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Benjamin Moore’s white opulence paint color

lulu7nyc
5 years ago
Hi plz give me advice on this color for my north facing full windows & south facing front of condo. I Love simply White but, I was looking for a little change. Thank you

Comments (75)

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year

    @Aglitter thanks very much!! Unfortunately, it looks like the formula for BM INSL-X Pure White (which has grey and blue) is substantially different from SW Pure White (which has a dot of black). I know I'm going to have to swatch it, but do you happen to have any photos? I'm just curious as to how much more obvious the pink undertone is against sharper white trim.


    I had been looking for a red-based neutral, and I think White Opulence has a beautiful, happy glow. I wouldn't have felt good about anything grey/blue in north-facing rooms, and yellow-beige is out due to brand new, pale grey carpeting on the second floor.


    The first red-based thing I had seen and loved was Farrow and Ball's Pointing, but it's quite expensive, and rumor is you really need a painter who is experienced with working with it. I so hope White Opulence works with my SW Pure White trim and doors. I don't mind a rosy glow, but I don't want people to think we actually painted the whole house pink if the contrast is too stark.

  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    @Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger First, I misspoke above saying I used "pure white." What I used for my trim was actually the uncolored white straight from the can of INSL-X Cabinet Coat. It is a nice white in its own right, and many people use it as-is without coloring it. I have edited my comment above to say "base white." It is a colorless white, and sometimes when a white has no undertone like the INSL-X base, you may feel that it leans gray, but that is only because when shadow hits the white it has nowhere tonally to go in terms of darkening, so the shadows can read gray. If you are concerned about that, then you might consider doing White Opulence for walls and trim. The problem there is that most doors and trim are usually already some version of a neutral white, so a total re-paint is prohibitively costly and time-consuming. Second, I wouldn't call White Opulence rosy, at least in my home with lots of windows and natural lighting. White Opulence reads as a white. Only someone who is looking closely at the wall might notice the hint toward red. Most people walking in casually would read your walls as being white. That is why White Opulence works well with a neutral white trim. They are both whites, and the neutral white trim is a tad lighter than the White Opulence.
    At the moment I am unable to access home photos, so I found a few online for you that I think are representative of how "white" White Opulence really is. The first is from the blog Postcards on the Ridge with a marvelous chart comparing Benjamin Moore whites. As you can see, White Opulence is darker than the whitest whites but not as dark as most of the creams and is shown first in line on the third row down. You can also see on this chart how faint that hint of red is in White Opulence compared to other whites. See the original post here: https://postcardsfromtheridge.com/2021/09/see-10-wonderful-white-rooms-that-will.html
    Then, I think the best photo representation online of White Opulence in a room is from Benjamin Moore's own website, shown below with both walls and trim in White Opulence with a taupe couch to the side. To get the full effect, visit the original photo here: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/oc-69/white-opulence
    Ultimately, you will want to get a sample and paint color cards or portions of a couple of walls in different lighting in your home to ensure this is the direction you wish to go. These two photos are not uploading to Houzz with the same color accuracy as I am seeing on my screen at the original websites, so please visit the links above for a more accurate evaluation.





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  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year

    @Aglitter thanks so much for all this and for clarifying--so helpful. This is very telling because I looked up the LRV for each of these:


    BM White Opulence is 89.49

    Insl-X Tintable White is 93.60 (so your trim LRV is still higher than your walls)


    Ours is the opposite story: Trim and doors on our entire house are already painted SW Pure White, LRV 84, so White Opulence walls would have a higher LRV than our trim.


    Also, SW Pure White is said in some places to read very neutral and in others, yellow undertones with a dot of black. I love that White Opulence has a red undertone. Lots of conflicting internet advice on this. Some sources say these could work still together because they're both warm, others not so much (clashing, undertones, not enough contrast, etc.) If White Opulence doesn't work, we may have to call it a day for the sake of continuity and paint the walls Pure White.


    Definitely going to have to test.


    Thanks again!


  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    @Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger Those LRV values are so close that I cannot imagine you would detect the difference with the unaided eye, particularly because of the addition of a color difference. You could bring up the light reflectance in White Opulence by selecting it in a satin sheen, which is what I did. I chose Benjamin Moore's Aura paint in satin. The Aura is the most moisture-resistant of paints available from Benjamin Moore, and since this paint would flow throughout the kitchen, I wanted the moisture resistance and durability. A satin sheen in any paint is easier to clean than eggshell, and I like the soft sheen of satin in Aura. Now, be aware that the "sample" cans of Benjamin Moore are only available in one kind of base paint with one sheen. If you want a true feel for exactly what you will get, you will need to purchase a quart in the precise paint and sheen you intend. On to the Sherwin Williams' Pure White color. I also looked up some color evaluations on it and believe that the reason some reviewers are calling this a "neutral white" is that the hint of yellow and black in this color is so faint that it actually still reads as a white rather than a cream or gray. Yes, it does lean yellow/black, but with even less strength than Benjamin Moore's White Opulence leans red. On paper, it sounds like your Pure White Trim with White Opulence is going to work together great! White Opulence is an amazing color, just as Benjamin Moore is known to produce, a company with special color technology and outstanding hue design. White Opulence is the missing point of a triad of base colors that I feel interior designers should be considering more often. Lots of houses, if they aren't painted stark white, will get a yellow/cream treatment or the old blue/gray treatment. Tints of red/pink should be the third go-to option, but this simply isn't used that much. White Opulence is so delicately balanced that a lot of people will still read it as white, just a clear, bright, fresh white. I think you should go with White Opulence. Save a little money and get the sample can, paint it straight on a couple of walls, and then buy the 5-gallon Aura if it is in your budget in either eggshell or satin depending on your preference. The satin will read lighter than the sample paint and the eggshell about the same. Aura provides better coverage than Regal, so even though it is more expensive, it covers better (usually meaning fewer coats required) and is more durable. A 5-gallon in Aura should do two coats for about 3 big rooms. Some stores only carry the single gallons of Aura, but the 5-gallon of course is a little more economical. Regal will also work, but I would at least use Aura for any bathrooms and for the kitchen for moisture resistance.

