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ADVICE & INSPIRATION

Tips For Picking the Perfect White Paint For Your Room

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There is a long-standing debate on whether white is an actual color or merely the absence of all color.  If you adhere to the additive color theory, the sum of all the colors of light add up to white. Others point to their childhood experiences of finger painting to validate that color mixing almost always leads to a murky brown to black result. Approach it from the design perspective and it seems evenly split between those purists who love a white room and those who think the absence of color is design blasphemy. Regardless where you stand on a white room, selecting “right” white paint is a perpetually daunting process. That’s why we contacted our partners at Sherwin-Williams and spoke with their Director of Color Marketing, Jackie Jordan to get the low down to finding the perfect white paint.

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  • Select a white that will coordinate with your furnishings. Don’t paint first then buy your furniture next.
  • If you have colors on the warm side of the spectrum choose a white with warm undertones. Warm whites are creamy with buttery or beige undertones. They work well with other warm colors such as yellow, orange and red and neutrals like beige and taupe.
  • Cool whites have blue or gray undertones and pair well with cool colors like blue, gray, violet and aqua or other neutrals in the gray family.

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  • Pure whites have little to no undertones meaning they can work well with all colors but are usually reserved for trim, doors, shelves and other architectural elements.
  • To find the right white, paint a large sheet of foam core or other material and view the color in all lighting conditions. Daylight, evening with your artificial light or a combination of both. The type of lighting conditions will impact the color so this is a very important step. You can also paint a swatch on your wall as well. We suggest painting it next to your trim rather than right in the middle of the wall as the surrounding wall color will impact how you see the new color.

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  • Move the color around the room and look at it behind furniture, draperies and next to your trim color. This will give you a good idea how your furnishings look next to the color.
  • If you are painting more than one room in the same white it is important to see that color in all of your spaces as daylight on the north side of your home will be different from daylight on the south side of your home.
  • Live with your sample for a couple of days before making that final decision.

Inspired to go paint?  If so, check out our current paint palette and get a $15 off your Sherwin Williams purchase of $75 or more.

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