Everyone loves the freshness and brightness that only white walls can bring to your space. But choosing the right white paint is one of the hardest decisions that you'll have to make during your renovation. There is quite literally an endless number of shades of white from all the main paint companies and about the same amount of opinions on what is the best white.
Here is a couple of things to take into account when choosing your white paint independent of where you are located.
Your room orientation and light - The same paint color will look different in different houses and even in different rooms of the same house. Rooms that have south facing windows tend to get brighter direct light. Rooms that have north facing windows are usually more dim with indirect light.
Other furniture and fixtures in the room - if your cabinets of furniture are also white, you need to be especially careful when choosing your white paint color for the walls. Whites tend to highlight each other's undertones when positioned closely.
Your artificial lights temperature - similar to natural light, artificial light also impacts the way that white looks in a room. Brighter lights (higher lumens number) would make your white walls look stark and even give them a blue undertone. Softer lights might cast a glow that will make your white walls look yellow.
While above considerations are very important, I find that Pacific Northwest presents unique challenges when choosing white paint. As anyone who lives here knows, most of the year, the light we get is subdued and soft due to rainy or overcast weather.
In addition, living in the Emerald PNW means a lot of homes are surrounded by trees that create shade even on brightest summer days.
One important thing that I realized is that a lot of white colors that are praised by the various articles online as best and safest choices do not work that well in our area. So after much trial and error here is my list of best white paint colors for PNW.
Creamy by Sherwin Williams - in homes that receive very little daylight using this color feels like infusing your walls with some warm spring sunlight. The walls get a nice soft and warm glow that works magic in a dark space. It looks great with standard artificial light as well (I usually use 3000 lumens lights for my recess lighting). This color does have a little bit of yellow tint but it's very subtle and soft. I used it in one of our small and dark rental homes and it created a very nice warm feeling (see below)
Swiss Coffee by Benjamin Moore - This is a warm white that very neutral and smooth without much noticeable undertones. It looks great both on dark and sunny days and works great in houses that have some rooms that are brighter than others. I used in a client house on the second floor that had good natural light. It worked wonderfully with trim in Cotton Balls (OC-122) by BM and transitioned well into Winds Breath (OC-24) wall color on the main level.
Cotton White by Sherwin Williams - You won't find this color mentioned in a lot of blogs, but I find it works really well in my new house in Seattle area (see below). The house has both sunny and darker rooms and the slight pink undertone of Cotton White creates a nice warm color without reading pink. I used the color on both walls (in matt) and trim (in satin)
Sanctuary by Sherwin Williams - Sanctuary is part of Sherwin Williams Emerald Designer Edition. Its a very soothing white that has a slight warm grey undertone. This color is a new discovery from a recent renovation project. The client chose white kitchen uppers that had a slight grey undertone to them. We had to find wall color that would look warm in a dimly lit house and won't clash with the cabinets. Sanctuary was the perfect choice and works especially well with the modern esthetic of the house. The color comes in limited set of sheens, but the eggshell sheen that we chose doesn't have much shine and will provide better durability. We paired it with Greek Villa (SW7551) for trim.
I mentioned earlier that in my experience some of white paint colors that are considered classic don't work as well in PNW. Here is the list of ones that I tried and wasn't too happy with (of cause they might still work perfectly well for your home):
Alabaster by Sherwin Williams
White Dove by Benjamin Moore
Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore
Pure White by Sherwin Williams
Simply White by Benjamin Moore
In any case when choosing a color always get a sample and try it on your walls in different places and under different light conditions. I use www.samplize.com to order large peel and stick repositionable samples. Recently Sherwin Williams started to carry their own peel and stick samples, so check it out.
If you would like a color consultation please reach out to aska.interiors@gmail.com and I'll be happy to help you.
Cheers!
Alina