  • Lori Sawaya
    last year

    SW Pure White, LRV 84, so White Opulence walls would have a higher LRV than our trim.


    When creating white-on-white color schemes the key is to make sure one doesn't make the other look dirty, dingy or a weird hue.


    We do that with Chroma values.


    There needs to be a difference in Munsell Chroma of 0.20 (ish).


    Ish because it's a guideline, not a prescription.


    I wouldn't put Pure White and White Opulence together for that reason. First.


    Beyond that, they're too similar. Just at opposite ends of the Yellow hue family and the same Value.


    Pure White and White Opulence will look like a failed attempt at a color match.





  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Thank you so much, @Lori A. Sawaya -- Last I checked, which has been a couple of years ago, Benjamin Moore's sample cans were about $7 USD for any color. If @Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger is set on red-leaning walls, Benjamin Moore does have a couple of other colors close to White Opulence but with a bit more red saturation. White Opulence is the faintest in that family of colors, I believe. It wouldn't hurt to test the colors together and then move to a more saturated tone if Sherwin Williams' Pure White and Benjamin Moore's White Opulence were too close together. Having White Opulence on my own walls, I have a hard time imagining it clashing with Pure White, but I can see how on paper they do look close. White Opulence is a great color with a hint of red to the eye. As a side note, I put down White Opulence on walls that were originally cream, and the change from that original yellow cast to the hint of red in White Opulence was significant. I think it is worth at least a test can in this situation since the house is already stuck with Pure White trim and cannot select everything fresh.

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Well, @Aglitter and @Lori A. Sawaya, from the Annals of You Cannot Make This Up, I discovered today that the builder inadvertently painted almost all the trim in the house SW Extra White instead of the contract spec, SW Pure White. Yes, really. First, the Pure White chip didn't match the trim--at first, I thought I was seeing things--and then I found the telltale can of Extra White in a closet. This made me nervous because my backup plan was to paint the entire house Pure White. I would not consider painting the entire house Extra White, what with its teensy blue tinge and all our north-facing windows.

    But now that I'm all caught up here...maybe this is a good thing?

    The warm bm white opulence Samplize I ordered for walls seems to look decently happy against the extra white trim--could that possibly work? I checked the chroma difference, Lori, and it does seem to land well with the .2 difference guideline.

    My thoughts: SW Extra white flat ceilings (with semigloss crown molding in some areas), BM White Opulence eggshell walls, and keep the SW Extra white everything else? I am open to other ideas too.

    I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate the help of both of you on this wild ride. Other than the trim, doors, and one room of judge's paneling, this entire zero-degree North oriented house is bombed Agreeable Grey, including the ceilings. I need to find a workable white paint solution before we close in a month. And yes, @Aglitter, you are correct--we don't have the luxury of being able to start fresh with the trim.

  • Lori Sawaya
    last year

    I prefer Extra White vs. Pure White. I think it's a prettier color. It's what I specify most often, have it in my own house. It's just white and super flexible.


    And it does work with White Opulence much better than Pure White.


    Consider PPG's Delicate White in a flat for the ceilings with EW crown. SW and BenM can color match it. Delicate White is what I specify most often for ceilings.

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year

    @Lori A. Sawaya, I cannot thank you enough for this lovely input. I feel so very relieved. I will investigate all. And I think you're right, I find the Extra White prettier too.

  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Thanks again @Lori A. Sawaya for your expert input. @Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger I think you may still want to do some test painting on large areas with the White Opulence. It is a color like you have probably never seen before on that much expanse of walls. I'm glad you won't need to consider any deeper saturation. White Opulence is about as red as you can get with Benjamin Moore paint and still have the walls read a version of white. The next couple of hues up may feel too pink for you. Sounds like this may have a happy ending after all.

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year

    Thank you both very much. @Aglitter, I'm still a big believer in testing, so yes, we will be doing that after closing, but on a tight timeline. And you are correct, I had used Pink Damask, which is on the same fan deck page as White Opulence in our nursery many years ago, and it definitely read too pink. Hope White Opulence works, although I have dragged the Samplize sheet around the entire house in every kind of light, so I'm feeling confident. :)

  • Aglitter
    last year

    So, Samplize uses real paint, correct? However, I would be surprised if they actually used Benjamin Moore paint in your selected product line and sheen, so if you like what you see with Samplize, then the real Benjamin Moore should be even better. The only thing with small samples is that when you have something like White Opulence that does have a hint of color to it, that color becomes more saturated when spread over a broad area. I personally doubt you are going to feel like your walls are "pink" with White Opulence, though everyone's sense of color is different. In all my research before selecting the color, I only remember reading one reviewer who didn't like the pink tone and decided to paint over it. Most people who have any affinity to red think White Opulence is the long-sought answer to a base color for walls that isn't stark white, cream, or gray. Best wishes on finalizing your renovations.

