After reading all of your feedback from my “white paint fail“, it was so nice to know I wasn’t the only one who had a hard time finding the perfect shade of white paint. So I thought it would be a great idea to combine all of your great advice, along with the things I learned, to help people pick out the right white paint for them. You see, after reading all of your feedback, I have definitely concluded that not only does the amount of sunlight you have in your room affect your wall color, but your region does too!
With so many articles out there on the “right” white, and “designers favorite whites” it’s hard to know what makes one white stand out from the rest. So here are the four whites I tested. 
As you can see above, these are all white paint swatches, but depending on the lighting and where you live, it can be hard to tell which ones are a bright white and which ones are more subtle. The original color on our living room walls was Halo by Benjamin Moore. {Real quick before we keep talking about different shades of white, I loved Halo, there was nothing wrong with it. It’s still a great choice in my opinion, so don’t think that I painted over the Halo because I no longer liked it. } As you can see though comparing white paint colors on top of Halo, which is an off-white shade, it can start to play tricks on your eyes. One of the questions I got asked was : “What threw White Dove out of the mix?”, which I’m sure some of you may have thought as well. You see White Dove mentioned a lot for a top pic from designers, so let me show you why it didn’t make the cut in our living room. 
You can see White Dove is the top right paint sample, and it showed up more creamy, rather than a true white. Which I was surprised by, because I also read that this was a go to for a trim color. Again, I think where you live has a lot to do with how your white paint shows up. Lacey Pearl, bottom right, was another very pretty off-white, but as you can see above it was very similar to the Halo we already had, and a bright white was what I was after. In the photo above White Heron, top left, almost looks like it has a gray tone to it, however I’ll show you in a minute that it doesn’t.
Anne Marie had commented that what she “learned while deciding between paint colors was to always ask the mixer about the formula”, which while I was getting Simply White, they mentioned about yellow being the only hue in the mix, but I shrugged it off, because after all, I had tested the colors out already. Well now after experiencing this whole process, I will definitely be more inquisitive on my paint colors.
After reading many of you say that Simply White came through with a green undertone for you too, the one thing we all had in common, was our rooms were north facing. I was blown away by that fact! I knew that the amount of sunlight a room gets can effect how the paint looks on the wall, but I was so surprised to see the common thread between north facing rooms. We live in New England, known for it’s long, gray winter days. With our living room facing the north, it’s gets the least amount of sunlight. Keep in mind, that while it’s good to do your homework on paint colors before diving in, there are also variables to keep in mind as well, that will depict your outcome, compared to those in the articles that you are reading. Here I have the same image in our living room with our walls Before – painted Halo,
and below the After – painted White Heron.
At the end of the day White Heron ended up being the right white for us. You may remember at end of my “White Paint Fail” post I shared a quick snapshot of testing out a small area over the Simply White. It was the bright white I was hoping for. I can’t wait to share the whole room with all of you tomorrow!
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Great post! We have white dove trim throughout the home we bought and I want to do white walls…struggling because white dove is darker than I’d like but not an option to paint trim out…i have tried whites on some walls and it makes the trim look dirty or pink and I’m wondering if I should just do walls the same?
I absolutely LOVE your house and your decor and your design style…you are very talented and have inspired a lot of my changes to my home! And your room looks great with the White Heron! However, I am just curious why white walls are making such a comeback. I definitely understand lighter and brighter, but I don’t really understand the white walls. Again, your room/house is beautiful, but it seems that the white walls will just be a lot of work, especially with kids, as they will get scuffed a lot, etc. I am just curious to see if you will think this after a while of having your walls white and having kids. Note: I have 2 rambunctious boys 🙂 For us non designers, we tend to imitate what we see on our favorite blogs and then next thing you know, the blogger has changed again because it didn’t work out for whatever reason and the follower has just finished doing it 🙂
Hi Angie! I can completely understand your hesitation. My kids are 5 and 6, so I get the active part. If you are contemplating painting a room a lighter color I would ask yourself a couple questions first. Is it a high traffic area? Will I be ok if I have to keep up with the maintenance? In my living room the walls aren’t really exposed, my furniture sort of blocks the walls from hand prints vs. a hallway or a bedroom where hand prints and active wear and tear might show. However not everyones living room is set up like that. The kitchen is another place that can attack a lot of everyday dirt. I always keep a magic eraser on hand to quickly wipe down door frames and doors that are in high traffic areas, and that always does the trick. And if white paint isn’t practical for your family, but you still want to paint a room lighter, try an off white shade like Halo, Gray Owl or Classic Gray, all by Ben Moore. They are really pretty light (almost white) colors but can hold up to high traffic a little better. I hope that helps 🙂 XO
the white looks awesome I can’t wait to see it ?
hey girl love the post!