I've had that same problem, after many dollars spent on paint samples we finally agreed on BM Lemon Ice. We painted our living room and foyer ourselves last weekend, we have 20 ft. ceiling and I agree, it is pita! We rented a genie lift for 60 bucks a day, see link below.

We also have lots of window the way our house is designed, we had to be very careful with the color. The BM Lemon Ice is very pretty, it looks so fresh and clean on the wall.

Here is a link that might be useful: genie lift

Have you tried Powell Buff? In our house it shows warm beige to light gold tones depending on the lighting and natural light. It's suppose to work well with Wilmington Tan too.

I was just going to suggest Powell Buff too. I had the same problem with Blonde being too orange. Good luck

Thanks everyone! Msjam, I'm in awe. You deserve a big pat on the back for doing the painting yourselves. Now do you have to rent one of those to wash the windows as well? I'm just curious about who makes the decisions when it comes to picking a home with those high ceilings. My bet is the husbands, at least the second time around.

I thought SW Blonde was the one for me until I got it up on the wall and it looked like a flesh colored crayon! ICK! I decided on SW Believable Buff and I'm thrilled with it. GC said he thought it was going to be too dark, but it's not at all. It is warm and cozy, not too beige, not too yellow. I love it!

Ivoire (one step lighter than Blonde) might work for you....

I have the same setup and the SW Blonde read too orange. It came down to Believable Buff and Whole Wheat. I went with Whole Wheat and now I sort of wish I had gone just a bit darker. But I didn't so I'll live with it.

I was thinking about the Powell Buff too. It's being featured in the Pottery Barn paint colors brochure right now, and I've wished I had seen it a long time ago myself. I haven't tried it yet, but I do know the Blonde can go a little orangey golden so maybe the Powell would do the trick for you.

Red

Parma, not about color, but if you can get up on a ladder just to cut in at the ceiling, you can do the whole rest of the job standing on the floor by simply screwing your roller onto an expandable handle. I've done a lot of that and those handles are great! Just a thought for how you can do it yourself to save $$.

Parma,

I just spent months waffling on my main color choice for our new build. Many sample pots later, I put 5 colors up on the walls of the new house: Ivoire, Blonde, Wilmington Tan, Pittsfield Buff, and Shelburne Buff. Blonde was the first to be crossed off the list- it was too orange just like you said. Pittsfield Buff kept reading green to me when it was up next to the other colors in the group, so mentally I crossed that one off the list. My DH really liked Ivoire and so that's what I ordered. But at the very last minute I decided to go over and paint a whole wall with the Pittsfield, and lo and behold- I fell in love! It does not read green one bit now that it's throughout the house, and the funny thing is that when it's saturated with sunlight, it doesn't seem to wash out but instead turns more golden. If I get time tomorrow, I'll go over and get some pics to post of all the colors. I can't believe I haven't taken pics already, but I've been busy with nursing school. Waiting for spring break because the house should be ready for move-in by then!

~Michelle

I'll second (third) Powell Buff.

Another nice gold is BM Straw - we have it upstairs adn always get comments on it.

Mary

Thanks to everyone who has posted.

Michelle(also my name), I can't believe you go through all this and attend school too! I've been waking up every hour with paint samples flashing in my head.

I'm being so careful because I had to have our last house repainted when I hated the color gold once it was up. Way too orange. DH is becoming a problem. When we met, his house was all white and he said he wanted no part of color. Fast forward a few years and now it seems the bolder the better. He likes the Blonde and I hope to find a compromise. He works for a company in Parma, Italy (hence the name Parma42)and we have picked up many lovely pieces of ceramics from Italy and France. They are more saturated colors. I too love color but am so afraid of so much color with the high walls we have.

When I see pictures of houses for sale in our neighborhood that have the same model as we do, some of their colors look so jarring.

Long story short, I'm off to buy more samples. Powell buff, LAGold2,3&4 and Ivoire. Wish me luck.

Michelle,

Here are some photos of Pittsfield Buff in my house. I know you said you found it too green, but I did too until it was up in a large area. I'm going to add another thread with the other colors we used just in case someone might find them useful. I remember getting to that point too- waking up with paint colors swimming in my head. My DH thought that I'd truly lost it when the paint chip deck had become my favorite thing to "read" at night! :-O

Good Luck! Let us know how it's going and what you end up choosing! :-)

Michelle

I am so glad I read this before heading to the paint store..I had decided that SW Blonde was the one for my dining room, after MUCH pondering, and many swatches, not to mention the samples! BUT after reading this, I am afraid of the orange tones! I don't have access to BM paint in my area, so can't look at any of their color choices. Can anyone tell me what would be comparable in either SW or Valspar?

SW Blonde is a great color, but it was really orange in my house too. Pittsfield Buff is a beautiful color as you can see in the above photos. I have it in my FR and DR, and don't see any green in the color at all.

SW Believable Buff is a pretty color - just a tiny tad lighter and yellower than Pittsfield Buff.

Liz1977, my painter is a SW guy, so when I went to SW to get samples of Pittsfield Buff they made it no problem. SW has all the BM colors in their computer. I took my little sample quart home and put a smidgeon on the color strip from BM and it was a perfect match, so just because it's a BM color doesn't mean you have to use BM paint.

Caroleoh, Thanks for the above info...I was not aware that SW carried all of the BM colors in their computer! I am headed there now. I think the Pittsfield Buff is exactly what I want. Going to pick up a color sample now! Thx again.

I have both Blonde and Whole Wheat (SW) in my house. After using Blonde in the master bedroom where it worked so well with my gold/blue fabrics, I knew it was too golden/yellow for the rest of the house, so I went one chip over to Whole Wheat & it is perfect for the main areas. It's a great color, not too yellow/gold and not green. It has definitely more brown than Blonde does, but still reads golden/tan. Couldn't recommend it enough.