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year

    @Aglitter it's so helpful knowing that you abutted White Opulence against a white white with great results, otherwise I would be more concerned about it showing pink against SW Extra White. Now, I'm less concerned. And, correct, I'm painting in eggshell, and Samplize sheets are only available in flat. So even if they used BM paint (and I think they might), it still wouldn't be a totally accurate representation. We're going to paint large swatches before proceeding--in researching all this, I've found that the formulas change dramatically depending upon base, finish and even quantity. For example, yellow doesn't exist in the sample size of White Opulence, but it does in the quart and gallon. Crazy!


    And speaking of yellow, @Lori A. Sawaya, I was able to find the PPG Delicate White chip at Home Depot. Definitely bright and fresh! I notice that looks a little yellower than the SW Extra White and the BM White Opulence. Would that difference serve a specific function in this particular triad of whites, or did you suggest it because you've just found it to be tried and true in other ways?

  • Lori Sawaya
    last year

    Yep. Color on the ceiling shows up differently.


    It's not the "5th wall".


    It's a plane above your head and calls for a unique strategy.


    Color on the ceiling appears more gray and a smidge darker. It's called flop or flop angle.


    A smidge of Chroma (colorfulness) mitigates that and a smidge of yellow means it will show up looking "just white".


    Which is much better than a more neutral white with low to no Chroma. Definitely better than a canned "ceiling white" which I personally would like to see banished from the universe. 🌈

  • Aglitter
    last year

    @Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger It is truly a pleasure to see a homeowner being so exact about color choices, and what a privilege to have the famous @Lori A. Sawaya personally advising! I still have some ceiling painting to do and have bookmarked the PPG Delicate White to investigate myself. What she says is true, that a colorless white skews gray in the shadows. I have this problem in a couple of ceiling areas in my home that have already been painted. At first it bothered me, but to be honest, I stopped noticing it after a few months. You really don't notice your ceilings much unless there is something major wrong with them like a big stain or hole or something obvious. As to your comment, "For example, yellow doesn't exist in the sample size of White Opulence, but it does in the quart and gallon. Crazy!" Oddly enough, I have noticed that slightly different proportion of pigmentation among the Benjamin Moore quantities and was told by store staff that this is because of different can sizes, but it does seem crazy!
    For people like us who are exact with color and who presumably have good physical color vision (not everyone does) we can notice slight differences in color that may seem like a lot at first but to which we will grow accustomed once they are in our homes and we live with them for a few months. Someone once gave advice here at Houzz on another post about renovations in general that has really been helpful to me, that even in the face of significant mistakes that are done by contractors or perhaps selections that you may not be as happy with as you expected, live with the renovations for a few months, and the significance will fade in time. That has been so true for me with my own renovations. I think with the amount of work and testing you are put into this color scheme that even if there are a couple of surprises in the end as to the overall effect, it's going to be beautiful, and you will likely cease to notice the details in time. And thanks again @Lori A. Sawaya for the hint on PPG Delicate White for the ceilings. My largest and most central ceiling has yet to be done, and I plan to give this a try!

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year

    @Aglitter thanks! :) If I'm being honest, by some people's standards, I overthink these things, but my view is, "Measure twice, cut once." Mistakes like these ARE noticeable to me, and painting is already so disruptive, labor intensive, and expensive. I still remember an older family friend's astonishment, back when small paint sample jars didn't yet exist, that I actually bought four different quarts of BM paint before painting the last baby's room aqua. I am sensitive to color, and I chose these paints from four chips that were virtually indistinguishable from each other. On the wall, one looked dead, one had a nasty glare, one was green, and one was perfect --BM Blue Bonnet--ha, I still remember it, and the baby's a junior in college. It made my heart sing every time I walked into that room. To me, that matters a lot, and even more so since the pandemic. Still, of course you're right, it's the furnishings that make a space come alive. I'm just trying to give them a good head start lol. But now, with your help and that of @Lori A. Sawaya, I probably can't lose.

  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    @Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger Thanks for your story about Benjamin Moore's Blue Bonnet. I just looked up the color and love it as well. I may keep it on the list for repaint of a bedroom eventually, so thank you! The concept of "overthinking" has always seemed an insult to me. I cannot remember the idea existing during my childhood when I was encouraged to be as analytical of a person as possible to reach academic horizons as well as avoid costly mistakes. "Overthinking" as a negative descriptor only carries weight, in my opinion, in a social setting where apathy is considered cool or where attention to detail is unrewarded such as from an employer that values quantity of work over quality. I personally still refuse to settle for mediocre and continue to think through things as much as possible and encourage you to do so as well without feeling disrespected by anyone. Now, there may come a point where a search for perfection paralyzes action, and we certainly want to avoid that, but none of the color evaluation you have described in this thread strikes me as being in that category. My comment above about detail losing significance as we live with things is more for the surprises that may come up after we have done due diligence or when mistakes are made by a contractor, which happened plenty in my recent renovation despite research to try to find the best workers!

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year
    last modified: last year

    @AglitterExactly right. The unexpected does and will happen, but hopefully not because I wasn't being careful. Thanks for the boost! I don't think I'm overthinking; that's the language of people who can't be bothered with these things. It comes up sometimes when people talk about efficiency with me. Yes, sometimes, the most important thing is to get something done and off your desk. To me, it's not efficient to have to revisit things continually because you haven't invested enough time in the first place. Paint is a big decision. Investing time and effort is how I landed on this thread and the idea of using White Opulence in the first place. There certainly aren't a lot of YouTube reviews; there are probably hundreds for White Dove.

