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How to Choose the Perfect White Paint Color for your home

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Kate Marker Interiors
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Have you ever walked through the paint store to pick a white paint color for your home?  Have you noticed just how many different white paint colors there are?  How is that a color as simple as white, has so many options!?  One of the most common questions I get asked as a designer is, “what is the best white paint color?”  If you are like many of my clients, and struggle to find the perfect white paint color for your home, scroll through this post, I am going to tell you exactly how to choose the perfect white paint color every time!



Kate Marker Interiors

What I love about white paint

It reflects light and it feels comfortable, clean and fresh. 

When I renovated my house, I spent months inside of it, in the dark, without heat or power and it felt grimy and dirty.  I could not wait to paint all of the walls white so that it felt like a clean slate.  Fast forward 6.5 years and I still love it!  I painted the walls in my previous house in greige and grew tired of it constantly, I repainted walls every few months.  After 6.5 years with all white walls I feel at peace, like there is room to breathe.  I have never grown tired of it.  I daydream about painting a room or two a deep, moody color or dark green, but at the end of the day, I love white paint colors.

urban electric

How the undertone affects the color

Remember the question from above, “how can there be so many different white paint colors?” Well, a simple answer is undertone. If you work with paint, or color regularly you know that white isn’t just one hue, but many. Whites can be neutral, have a warm undertone (pink, red, orange, or yellow), or a cool undertone (blue, purple, or green).  

It is important to look at the undertone of not only the paint color you want to use but also the style and color of your furnishings and finishes throughout your home to determine the best white paint color. 

Select a white paint color with a warm undertone if the colors in your room are primarily warm. White paint colors with a cool undertone work best in a room with primarily cool undertones.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be an expert to determine the undertones of your paint sample. Simply, hold your samples up to a plain white sheet of paper, this will help you see the undertones in the paint sample.

 

Design Tip: Many of my clients ask what color white they should paint their trim . Choose a white with the same undertone as your wall.

If you paint your whole room white, it isn’t necessary to choose a different white color for your trim. Instead, select a different finish. A general rule of thumb is to paint the trim using a paint with more shine than the walls. I like to paint the trim with a semi-gloss, and the walls eggshell."

Jean-Stoffer-Design-Painted-Brick-Dining-Room-White-Paint-Colors

Jean Stoffer Design

Consider the Amount of Light in Your space

Undertone is not the only factor to consider when choosing the perfect white paint color, you also need to consider the amount of light in your room and which direction it faces.

In a north-facing room, you will want to select a white paint color with warm undertones to balance the cold light.  Choose a cooler white in a south-facing room to counteract the yellowness of bright sunlight.  

Design Tip: For rooms that receive a lot of natural light,
select a pure white.

Jean-Stoffer-Design-Painted-Brick-Built-In-White-Paint-Colors

Jean Stoffer Design

So, How do you choose the perfect white paint color?

Now that you have your paint samples, determined the undertone of each one, and the amount of light in your space, it is time to narrow it down to a few shades you think will work best in your home.

It is important to see how each sample looks in the space at various times throughout the day.  To do this, paint a large sample in the brightest and darkest rooms of your home.  Look at each sample in the daylight, at night and using artificial light. This will help to eliminate any surprises!  

For large, peel and stick paint samples, try Samplize.  They offer large peel and stick paint samples for your wall.

Are you struggling to find the perfect paint color?  Contact us and we’d be delighted to help! Let’s Chat.

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MY TRIED AND TESTED
favorite WHITE PAINT COLORS

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