Enough contrast in BM Natural Cream and White Dove? See Pics please!
We have been slowly remodeling for about 2 years. We are now ready to repaint the whole house. Our kitchen and laundry have been redone, the family room fireplace resurfaced with stone, and floors replaced with white washed oak.
I gravitate to pictures of light neutral paints, creamy furnishings, and blues and greens for accents. I have been looking through paints FOREVER- I think I have 15 samples now! The biggest dilemma has been trying to keep the Navajo white trim everywhere for cost sake. My oak floors and kitchen cabinets (maple) also have yellow and it’s too much. But I am biting the bullet and painting White Dove trim. Current paint is a khaki and it looks very yellow when the sunlight hits it.
For walls, I have landed- I think!- on BM Natures Essentials, which is called Natural Cream now I guess? I ended up with it because all of the typical greige colors appear very grey or purple in my ‘yellow’ home. NC is one that truly looked neutral in all lighting, although it doesn't have much character.
In my family room, the light from the windows to the left in the picture face east and over a pool, so it is quite bright early in the day. The sample colors in the family room get completely washed out- can’t tell the trim sample board from the wall (see on fireplace). In the evening I can see subtle shade differences and I really like it. I might like just one shade darker but...honestly I am sick of looking. Inner balance is on the strip as if one shade darker, but it looks like a totally different color on the wall- much grayer and purplish again. So unless someone knows what that next shade is, I quit!
Also I am trying to use one color for all of the main areas because it is an open floor plan and I like the simplicity of it. The front LR and DR have a few windows but overall it stays pretty dark in there all hours.
So here are my questions please:
Is there enough contrast in Natural Cream and White Dove? Anyone done this?
What should I do about one paint color for the whole main of the house, when the FR it gets so much daylight, but anything darker would likely be too dark in the LR & DR? Do people just accept that one color can’t do it all?
Do you think the white dove trim color on the cabinets to the L &R of the fireplace will look too stark white next to the natural stone? Does it seem that way to me because there is so much cream and brown and yellow, and once it is done it will look just fine? The back splash in the adjoining kitchen is a warm white and there is some in the new counter tops, so maybe it will pull together?
I truly hate paint. Not too strong a word... making me crazy! Anyone have thoughts on this?
Thanks!
Liz
Comments (28)
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BM White Dove looking too cream/dingy - color/finish help!
Comments (17)breezygirl, thanks for your input - it really does look yellow green in this room, no matter what time of day. I don't think I'll be using it, too bad I stupidly bought an entire gallon already! I did pick up a bunch of samples of whites from BM and Behr (while I was at HD to pick up the sample tile) to study over the next week or so, and thankfully I have not done all the work of cabinet painting - I'm just out $45 for the gallon of White Dove, better to cut my losses now and repaint the ceiling when I do the cabinets rather than go to all that work and not be happy. The subway tile is a soft white but not as yellow-green as the White Dove, and looks GREAT with the James River Gray and the appliances etc. I'll be taking pics throughout the project to document, I'll either be really happy at the end or I'll have filled my kitchen with a lumpy mass of concrete! To me, this is great fun although there is often a point about halfway through when I just wonder why I'm doing it, don't think it will ever come out right... but when it ends up well in the end the feeling of accomplishment is worth it. It's actually the second time I have made a major mistake purchasing white paint. At least this time it was only 1 gallon. When I was painting and doing flooring in the whole house (had less than 14 days to finish everything and move in as we only had a short term apartment after selling our condo) I bought *4 gallons* of Super White for the ceilings for some silly reason - having chosen Mascarpone for the walls (I thought I had to do "plain" white on the ceilings. Partway through the first gallon I realized it looked terrible. I just hated the idea of wasting that much money on the paint, but could not stand the idea of finishing the job that I would hate. So I bought more Mascarpone and did ceilings the same color (which looks great) and tried to sell the Super White unopened cans on Craigslists to no avail. Ace wouldn't let me return them even for a store credit or restock fee :( I ended up donating it. I thought I learned my lesson but I was so sure that White Dove looked lovely in everyone else's photos and was such a universal favorite (and who could not like the name) that I would love it too. Lesson learned - test the color in your own space even if it's "just" white! On the other hand, they do not have test sizes for the whites in my paint store and a quart is $17 vs $45 for the gallon - so it's better just to buy the gallon....See MoreSW Westhighland White / BM White Dove