  • Aglitter
    last year

    @Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger You and I think a lot alike in terms of putting in the work to do something right the first time, an approach that is generally unappreciated by much of society today, at least in my circles. It is so true that painting is a huge investment, and plenty of people pass off color selection quickly and then think it is acceptable to ask for a repaint with another also-haphazard selection when neither the first nor second colors were carefully considered or tested! I've even seen what appear to be lazy color selections and expensive repainting done on HGTV shows by so-called established designers who should be more skilled than that or at the very least checking colors mid-progress before the entire houses are painted! I was led to White Opulence by realizing that I disliked the standard white, cream, or gray wall options and had a lot of decor already that harmonized with a red base. Benjamin Moore's product integrity seemed to consistently outshine that of many other brands I reviewed, both in color design and in the quality of the paints and pigments. I think you'll be happy with your choice! White Opulence really is the best red-leaning white suited for a wall base that I have been able to find among any brand because it is so subtle.

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year

    I won't know until we close and we can paint a sample on the walls. In my mind's eye, I'm imagining a cheerful white space. Just hoping White Opulence doesn't make other white things (cabinets, sink, tile) look grey. I've heard that can happen.

  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    White Opulence would only make pure whites cast gray, I think. My kitchen is wood and soapstone without any white, so White Opulence isn't a problem for me and does lend a bright, clean tone. A pure white without any chroma, as discussed above for ceiling paint, can cast gray simply due to shadowing having no other color direction to go. If a kitchen had cream paint, White Opulence next to it would accentuate the cream, for instance. Doing a large test after closing is the right track to take, and for utmost accuracy, I would purchase the exact paint and sheen you want rather than a sample can if you have the time to do it.

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year

    Thanks, that's the plan. It's definitely going to be interesting. The cabinets are "linen" but look white, the sink Kohler white, there's some white subway tile, and a white quartz (with just a smidge of grey veining) counter. The floors are sort of a coastal-looking taupe/brown EVP. But...it's a great room, a large square LR, DR, Kitchen with lots of windows on nature and other kinds of interest. So it's not the same as doing this in a closed white kitchen. Stay tuned! :)

  • Aglitter
    last year

    From your description, it sounds to me like all that white in the kitchen might accentuate the red in the White Opulence more than the other way around making the whites read gray. Hopefully the floor will be a subdued neutral, but honestly it isn't like you have any bright accent colors going on with your permanent finishes you have mentioned that should present a major obstacle. If the kitchen whites are grouped together, they will support each other. Yes, I would love to know how it turns out!

  • corningclarke
    last year

    Just tossing my one cent into this very interesting discussion about White Opulence, a color that seems to get very little love on the blogs. FWIW I just finished doing our fireplace mantel and surround in white opulence as a possible starting point to replacing the half-strength antique white on our walls. It looks fantastic (used oil-base semi-gloss) and not the least bit pink; in fact it seems to have picked up a bit of the color from our old fir floors and if there were any undertones I would say they were yellow, but really it is just a lovely warm but bright white. Now trying to figure out what to do with the deadly "ceiling white" ceiling to get as much light as possible into a very dark room.

  • Lucy R
    last year
    last modified: last year

    @corningclarke we painted our ceilings throughout the house with white opulence flat ceiling paint. In several north facing rooms, the walls are also white opulence in eggshell. It works for us.

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year

    @corningclarke if you scroll up, you will see that @Lori A. Sawaya's expert advice was to paint the ceilings PPG Delicate White (flat), with her explanation in later in the exchange.

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year

    @Aglitter and @Lori A. Sawaya we're closing next week, and I'm back with one more question. I looked at PPG Delicate White as a ceiling color around the house, and it's oddly, wonderfully true, it looks a little yellow at first, but only until you position the chip upside down to approximate how it will look on the ceiling. Then it really does turn white, and that makes my husband super happy. However:


    a) The first floor of this house has 9-foot ceilings with lots of SW Extra White trim but no crown molding.

    b) The second story has 8-foot ceilings with no crown molding except in the Primary bedroom.

    c) There is a two-story entry with SW Extra White Crown molding


    My question is, given that most of the upstairs has no crown molding and only 8-foot ceilings, is painting the ceiling BM White Opulence (flat) the better thing to do (to create the illusion of height against the White Opulence eggshell walls)? Or do you think I am better off making contrast with the Delicate White ceiling, even in the 8-foot rooms.


    Thank you so much. I can't wait to show you the before and after.


  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    @Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger I'm not the color expert that @Lori A. Sawaya is, so hopefully she will respond too, but I have white trim with no crown molding, white ceilings, and White Opulence walls, and I like this color scheme. I almost think White Opulence on the ceilings would be color overkill. There truly is a hint of a red tint to White Opulence, so having a neutral white ceiling balances it out and allows you to have an expanse of white overhead that doesn't contain that colorization the walls do. To be honest, you really don't notice ceiling color unless you're lying on your back looking straight up at it. I think the fact that you have so much white in your kitchen is also a point in favor of doing white for the ceilings. I had wanted to look into the PPG Delicate White myself for ceiling work that I have yet to do, but it concerns me that you say there's a yellow cast to it as yellow is the farthest thing that I want to show as a color on my ceilings. Some of my ceilings are 20 feet high with lots of natural light, so I will need to test Delicate White before committing. As we have discussed, were you to do the Sherwin Williams Extra White for your ceilings, same as you have for your trim, it may cast a little bit gray in the shadows. Whether this is something that would bother you or not is hard to say. I noticed the gray cast on some ceilings I had done in white at first but never notice it anymore and would certainly rather have any shadows cast gray than yellow. Lighting plays a big role in how the whites are perceived, as well.

