Painting Our Walls the Perfect White

Hey y’all!

What color are your walls? People ask me this all the time! It was a change that happened kind of fast and made a HUGE impact in our home but I just hadn’t taken the time to sit down and write about it!

Painting our wall the perfect white was easy…after I finally found the perfect color. That might seem silly but white is hard! Think about it. There are SO many shades of white! I wanted to share my tips & tricks learned along the road to choosing the perfect white and what color I chose! 🙂

1. How Bright Do You Want Your White

As you start looking at colors in the store for the perfect white check the back of the sample cards for the LRV number which stands for Light Reflective Value. LRV is a number is on a scale out of 100 and will tell you how bright the color will be based of the amount of light that is reflected back to your eyes. The higher the number the more light that is reflected the brighter the color will appear.

2. Tones Matter

I started painting in our bedroom. This was intentional because it seems to be a room that I put off doing things in and I knew once it was done I would be motivated to keep going. Thinking I found the perfect color and bought a gallon and just went to town. MISTAKE! As much as I paint you’d think I’d know better but I was impatient. As soon as the first wall started drying I knew I was in trouble! It was WAY to yellow!

Warm VS Cool

Tones matter so much! I didn’t want a white that was too warm aka yellow, but I didn’t want a white that was too cool aka blue either. I wanted a very neutral toned white with maybe a slight slight slight warm hint just so it’s not stark. Also remember that paint dries darker than it is when wet.

3. Samples, Samples, Samples!

Learn from my lesson and don’t trust the tiny sample card when you’re looking for the perfect white. Buy a few sample pots of paint and paint large sections of each on your wall. Then live with it. Live with it and see it in different lighting throughout the day for a couple days. It will be worth it! This way there’s no guessing, you’ll know which you like 🙂

4. Creep & Ask

Look at other people’s homes who have wall colors you love. Search Pinterest for white walls or painting my walls white, white kitchens, white bathrooms, white living rooms etc. First, get inspired and then try to find out what color they used! Do the same thing on Instagram!

5. Don’t Forget About the Finish

The finish can be a very important. We have plaster walls and anything shiny really highlights those imperfections. Most with tell you to do a satin at the very least because it is more “washable” however I chose to go with eggshell. The scale usually goes flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss.

Eggshell

Once upon a time I was talked into doing a semi-gloss in our kitchen and despised it. It always looked wet to me and again highlighted those wall imperfections. I’ve been living with eggshell for months now and haven’t regretted it one bit!

6. That Looks Just White

So what color did I pick? Sorry to leave ya hanging! The color I painted the entire interior of our home I called Delicate White by Olympic from Lowes BUT I had them mix this color in Sherman Williams Premium brand because I prefer its quality 🙂

The Color

Delicate White is actually a color that’s often used for trim and doors and I found it to be just the perfect tone I was looking for! I think it reads just a hair warmer than our trim, which is plain ol pre-mixed white by Sherman Williams.

The Perfect White

Who knew white could be so pretty? I love how bright and airy it makes each room feel! I also love how everything else now stands out more against the white backdrop. I’m someone who needs and craves home that is full of light and feels cheerful and crisp. Painting our wall the perfect white has definitely created this 🙂