I live in the Northeast, btw, land of clear blue-ish light and long grey winters.

My house is painted Pratt and Lambert Ancestral, formulated in BM. It's a warmer white than what is usually used for exteriors. I like it very much on most days; in certain lights I would prefer a brighter white.

I like SW Alabaster. It looks white when painted, but is very soft and not blue/jarring at all.

Thanks so much, I'll look into the P&L Ancestral and the SW Alabaster.

Do you think a pure white is what I need? Or does that come off as cold? Are there undertones that I should stay away from (besides blue, of course)? I'd like a nice cottony white.

I'm looking at California Paints' "Sugar Sugar" & "Lychee." Both are a pure bright warm white sans blue or gray tones.

I supposed there's a .0001 per cent chance that somebody has either of these colors on her house and would be delighted to upload a photo... :)

[Was supposed to get my new red roof on this week and have the old siding stripped off, but it's raining again -- sigh]

I live in the NE and we sided our house with fiber-cement a couple years ago. I knew I wanted white, but which one??? I drove my husband and the contractor crazy with my umpteen sample boards. A lot of the colors that were recommended to me (SW alabaster, SW snowy owl) came off as gray or beige. Everyone told me I wouldn't want a true white because it would be too blinding, but I knew I didn't want gray/beige. I ended up going with Sherwin Williams Picket Fence - it's one of their discontinued Martha Stewart colors, so you probably can't get a chip (they can still mix a sample quart for you). It's white with a little bit of gold, just enough to offset the blueish cold tones that white can have but not enough to make it read anything except pure white. It's been up for almost 3 years now and I've been very happy with it - never any sort of regret, and believe me, I'm the queen of "I wish I had chosen XXX instead" when it comes to paint colors.

Here's a pic (ignore the landscaping - it got trashed during the residing and has since been redone):

Thanks, lkp. I just love your house.
I have some extra time today, so it's off to Sherwin Williams. Hopefully, the Paint Geek is still working there. He'd know how to duplicate Picket Fence in a current formulation.