  • Lori Sawaya
    last year

    PPG Delicate White as a ceiling color around the house, and it's oddly, wonderfully true


    Dunn Edwards White Picket Fence ends up looking clean and comfortably white on ceilings too.


    We often specify Extra White trim/crown with Delicate White because they work so well together.

    One consistent color on the ceiling throughout is a good strategy.


    But White Opulence on walls and ceiling is definitely an option too. Whether it's going to blend away the line of demarcation between wall/ceiling and make the room look larger is a matter of perception.


    Some would feel that a whiter-white does a better job in that department than a color.

    Again, no right answer. It's a matter of preference.

  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    @Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger and @Lori A. Sawaya I just looked up the color review for Dunn Edwards White Picket Fence on Lori's site: https://thelandofcolor.com/white-picket-fence-det648-by-dunn-edwards/
    It looks like this hue leans yellow, similar to the PPG Delicate White. With my recent renovations, one of my goals was to steer as far away from anything yellow or blue as I could in my main, open living area and rather go with either white or red-leaning hues. This thread is making me reconsider whether to do White Opulence on my ceilings in the main areas as well, which are currently white but need to be refreshed. In my case, the bedrooms have already begun to be refreshed with white ceilings, and each of the bedrooms has different colored walls, but I still have the option of doing a different ceiling color for the main area where the White Opulence walls are. Thanks to you both for your tremendous attention to detail in this discussion. It has given me a lot to consider. I do like the white ceilings against White Opulence walls as it stands, but to continue with my current paint scheme of white ceilings for the completion of the refresh, those main area ceilings would cast gray, whereas with White Opulence, they would fill the room with more of a color cast. As Lori said, the better decision is probably a matter of personal preference.

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year

    @Lori A. Sawaya and @Aglitter thank you both again. I will investigate the White Picket Fence too. I guess my remaining question is this: We know that SW Extra White and PPG Delicate White play nicely with each other. But what about Delicate White right up against White Opulence, with no Extra White crown molding separating them on an eight-foot wall. Is there math I should be looking at for those two?

  • Lori Sawaya
    last year

    But what about Delicate White right up against White Opulence,


    Not an issue.


    It belongs to the beginning of the Green-Yellow hue family; which is where you'll find some of the most neutral colors of white that show up on a ceiling as "just white".

  • Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Okay, I’m back with the report! I could not possibly be happier with BM White Opulence as a whole house color— it is just beautiful. By day, it’s just a cheerful white, and at night, it lights up and contrasts more with the SW Extra White trim. The PPG Delicate White flat ceilings are perfect (it helps that they were nicely cut in). It all works together, even with white cabinetry. It’s hard to convey in photos what this paint does in varying kinds of light or with different furnishings, but the way the reflection of its spot of red influenced and warmed up our floors, turning them from greige to brown, is apparent even in the photos. @Aglitter and @LoriASawaya, thanks so much— I genuinely couldn’t have done it without you. Hopefully this thread will encouage others too.




  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    @Chaplain Elizabeth J. Berger Thank you so much for the photos! That's a big change and a lot of light reflectance brought into the area from the way it was previously. Our previous discussion about doing White Opulence on the ceilings as well has really got me to thinking about putting White Opulence on the vaulted ceilings in my main areas. Congratulations on having the color change behind you and moving forward with settling into your beautiful new home.

  • wyosue58
    last year

    @Aglitter

    I hope it is okay to ask these questions in this post. I am building a new house with 10 ft ceilings--open concept floor plan. I have always had white walls in the houses that I have owned but I want a little color this time. One of my concerns is the Waudena doors (the interior is Classic white from SW), the Marvin window trim (Stone White from SW), and the Masonsite interior doors ( we have not been able to look at them to see if they are painted). So as far as white for trim, how do I know what to choose? It is difficult for me to go to the job site or travel to look at samples. My builder's wife is supposed to get some paint samples tomorrow. The wall choices are BM 1023 Cocoa Butter and 1024 Tucson Winds. For trim and maybe interior doors Chantilly Lace (too green) and White Opulence (favorite). I was going to paint the ceilings white too but I am not sure I like that. My cabinets are Maple toast and the flooring is Happy Floors LVP Santa Fe (beige/cream/a little pink).

    Thank you in advance for your comments. Sue wyosue58

  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Hi Sue @wyosue58! Before getting into a long explanation, I want to say my initial reaction is to cancel using White Opulence on your trim primarily because you already have doors and windows that are white, and the White Opulence will look pink next to that and will likely clash with the Maple Toast cabinetry and be of little benefit to the predominantly beige Happy Floors LVP because of the trim and cabinetry colors already established. Just go with a basic white for your trim would be my advice. Then on the walls, I would like to see you pick a color that is more in line with current trends or perhaps will last longer as a classic color. Please read on for a further explanation.

