White paint colours

Hello, hey, hi 👋🏼 It feels like it has been forever since I posted a blog post (almost a full year!) – life got a little hectic! I started posting on my blog during the height of the pandemic, when everything was closed and we were locked in our houses (aka I had nothing better to do). My posting screeched to a halt as things re-opened and lockdowns were lifted, which also happened to align with us taking a leap into house hunting! I plan to post a dedicated blog explaining all about that journey soon 😅

So here I am months later, fully moved in and settled into our new dream home. And along with that I have hundreds of ideas and projects planned!! It is by no means a “fixer upper” – but I just can’t resist adding my own style and aesthetic everywhere.

Our new home is currently painted in neutral cool grey tones, which is great and very modern. But I’ve loved putting together rooms and moving our furniture and decor into place and making it feel more like us – which inevitably has included painting. It is no shock to anyone that my aesthetic and palette for this house is white, neutral, warm, cozy, modern, and airy. I recently saw a term that I thought defined my style perfectly: modern organic. We have refreshed 4 rooms in our house so far, and I wanted to start with white walls in all of them. That way I can add accent walls and different textures as we settle in more.

Main Bedroom

Picking white paint colours has been more challenging than I thought. The first room we painted was our bedroom, and I bought two different white paints to try: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace (left swatch), and Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White (right swatch). I was aiming for a very neutral, bright white. With the swatches on the wall Decorator’s was showing very grey toned and a little dull, whereas Chantilly Lace was a true bright white – exactly what I was going for: neutral and airy.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CU7ufs1rxXW/?utm_medium=copy_link

Guest Bathroom

The second room I painted was our guest bathroom, it being a smaller space and the floor tiles having brown shades I played it safe and just used Behr Ultra Pure White in semi gloss. I didn’t want any yellow hues or grey peaking through. I also already had a gallon of it on hand so it was win-win.

Home Office

After these two projects I decided I would paint my office. I had it in my head that I didn’t want pure white in this room. I didn’t want it to feel too sterile and stark. I swatched two new white paint colours: Behr Palais White and Behr Solid Opal. Along with these I swatched my other test jars from Benjamin Moore, but instantly ruled them out. Solid Opal was reading VERY pink in my office. It is a very dimly lit room, with North-East exposure, so little sunlight throughout the afternoon.

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Palais White was a beautiful creamy white, with definite yellow undertones. But it has a cozy antique feel to it, and really warms up the room.

Living Room

After hearing that our main floor couch was delayed, I decided to seize the opportunity to paint our huge main room. The ceilings are slanted up to 18 feet, and we weren’t even sure if it was possible to do ourselves. But once I had the visualization in my head there was no turning back! Because this room was so huge with so many windows I wanted to be very sure of the white paint I chose.

I swatched 8 white paints in total:

1. BM Chantilly Lace is very bright and neutral white. A go-to for many homes. But it was SO bright and stark white against our warm wood flooring and huge windows – a little blinding for this relaxing family room.
2. BM Decorator’s White was appearing slightly cool grey. Would be beautiful in a bedroom or bathroom.
3. Behr Palais White was looking good, but after seeing how yellow it showed in my office I was nervous it would do the same on such a large scale. A pretty antique white, I would say.
4. Behr Solid Opal – pink/red hue. Just doesn’t coordinate with any of our furniture or decor or flooring.
5. Behr Fresh Popcorn– neutral but with the slightest hint of warmth.
6. Behr Night Blooming Jasmine – VERY bright (the LRV is very high), slight purple undertones.
7. BM Swiss Coffee at 75% – this is actually Studio McGee’s go-to for their whole house, but it was just TOO beige in our room. It is very creamy and warm.

After much deliberation I chose Behr Fresh Popcorn. And I love it so much!! It isn’t as bright and loud as Chantilly, but no major yellow undertones. I think it will eventually be carried out throughout the first floor.

So here is my advice for choosing the best white paint for your space (or any colour for that matter):

• Swatch many different shades, on different walls. Shadowing and angles can alter the appearance of paints so much.
• Hold up potential curtains, cushions, or furniture fabric next to your swatches: this was a huge deciding factor in our main room. Once I held up potential future curtains, they very clearly clashed with some swatches.
• Try to have your desired lighting setup – lamps or overhead etc.
• Give it a few days. Let the swatches sit for a few days and see how you feel about them in different lighting, weather, and times of day. What you like on first glance may not be your long term decision.
• Consider how much daylight the room gets – is it east facing or west? Lots of windows or none?
• Consider the true undertones listed online as well as the LRV – Light Reflective Value. It was interesting to me that although Night Blooming Jasmine was more “pigmented” than Chantilly Lace, because it has a higher LRV it was reflecting the sunlight SO much more. If you pair a higher LRV with huge windows or lots of natural light, you get a very, very bright combination. On the other hand, if your room is very dark and dimly lit a high LRV will help immensely.

I think I will be sharing more of our home in the coming months! So much planned and a few rooms that have great before + after pictures to share 😊