How to Choose the Perfect White Paint: Remodeling 101 - Remodelista
We’re on an eternal quest for that home design Holy Grail: the perfect white paint. Their advice from the trenches confirmed our hunch: As architect Amy Alper says, “It really pays to take the time to find the right white.” Here’s how: A study in white featured in Lessons in Reinvention: A Victorian Girls’ School Reborn. Photograph courtesy of architects McLaren.Excell. Artists and others who work with color know that white isn’t one hue but many—and that some are whiter than others. 1. Get to know the nuances in white. Photograph courtesy of Jute. The San Francisco office of interior designer Alison Davin. 2. Size up what’s in the room. Before selecting a paint shade, size up the palette of everything that will be in the space. Photograph by Mimi Giboin, courtesy of Project M+. A living room play space featured in An LA Cliffhanger: Go High or Stay Low? Because color is a phenomenon of light, the amount of natural and artificial light in the room impacts the tone of the walls. According to interior designer Ellen Hamilton In New York the light tends to be gray and warm This means the best white is sympathetic to a warm gray Ideally it would have warm gray as the undertone However in Miami the same color may look like it has an orange... ...cast Ideally it would have warm gray as the undertone However in Miami the same color may look like it has an orange cast This is because the light in Miami has pure blue filtering through it The blue in the light will make the warm gray paint look pink Photograph by Katie Newburn for Gardenista. Swatches of favorite paints in 10 Easy Pieces: Architects’ White Exterior Paint Picks. 4. Choose several whites you like. Take what you’ve learned about the furnishings and light in your room and choose a few whites. Interior designer Michaela Scherrer mixes her own white paints, including the one she used in her Pasadena guest room, shown here. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Remodelista. Our designers insist that paint should be tested at home. 5. Put your favorite shades to the test. Or a white that looked crisp and modern may feel way too cold in a larger application.”. Says Amy Alper It makes more sense to paint a large panel so you can move it around The same color will appear differently on different walls in the same room depending on the amount of... ...light on that particular wall Take note of the paint during the day and evening in natural light and artificial light Or says Alison Davin use the paint line s largest sample cards and tape them up The Montauk beach house of shoe designer Elisa Restrepo is painted entirely in Benjamin Moore’s Super White. Photograph by Kevin Greenberg, courtesy of Space Exploration. 6. What if I still can’t figure it out? There are a handful of whites we hear about over and over again, all from Benjamin Moore. Alison Davin suggests Farrow & Ball and C2 Paint for rooms without much natural light.