    The timing of your questions is perfect because I have been working on color choices myself over the last few weeks and have more information to share as a result. As you know from my previous post, I have selected Benjamin Moore's White Opulence for the main areas of my home's walls, but all of my hallways and bedrooms have different colors from the main areas, and I also have a deeply-colored accent wall in the dining room. Furthermore, the longer I have lived with Benjamin Moore's White Opulence paint (which is still not fully applied to all areas where it will eventually go) and worked closely with other colors trying to coordinate a whole-house scheme, I am sensing more and more how much of a pink tint can come across in the White Opulence at certain angles in certain lighting of the day. You are definitely going to see some pink coming through in that White Opulence at times. Even though your Happy Floors LVP does have a hint of pink, based on the Santa Fe colorways I was able to look up I believe that the one you have selected is predominantly a mix of light brown with gray taupe. The fact that you also have presumably medium brown "Maple Toast" cabinets (I was not able to find a paint manufacturer for that color unless you were talking about stain) plus windows and trim that are already white makes the White Opulence as a second trim color excessive. It is a pretty color on its own or against other white or dark colors in a limited palette, but once you start mixing in multiple mid-tone browns and grays with the pink paint, you may feel the effect is messy.

    I would stick with a basic white trim to go with windows and doors, to avoid clashing with your existing mid-tone browns and gray taupes, and to simplify your scheme and give you greater flexibility in the future if you ever want to recolor your walls. I have used Happy Floors flooring in part of my home, and I think the company has outstanding color selections (albeit a spotty record with quality, see other Houzz posts), and I know you will enjoy the Santa Fe LVP, but it is a showpiece pattern and will dictate subdued walls and trim in order to not clash.

    So then, if you have basic white trim and brown cabinets with your patterned Happy Floors beige/gray flooring, then let's look at the walls. The first thing that stands out to me is that your builder seems to be nudging you toward a color scheme that was popular toward the farther end of the last ten years or so ago when coffee-and-cream with white trim was a popular color scheme for whole-house repaints, particularly for homes prepped to be flipped on the real estate market. The two coffee-and-cream-family wall colors you are considering, Benjamin Moore's Cocoa Butter and Tuscon Winds, will appear strong once covering entire walls and also don't seem compatible colorwise to your existing cabinetry and flooring selections. Although creams are currently making a comeback, the new creams are lighter than the older, darker, coffee-and-creams. To give a real-life example, a family member of mine actually bought a home in 2017 in which walls had been painted throughout in a medium coffee-and-cream color. Trim in that house was white, and flooring was beige. To walk into the empty home, everything looked fine and almost calming, but to live in that home and to try to bring in furniture and decor, nothing really went with anything, and it was a poor color scheme all around. By the time the home was sold in 2022, everyone in the family wished the walls were white, but it was too expensive to repaint before resale, so the new owners were stuck with the task of updating what was, by then, an out-of-date look. Now, if you have a specific reason that you want Cocoa Butter or Tucson Winds and it blends with everything else that you have in the room, or perhaps you want it in just one bedroom or just one bathroom, then go for it! However, you are talking about a whole-house color scheme, and I think that a lighter, more neutral tone will work better for you for that purpose and with your existing colors. Please don't allow your builder or anyone else to pressure you into something that doesn't work for your specific situation.

    Different design theories abound as to what is the best way to approach a whole-house color scheme in terms of the walls. Some people say the best thing you can do for your house is to get consistent color or pattern all the way through. Other people like me prefer a variety of colors, but plenty of time goes into designing a scheme like that successfully, and a background in color theory or working with a professional colorist helps as well when many colors are involved.

    Through my own research, I have come to the personal opinion that colored ceilings work best as an accent or in a situation where walls are very dark. If your walls are already quite light, which they probably should be given the color selections already in place in your home, no harm is done by going with a basic white ceiling. People don't really look at the ceilings all that much to be honest with you. The one job of the ceiling is to not stand out. I think in your case, especially because you have white trim, painting the ceilings white and then really focusing on getting your wall color right will help simplify your color scheme.

    For the walls in the area that adjoins your kitchen cabinetry that is Maple Toast along with your patterned Santa Fe LVP, I would be looking at some very light neutrals if you want to add color to the space. You'll need something that doesn't offend the gray taupe in the LVP nor the medium brown in your Maple Toast. If you are using Benjamin Moore paint, I would highly encourage you to focus on the Affinity Collection. Over several years of selecting colors for my own home, I have come back to that collection of colors again and again because they are just outstanding. They really are modern, sophisticated colors. Focus on the lighter tones and try to pick something that goes with everything else that you have in your main areas. Sherwin Williams has recently come out with a new collection of colors called the Emerald Designer Collection, and some outstanding light neutrals are contained in that collection. I have recently come across some reviews of Sherwin Williams paints that indicate some people are not as happy with the quality of paint since it was reformulated several years ago, but obviously Sherwin Williams is still a large player in the paint market, and if you have a professional who will back up the work, I would not worry too much about using it. Between the Sherwin Williams Emerald Designer Collection and the Benjamin Moore Affinity Collection, I think you can find something that will work for you. You may even want to throw some pastel or even stronger colors into some of the back rooms that do not adjoin your Maple Toast cabinetry. If you have more questions or would like more input, please let us know. Actual photos of your cabinetry and LVP would be helpful for further input.

  • wyosue58
    last year

    @Aglitter Thank you so much for your quick response. I have not read everything you have written yet but I just wanted to let you know that these color choices were mine. I am not a Modern person and I live in red dirt country. I am the one that chose these colors--not my builder.

    I know my choices are boring (or by some standards--all wrong) but I am not able to travel to look at samples--most samples have been brought to me. My new house is next door to where I live now but because of a fall in 2021, I cannot even go into the house to look at the progress. Most of these choices were for my husband but sadly, I lost him a year ago.