Comments (14)Hi everyone. Here's another, current thread where we're discussing formulas. Read this thread too. Bottomline is there is more than one way to custom match and/or mix a color and still meet the industry standard for a "match". In my experience, formulas for Color To Go jugs (and all small fresh-mixed samples) notoriously differ from the formula for a gallon. It has to do with quantities, volume of base in the can, how much room there is for colorant, how small the colorant load has to be divided in order to "fit" into smaller containers, how small a quantity can the dispenser actually shoot, etc. Overall, most people are fine with the quality of the "match" produced by differing formulas. Most of the time, they can't tell. Now, that's either because it truly is not discernable or they just don't know any better and don't look closely enough to compare in order to find fault with the quality of the color match. For testing - and to keep things as simple and accurate as possible - the rule of thumb is if you want the color you see on the original paint chip, you need to buy at least a quart in the brand, paint grade, and sheen you ultimately want to use. Wonder if she has a formula that she could share that would get us close to BM White Dove. If I wanted a proper BenM White Dove, I'd go to whatever lengths necessary to buy it from Benjamin Moore. I often order my Ben Moore paint from myperfectcolor.com and have it shipped. It's fabulously convenient. :) I've said it a million times on the forums here, getting wrapped around color formulas and paint bases is a rat hole no one should go down. Cutting formulas, doubling formulas, trying to decipher color characteristics by reading the colorants in the formula and/or the tint of the paint base -- if anyone tells you there is anything worthwhile in dissecting and studying any of that, they're full of beans. Because there is nothing about any of it that we, who are on the consumer side of the paint counter, can manage or control. Blogosphere is plastered with posts from people professing their success cutting formulas, reading the formulas to ascertain "undertones" and whatnot. Their success doing so can be attributed to nothing more than luck. Luck and they've already made up their mind that their color mixing gymnastics will yield a successful color before they even start. Unless your daily job is mixing paint colors, analyzing color in its liquid state is of no value. Dry and cured color is the only thing that matters because it's all we consumers can control and manage. So, the question about all the various versions of White Dove is how do they look? And the most important thing would be to choose a version and make sure it's used consistently throughout a project....See MoreTrim colour close to BM White Dove to coordinate KC cabs but creamier?
Comments (60)I have a large sample of White Dove here, and a small chip of Old Praire (I have the BM deck). They do look good together. It looks like enough contrast . It does not look like you were trying to match the cab colour, but missed (I think Swiss Coffee might have looked like a miss). Hopefully we will hear back from Lori. I am curious if she still recommends a crisper white like Cotton Balls, expecially after seeing the warmth in the counter and floor. I have found this post educational and am always glad to hear what Lori has to say on colours. Carol...See MoreTake the Yellow out of BM White Dove wall paint?!
Comments (94)WD is not my favorite white, but many do love it. First you need to test some whites with your other finishes - floor/counter and backsplash. You also need to consider the trim color that you are using in the rest of your house. Do you have white trim? What color is the current trim color? Whites often do not play well with other whites. When you have picked the color have to have a sample painted with whatever paint the cabinet painter is using. Their color matches are not always perfect, so better to find out before they paint all your cabinets. Many people who have used White Dove have re-painted with Simply White. It still has some yellow undertones, but never looks dingy. WD can go dingy. Personally, my favorite is a color match that BM stores mix for me. Match of Devine Color™ V0101W Icing. The difference between Simply White and Icing is that Icing leans just a bit more toward the orange yellow then the green yellows. I sometimes detect a touch of green (Chartreuse) in Simply White. Computers do a lousy job depicting whites, but this is an analysis of several of the whites that were discussed in this chain. The LCH designations are L - how light the color is, C - Chroma - how colorful or gray the color is and H- Hue - where the color falls on the color wheel. Yellow range is 72-105 Yellow green is 105-130 As you go down in chroma and the colors get closer to gray we see it as a blue or cool undertone (Chantilly Lace, Decorators White)...See More
lmesfl
5 years agolmesfl
5 years agolmesfl
5 years agoHi I am back. And freaking out a bit today!!
The painters have been here two days and have done the billiard room and kitchen with the Natural Cream walls. I am NOT liking the paint at all!! It is absolutely flat and drab and without any life!
i have 3 hours the paint store is open (on a sat morning-ridiculous). I am trying to decide if I need to get other samples right now! How on earth can I fin something quickly and though when I haven't been able to for months?!
Trying to talk myself down... Both these rooms have very warm wood to try to work with- 1/2 wainscoting in billiard room, and maple cabinets. I knew this would be tough, as the rest of the house has lighter colors than I think will look ok with the color.. Also the trim is Navaho white and it is a yellow white that is clashing with the Natural Cream. I mean gh just be used to a lot of yellow warmth.... Am I full of BS and this IS a problem?!Pic below shows the meeting of the billiard room and the family room that is yet to be painted. Again, cabinets are in Navajo white that I am trying to get away from the yellow...q
Should I change color to something warmer? What is a shade warmer than NC that doesn't look grey and doesn't have too much yellow or any lavender undertones? Or should I leave it? do you think it will work out? Thoughts!?!?
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