I have no advice, only my sympathy. White is by far the hardest color to pick, in my opinion. I wrestled with it for months and finally paid for a professional color consultation for help with it. I just needed the one perfect off-white for my house to do all the trim, doors, etc. in and I wanted to make sure I was picking it right before I spent all that time and money painting everything.

I ended up with BM Mascarpone. I'm not familiar with Valspar colors so I'm no help on suggesting colors.

I agree with Wi, a white hue is the most difficult paint color to pick! Lots of people seem to like her shade- Mascarpone- on the Affinity deck. You could have any BM shade color matched, so you needn't limit your search to Lowe's colors. Btw, Consumer Reports rated Home Depot's Behr Ultra Premium (has primer in it like BM's Aura)the #1 paint in 2010. It's about half the price of Aura for a gallon.

Don't know if you saw this already on the Valspar site...

Here is a link that might be useful: Paint colors

Heh. The minute I saw the title of your post I was coming in here to recommend Mascarpone, but I see others beat me to it. I would also recommend a personal favorite of mine, Sherwin Williams' Dover White. SW and BM brands can be matched at Lowes or Home Depot.

I've linked to Dover White below(the kitchen cabinets, not the wall color).

Here is a link that might be useful: dover white

I dont have a wall color for you but for trim, BM Cloud White seems to be a favourite, no undertones so it goes with all colors. Like bluemoon suggests you can have Lowes mix it for you with their paint.

My trim and kitchen cabinets are also SW Dover White. I like it as its just slightly off white. I had our entryway and hallway painted dover white for years, but I decided to paint them a more beigy color.

Good luck!

I have used Valspar paint thru my entire home with no complaints. However, I wasn't able to find a trim color that I really loved. I think I brought home every cream color chip that Valspar makes and hung them on the wall.But I did find one at HD in Behr and had Lowes mix it for me in Valspar paint. The name is Eggshell Cream #W-D-300. Good luck in your search.

I'm curious as to how much Valspar is. I used BM Super Spec paint w/ very good results and it was around $18 or so for a gallon.

I'd recommend not looking at whites or off-whites against something that is true white. My BM Porcelain Ivory looks down right tan w/ bright white against it but in context w/ my other colors it looks off-white. Same thing w/ BM Cream Fleece and it's lighter than PI.

This Fall after pouring over all of the threads about 'Help me pick the right white.....' I painted my mudroom BM Mayonnaise after seeing it recommended a fair amount of times. Glad I read first becuase if I were to look at the chip on it's own I would have said 'There's not a chance that I'm painting my walls yellow!' But I trusted that many people knew what they were talking about and went for it. Now I have (soon) a gorgeous warm, inviting, classy looking mudroom (can mudroom and classy be used together?) that's white.

Same thing w/ SW White Hyacinth. Positively beautiful and creamy white when I painted my trim w/ it and my walls BM Revere Pewter but if I put it agains stark white it would surely appear yellow!

SW Pure White looks really nice so far but will it be too white (cold) once I get around to finishing? Could be. Or not. Difficult to tell but I think that in the overall context of the other colors in the house and room that it will look really good.

Have I been of help or just more confusing? Probably confusing.

I guess what I'm saying is look at the color against what else will be in the room and then determine if it is the right white or cream.

And don't just look only at the 'white section' of the paint store. Sometimes some of the lightest colors on a color strip appear to be almost white but in reality are loaded w/ color so when you pair it w/ other colors it may well read as white or off-white.

I am happy to read that it's not just me who has difficulty pulling out the perfect white or cream color for the walls.

Thank you, everyone, for responding and providing links. Your suggestions sent me on the hunt while the kids were napping this afternoon and well, I've got a better idea of how I want to go but still not sure what colors to try out.

I feel like I should settle on my cream/white before deciding on my "colors" because that cream/white is really going to be the anchor and main color in the house.

I thought I'd written last night that the off white I chose last year for our house was La Fonda Ecru - I thought it was perfect but I think I was lulled into using it because I was still attached to the idea of using something "Spanish" to help make our house feel like our old 1929 Spanish (Sorry...I hope I can finally get away from pining after that house sometime in the next year or so. :) ). The La Fonda line of colors is part of Valspar's historic series; the colors are inspired by an adobe resort in New Mexico.

Anyway...I looked at the color the other day at Lowe's & realized why it never sang to me - it has a green undertone! I do like green but not when I'm not actually painting the color green.

I'm just afraid I'll end up with that green hue again or with something that looks like what we currently have on the walls - BandAid beige (pink undertone). The ENTIRE interior of the house is painted in that BandAid color.

While googling the choices you all shared with me, I came upon this photo:

I love it. I feel like I could sit there and just be hugged by sunshine and lightness. THAT is the cream I want. With the exception of the chocolate brown around the fireplace, the room would be painted cream.

Does anyone have any suggestions that might give me that look? I was thinking BM Linen White or even ttodd's Mayonnaise?

DH is skeptical with the idea of a red-walled kitchen so I'm going back to the idea of just having a "white kitchen" and just accessorizing with color. He really wants a Valspar color called Bamboo Leaves which we used in our previous house. Everyone complimented the color so it's worth considering.

Ttodd - I priced some of the BM colors I was interested in (particularly Pre-Dawn Sky for our guest room) and it was over $50/gallon. I paid $32 for Valspar Signature Satin - that's the most I've ever paid for a Valspar paint. Normally, I think I pay under $25 and have been able to buy during their $5 rebate periods (they currently have that going on).