    This is from my Home Design Program. I have 1024 Tucson Winds on the walls and ceiling. The trim is a generic white from the program. Whatever I put on the walls--I want the trim around the openings from room to room to be white but not the same as the walls.

    I will now read your message. Thanks again. Sue

  • wyosue58
    last year
    last modified: last year

    @Aglitter WOW!!!! I did not realize that I was 10 years behind but when I opened my Home design program to the drawing above--it hit me in the face. The first color I chose from the Affinity line was AF-60 Peau de Soie which is the same as 1023 Cocoa Butter.

    The cabinets in each room are the Woodland Maple Toast stain. I have a built-in in my Master Bedroom and Closet. My sewing room cabinets and Maple Toast stain.

    Because I have so many windows, I did not want white or off-white walls. I don't like any of the whites--most look green or blue. I don't really like Chantilly Lace and chose the White Opulence because of the pink cast but I see what you mean. I don't want each room painted a different color so everything is going to have to coordinate. I thought if I went with something light the LVP flooring would be a wash.

    The exterior of my house is beige, burgundy, and dark brown soffits. The trim around the windows and to separate the other colors is a Sand color.


    EDIT:

    I lean toward warm colors. The builder's wife brought some color boards and you are right those colors lean pink. She brought OC-17 White Dove and untinted White

    She gave me a list of colors that are on the greige side but most of them look green. She said that she could get more colors today

    OC-3 Lambskin

    OC-4 Brandy Cream

    OC-23 Classic Gray

    I don't know if these are any better. Can you think of any other colors that would work in warm colors?

    Thanks,

    Sue

  • Lucy R
    last year

    The two whites in our house are white opulence and white dove. White dove is used in a couple of bathrooms. White opulence is on trim and ceilings elsewhere and LR/DR. White dove is very close to our tile, Emser Vogue Biscuit, if that helps. It is a creamy white. We used BM WIndswept in a room with reddish VGFir cabinets and paneling and southern exposure. And Morning Light in an office with northern exposure. Depending on lighting it can appear either cream or pale yellow. Same reddish oak floors and VGF doors. throughout the house. We tried lots of colors and are happy with our choices.

  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Hi Sue @wyosue58, what a lot of pressure you have been under the last few years! I am especially sorry to hear about the unexpected loss of your husband and know he would be proud of you for continuing with this big building project as best you can, particularly with your injuries. When you described your situation, I instantly wondered whether or not your new home is going to have accessible restrooms and kitchen. Following up to that thought was whether or not it would, in the final outcome, be in your best interest to continue with this building project at this time. If you have any family members who could assist you but who live somewhere else, be it across the neighborhood or in another town, it might be advisable to take 24 or 48 hours and really sit down and think through these things and perhaps discuss them with the involved parties or a trusted friend. When daily help is needed, even living a few blocks away from family can be a burden. NEXT DOOR is the ideal setup for making it easiest for loved ones to help, whenever possible. Relocating close to family members who might be able to help you could keep you independent as long as possible.

    If you do not have anyone like that and can hire the help you need, then I would seriously consider a redesign of the kitchen that you pictured above. You may want wheelchair accessible sinks and counters, and at least one bedroom and bathroom in your new home should have ample room for the use of Hoyer and sit-to-stand lifts and a shower chair with roll-in shower flooring. You may not think that you'll need these things, but given the current state of injury already making movement slow, if you don't provide for the next steps of care, that may ultimately limit the time you are able to last in the new home, physically speaking.

    Being halfway through a new build with contracts in force may make it difficult for you to fathom making a housing switch at the moment. Hopefully you will have some financial and real estate advisors who can walk you through the possibilities if you are interested. I've been keeping an eye on articles about the housing market, and while I am no expert, I have noticed industry insiders seem to be expecting a market correction coming up in 2023. If you would be able to sell your home partially through the build right now, you may get more for it than you would even 6 months from now, given market conditions. If you can find the right buyer who is willing to take the build at the state where it is and maybe add their own finishing touches, that would be the best of both worlds for both of you, meaning that you would not have to shell out extra cash for finishes that they would then want to redo to their own tastes. Please forgive my boldness if you've already considered these options and rejected them.

    Turning a corner now to address your material selections, thank you so much for your photos as they are very helpful. The Santa Fe LVP in your sample is not as busy as the photos I saw online, but it does have a warm taupe tone to it. I believe the flooring and the cabinetry stain would work together, but your backsplash and your countertop selections are diverging in other color directions. Your backsplash looks to be more like a cool taupe which clashes with the warm taupe of the LVP, and the countertop is an entirely different scheme altogether with stark, black and white speckles and lots of pattern against what are already two other patterns in your flooring and your backsplash. If everything that you've already selected in the way of materials is unchangeable at this point, then I don't know that your wall color is going to make a difference. You already have so many different colors and patterns going on both inside and outside the home that you can probably just pick whatever paint colors you like and be happy with them. If you want more color options to work with, it's not that hard to order a Benjamin Moore color wheel and have all the colors on hand to sort through. If you do have an option to change countertop or backsplash, I would have some ideas for you. Best wishes on all the decisions that you have yet to make on this project!

  • wyosue58
    last year

    @Aglitter

    Thank you for all of this information. I am sorry for what you are going through too. I started this project 2 years ago because I wanted a house on all one level--zero clearance. All of the spaces are wide enough to get a walker through. It is too late to make it wheelchair accessible. I have thought about everything you have said many times. I have my walk-in shower accessible with benches and enough room for a wheelchair if necessary.

