) Using Benjamin Moore’s Chantilly Lace as a comparison for all additional white paint colors was an amazing tip that I read from The Color Concierge (check the post out here for this and more insights into white paint). It worked soooo well. If you are wondering about undertones in your white paint colors, take the paper paint swatch and hold it up to Benjamin Moore’s Chantilly Lace. The undertones (whether the white leans yellow/green/blue) should become immediately apparent. I’m guessing it work to follow the same procedure holding samples up to Sherwin William’s Extra White.
5) Consider your lighting. We have warm lighting. So, even though I chose Frostine for the wall color, the warm tone from our light bulbs make the room so cozy. I’m not sure it would feel as cozy had we used LED lighting at 5000. Even consider your plants and what is outside your window. Just like with the warmth/coolness of the lighting, it seems that white more than any other color picks up all of the surrounding colors, even if it is slight.
6) On the same note, consider the natural light your room gets and the direction it gets this natural light from. I buy a little less into this with white paint but I do think it can make a difference. If you are wondering why the white in a particular room looks different than in the 1001 pins you have on your Pinterest Board, this might be something to consider.
7) Of course, this list wouldn’t be complete without the age-old advice to put up actual samples on your wall. Even the most tried and true, make-every-list paint colors can look different in each space. It is much less expensive to buy 3-5 samples and take the time to put them in the room you are going to paint than to have to repaint the entire room.
TOP 6 WHITE PAINT COLORS
I entered the world of white paint at the Beach Cabin a few years ago and clearly there has been no turning back. So, let’s start there. All of the commentary is obviously my opinion in spaces that I have done or spent time in. As with all paint, you will need to try it in your space to see what dimension it takes on. Sometimes, it is just nice to see the paint colors in real-people spaces for a jumping off point.
Sherwin Williams Extra White
Here is Sherwin Williams Extra White in the Beach Cabin Kitchen. It looks crisp and goes well with blue accents. I love it in this space given the warm blue cabinet color, walnut countertops, worn table and chairs, and woven pendant. This room gets light mainly from the East and South.
Here it is again in the entry of the Beach Cabin. This room is directly below the kitchen so the lighting is fairly similar. Extra White works well in the this space as a backdrop for our vintage finds.
Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White
While we are looking at the Beach Cabin, here is Benjamin Moore’s Decorator’s White in the Guest Bedroom. This room gets its light from the North, West, and East. To be completely honest, for some reason, I just had this paint on hand and didn’t follow any of the advice I just gave- haha. The kids were at sailing school and I had a few hours, so I just grabbed what we had in the owner’s closet and started painting. I have a feeling that the paint is called Decorator’s White for a reason. It seems like sort of a no-fail kind of deal. (We have it on the trim and doors throughout our entire colonial home and the fireplace as well.)
Benjamin Moore Frostine
Speaking of home, here is the newly painted living room in Benjamin Moore’s Frostine. While it looks pretty crisp in this photo, in the progress photo, you can see how our lighting makes it such a lovely, relaxing room at nighttime (or 4:30pm in the afternoon when the sun sets in the middle of winter in Michigan). You know how I found this color? I asked the owner of The Counting House the color of her interior walls. They (and the store) are my favorite!
Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace
Last spring, my sweet sister let me help with the nursery for her twins. She even let me choose the board-and-batten and wall colors. Getting to choose paint colors is so much fun for me! I walked away with two new favorite colors. Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace and Benjamin Moore Alaskan Husky (we matched to the room next door with similar lighting to create a cohesive look). Chantilly Lace is such a lovely white. As mentioned above, it is quite a pure color. Somehow, though, again it doesn’t appear too cold. We used it again in the One Room Challenge dining room this past fall. Again not following my own advice and short on time, we went with Chantilly Lace, knowing it was almost a sure thing that would likely not be leaning too far one way or another with undertones. The dining room faces South.
Benjamin Moore Snowfall White
Having a neighbor who equally loves a good paint sample and interiors is great! She also lives in a 1920s house. When finished with projects (or better yet, right in the middle), we send quick texts to run across the driveway and check it out. Anyway, after putting up three samples, she ended up going with Benjamin Moore’s Snowfall. Isn’t lovely? Her windows face North and West.
Benjamin Moore White Dove
Another good friend who is an interior decorator lives about a half mile away in another older home. We also love a good text thread with design inspiration! When she moved in, she had much of her home painted in Benjamin Moore White Dove. The living room faces West and South. This is such a beautiful choice for a soft white! I’m hoping to find a way to incorporate it into the Beach Cabin this spring. Stay tuned.
Not painting anytime soon? You can always Pin any of the photos for later~
Have a great week!