Here is a link that might be useful: Whites/Beiges

I recently used Mascarpone in my mother's house. But not the Aura line. I had them mix it in the Regal Aquavelvet line. I've used the Regal Aquavelvet throughout my own house. It's a great quality paint. (I'm a paint addict but have not tried Aura yet.) Anyway, it looks just fine and the price was much less then Aura.

Does Mascarpone have yellow undertones? I have wood stained furniture in my bedroom and one table that is a bluish green and I want to paint an old highboy dresser an off white that doesn'[t have a pink, yellow, or greenish undertone so that if I decide not to keep it in my room I can move it to another room and not worry about the off white color going with something else.

jiggreen - you know...I did almost the same thing every day. I left the kids home with DH and finally went to Lowe's ALONE and just about bashed my head through their swatch display, lol. After spending several nights googling all the suggestions above, I just had to finally "get it over with".

I did look at their whites & neutrals booklet & realized that really everything I had in my hand had pink, green and yellow undertones. I also realized that for the trim, I just want a high gloss pre-mixed white as well. Just pure white.

I picked up my "first instinct" color - kabuki clay - brought it home, put it up on the wall with my other swatches and it all fell into place. Even DH noticed: "that's the cream. Why didn't you pick that in the first place?" MEN!

I ordered the the free sample a few days ago on the Valspar website and am waiting for it to arrive before making a final purchase.

I'm still working on our guest room with Valspar Beet. The pink I chose for the other walls isn't doing it for me so I'm back to the drawing board on that one.

I have a wonderful off white that enhances every color I've used it with. It's so old that it doesn't have a name, but BenMoore tells me that it is very close to today's White Sand (color 964).

Mascarpone and Mayonnaise certainly seem to be popular here, but are there any colors that you repeatedly hear mentioned other places such as blogs, decorators, TV decorating shows? I'm having a hard time picking a creamy white for my trim and I thought if I could narrow down the choices to maybe five of the most popular colors, it would be easier to choose. I already have a sample of Mayonnaise and I ordered one of Mascarpone.

Laurie

When you make your selection, choose it in the room you'll be painting, in the daytime as well as the evening. There are undertones of blue, pink, yellow, beige, gray, green, etc, depending on your lighting. ;o)

Mascarpone and Mayonnaise are both beautiful off-whites.
I did try them and found they had a slight yellow undertone...always depends on the lighting in your home. I think they looked more yellow in my place due to the overhead lighting in my hallways that does cast a yellowish glow.

Another great off-white is Simply White. Looks 'white' on the chip, but you notice the creaminess when comparing to say Decorators White. I've also had furniture sprayed in Cloud White and Montgomery White and have been very pleased with those off-whites. (All Ben Moore)

msrose - there is some interesting perspective here:

The Best Off Whites

which I got from here:

Living in Color with Sonu

I actually like the idea of something with a slight yellow undertone as long as it's not too much, so Mascarpone and Mayonnaise may be good for me.

Thanks for the links, binsd. After looking through them, I've also pulled my samples of Swiss Coffee,White Dove,and Linen White out.

Laurie

When we lived in California we used Mayonnaise as our trim color and I also painted our kitchen cabs that color. I loved it! Now we live in the Rocky Mtns and Mayo just read wrong wrong wrong (came across as dirty), so our trim color here is BM's Calming Cream, which is decidedly "yellow" on the strip but not when it's up in our house with our lighting conditions. It's fascinating, isn't it?

rmkitchen - I know what you mean. I'm still trying to figure out if the previous owner used the same trim color throughout the house because it looks different in everyroom. I don't know if it's a different color or if the lighting in each room makes it look different.

So, how does Calming Cream compare to Mayonnaise? Is it darker? More of a yellow undertone?

Laurie

Hi Laurie! Your userid always makes me smile because one of my all-time favorite teachers was Ms. Rose -- she was my English teacher in hs and I just loved her. I read "Jane Eyre" with her and that's where I learned of the name St. John; Ms. Rose explained that it's pronounced "sinjin." That's my eldest son's name!

Okay, so back to white / cream: the Calming Cream definitely has more yellow in it than Mayonnaise. I'm staring at it right now and I don't think it's darker and it really does not look yellow, but it's also not a bright white (which isn't me). It doesn't read exactly the same as the Mayo did in our previous house -- it's warmer, but then the lighting conditions are so different here.

Oh, you know those gorgeous moldings in old British houses which have been there forever and the white is pretty mellow from time and that it's an oil-based paint (which also yellows over time)? That's what it reminds me of. That is a horribly constructed sentence but hopefully you know what I mean. I think Benjamin Moore got the name right with Calming Cream because it is a calm color and it does look like the most luscious pool of rich, fatty cream. (my favorite kind!)

What a nice story. Your son's name is sinjin or John? Did you name him that because of the story?

I didn't have a sample of Calming Cream in my bigger samples, but I just realized it is in my fandeck, so I can compare it to the others. Thanks!

Laurie

No advice - just sympathy. One of the biggest fights DH and I ever had began in the BM paint store as we tried to choose a white for our ceilings. I was so glad when the store closed and reopened elsewhere under new management. I was too embarrassed to go back in there after that!