    I do not have anyone living close to me--2000 miles away. The reason we moved to Wyoming is because of my allergies where we used to live so I don't really want to go back there--even though it is close to my daughter.

    There have been so many setbacks with this house and so much cost that I don't want to give it up before I have a chance to live in it for a while.

    The granite sample--I should not be trying to match that because what was ordered for me could look totally different. It is called Navisca Mist (I think that is how you spell it). The sample I have has a little black, gray, taupe, mauve, and white/off-white. In the kitchen, I don't know if there will be a backsplash. It is the same granite in the pantry, laundry, bathrooms, and sewing room.

    Thank you again for your input.

  • wyosue58
    last year

    @Lucy R

    Thank you for your comments.

  • Aglitter
    last year
    last modified: last year

    "There have been so many setbacks with this house and so much cost . . . ."

    @wyosue58 Sunk investment of both time and funds is a strong anchor, and I certainly want to encourage you to do what makes you most at peace. At the same time, please don't underestimate the value of your properties. With your owning two properties side-by-side, one of them walker and wheelchair accessible, you have a fairly rare gem on your hands that could bring a profit for you with the right buyer looking for dual properties with accessibility. If your daughter has asked you to move back closer and is willing to help you out, one thing you may not have considered is that if you wait until a medical crisis occurs that necessitates a move near her, you may be unable to make your own decisions about where to live and what to take with you. If you make a transition now, while you're still independent, you may end up with a home more satisfying to you. Allergies are real, and I don't know how much you previously worked at purifying inside air and also consulting with medical professionals about products on the market to help manage reactions, but significant help is available via those channels. If your daughter is unable to leave her livelihood to move to you, she may very much regret not being able to spend more time with you at this point in both of your lives.

    Stay if you wish, but again please never underestimate the value of what you have. You may be surprised at what you could be paid for your current properties.

    Please forgive me again for being really blunt here, but if there is any chance you might want to sell in the near future, the new buyers will likely need to replace the flooring and also paint the cabinetry to accommodate your granite selection or, alternately, replace the countertops. That reality might hit your net profit a bit if your design goes forward as planned. The patterns and colors are each beautiful on their own and may be pleasing as a whole to you but are unlikely to satisfy the average buyer as a total scheme. The colors and patterns would need to be reduced in breadth and number to be marketable. Also, an almost-white wall color is probably going to be beneficial at resale in your situation given the other elements in place already. As I said earlier, if you intend to go ahead with your chosen materials and do not plan to sell soon, then just pick any paint color you like and go with it as there seems to be no overarching color theme to match at this point. Best wishes!

  • wyosue58
    last year

    @Aglitter

    Like I said before--I have thought about all of it. I mentioned to my daughter that if anything happened to me that I DO NOT want to go into the place about 3 miles from here. Her boyfriend said, "Your mom could move in with us". I Love my daughter but that is the LAST thing either one of us would want. She was here last year for a month when I fell and towards the end of the month--it was tense.

    Right now I could not travel 2000 miles and not sure the airlines would let me fly because of blood clots.

    Thanks again for your input on all of this. I should be getting more paint sample boards later on today. You were so right about the pink undertones. I cannot believe that I did not see that. I am a quilter and when I lay fabrics out--I see when something does not work together.

    Thanks again, Sue

  • Aglitter
    4 months ago
    last modified: 4 months ago

    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.

  • Debbie Downer
    4 months ago

    I actually have contemplating using some form of pinky white for my ceilings in my dimly lit apartment as anything yellow reads too dingy gray green for some reason. I have a lot of vintage dark shellacked red-brown wood, so pinky tones fit right in. I think this speaks to the need to be very cognizant of color relationships even with whites and so-called neutrals. How does the W.O. look in north facing or dim light?

  • Aglitter
    4 months ago
    last modified: 4 months ago

    In dim light, meaning unlit by artificial or natural lighting, White Opulence is probably going to look white. I think one of Lori Sawaya's two suggestions earlier in this thread for ceiling white colors may be better for you, though. These two picks are discussed extensively in previous comments. The reason I say that is because once you get artificial light in your area without much daylight to balance it, White Opulence could easily turn peach on you, so if you lack natural daylight and are looking for a mostly-white ceiling instead of a pink or peach one, I would probably pass on White Opulence.

  • Lucy R
    4 months ago

    We have white opulence ceilings with reddish oak stained floors throughout the house. The living /dining area also has WO walls and is north facing. A room with stained vertical grain fir (also reddish) get lots of southern exposure. It looks fine in both areas. We have not really decorated living/dining area so I can’t really address impact of fabrics.

  • PRO
    Holdfast Apiary
    2 months ago

    I was handed the paint chip by a millenial sales associate and when I asked what colours were in it it I was told "hard to tell". I was annoyed when I read later it is actually a really pale pink. But what I will say is I LOVE IT. Only rarely does it appear pinkish and I find it beautifully compliments my laminate floor while being much warmer than some whites would be.

  • Aglitter
    last month

    @Holdfast Apiary I definitely felt the same way with initial painting in terms of loving it, but as a few years have gone on, I'm definitely feeling the restriction of not being able to decorate with a variety of other neutrals that don't go well with the red base; see more explanation about that above. Hard to say if I would do it differently if I had to do it over. You need to really like red and pink and plan to decorate your rooms in tints and shades of those to do well with White Opulence on walls.