Lucretzia, it has been about 5 months and so far, so good. We also have a dry bar adjacent to our dining room and the granite guys forgot to seal it! We got red wine stains on it right away...it is a bar after all! :) I managed to get them out with bleach...thank goodness...and hubby ran to the hardware store to buy a sealer and we sealed it right away. We also spilled wine on the island (which was sealed) and it wiped up easily...no problem. So, I assume as long as it is kept sealed, we should be ok. Not only is our granite honed, but it is also pitted in some areas. It is pretty cool and we get lots of positive comments about how unique it is. The only problem so far with the pitting is when my 4-year old daughter paints at the bar, I have had to use a little brush to get paint out of one of the "pits" already. No biggie, but if the counter was polished, it wouldn't be an issue at all. We had polished at our last house and it was super easy to keep clean. That said, I would do honed again in a minute. It really suits our space. I think as long as we maintain the sealer on it we should be fine. The good part is due to the movement of the stone, even if it does get a stain, it will probably blend right in! :)

It has been a while since the last activity on this thread, and I felt it might be beneficial to give my updated perspective on White Opulence #879 from Benjamin Moore as a paint color for main areas. Having lived with this color for a bit longer now since my last comment, I am beginning to understand how tightly it regulates what other colors can be placed with it for anyone who cares about a homogeneous scheme and also how undeniable the pink tone can be when applied over large surface areas. White Opulence is a tint of red, but it is so light that in ample daylight or under bright white lighting it can "read" as white. In average daylight, it produces a whisper-light pink hue. The effect of this is magnified the larger the area that is covered by it. Using this color on the walls in the main space of a large, open-plan layout with high ceilings, for example, will imbue the area with a light, yet undeniable, pale pink cast in average lighting. It would be a good idea to prepare not only yourself but also any other significant users of the space of the pink tinge before selecting this color because some people truly dislike pink, and it is courteous to work with all regular users of spaces during design planning to try to ensure no one will be overly uncomfortable with the final effect. One thing that hasn't been discussed is how White Opulence can cast a peach tone under warmer lighting colors, especially in the absence of any compensating daylight, meaning nighttime in most home spaces. If peach is a color you want to avoid and you utilize warm lighting -- that is, progressively orange-tinged the further under a 4000K color temperature you go -- then this is a paint color to avoid. The general recommendation is that 4000K is quite cool for home environments, so if you don't know what color temperature your home lighting is, you can probably assume it is warmer than 4000K if you selected average bulbs from your home supplies provider. White Opulence as a red-based white was an attractive choice for my main space because I already had a red accent in a permanent finish and personally prefer the fresh look that a red-white lends versus common alternate choices for main area wall colors like yellow-based beiges or blue-based grays. The problem is that so many home goods available are manufactured in colors that go with beige and gray wall colors rather than the faint red-white of White Opulence that color coordination requires more work than may be expected. Of course, you could decorate using pure white items, but what you really need are options for whisper pink basics which are hard to find. Adding stronger pink or red items is not always the solution either because you cannot feasibly fill the room with accents; you need some basics that blend with the wall tone. Then there is the issue of coordinating White Opulence with colors for auxiliary rooms if you wish to have some variety throughout the home while still maintaining the feel that all of the home's colors work together. Most blues coordinate with White Opulence, but if you have already used red accents in rooms painted with White Opulence, then red is challenging to pair with blue in most instances unless it is a dark, cool blue like navy. Where this has been a dilemma for me has been my hallway colors connecting the main open space to the bedrooms which are all different pastels. The color plan I have will work, and I'll enjoy the variety of colors that I have been able to make flow together, but to be honest, at times I have wondered how much easier the design process might have been if I had picked plain white for the main space. White is the ultimate neutral some might say. At the very least, a basic white for the main area would have given me more freedom in selecting fabrics and other home products for the main space as well as coordinating colors for other rooms. It is all too easy to second-guess decisions that will affect your life long-term. I am using Benjamin Moore's durable Aura formula in a satin finish, so I expect the new White Opulence paint will last decades. Had I selected a plain white or yellow- or blue-based off white, I might be back on this very forum wishing I had gone with White Opulence to add appeal beyond the standard choices. I hope this is helpful to anyone still considering this color.

Gray is definitely a hard colour to work with. It's either too brown, too green, too mauve or too blue. I tried 6 different shades of gray before I finally settled on Coventry Gray and Stonington gray by BM. After the first coat of Coventry GrayI was unsure. It looked too blue?? After the second coat I was falling in love LOL!! I used Coventry gray for accent walls and Stonington Gray on walls with less light. You can barely tell that I used two different shades which is what I wanted. The colours are amazing! Everyone that walks in can't believe the transition. I would suggest you buy a sample jar (I used Behr paint) and paint a good size on a few of the walls to see how the lighting hits it. I'll send you a photo, if I can figure it out HAHA!! I looked at your colour choices and they all look beautiful on the swatches, but beware of how it will look on the wall.

Here is a list from Ben Moore of off- whites that do not read as cool. Warm whites include red, orange, and yellow undertones. Keep in mind the natural light will play havoc with any white. From where does the natural light come? RED UNDERTONE White Opulence OC-69 Pink Damask OC-72 ORANGE UNDERTONE Pompeii OC-82 Onyx White OC-74 YELLOW UNDERTONE Mayonnaise OC-85 Acadia White OC-38