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Design Dilemma Paint

BM Simply White vs Chantilly Lace

4 years ago

I am trying to choose a white paint for my townhouse. I got samples of Benjamin Moores Simply White (warm white) and Chantilly Lace (crisp, neutral maybe slightly cool toned white). My eye is drawn to Chantilly Lace, but would a warmer white work better with my warm, maple cabinets? My floors are walnut, fairly neutral. The first picture shows SW (bottom) and CL (top) next to the cabinets-the difference is small, but SW is more similar to the backsplash tile and CL is more similar to the tile edging.

The townhouse faces NE and SE, good natural light all day and really lovely late afternoon sunlight (That makes SW look warmer than it is). Including some more pictures of the the paint in different lights and background color (SW on the right, CL on the left in all the pictures). Also, I do have a lot of white ‘stuff’- planters, shelving, vases, chairs- will the bright white make them look dirty?

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Comments (4)

Kirsten E.
4 years ago
Following because I’m debating the same two choices! Were the areas properly primed before application? I’ve read how important that is for a true color read. Have you visited them throughout the day/are the lights set to their final temp? That also comes into play! A picture from further back might be helpful, but with the warm wood cabinets, I’d lean Simply White.
PRO
JAN MOYER
4 years ago
The only way to really tell is to roll the entire room. This is an on site decision. Your light, your kitchen your everything. And you'll never tell a thing from swatches rolled on the wall. Pick one, and roll it on. It's pant. i
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I'd leave it alone and live with the creamy because at least it would be consistent. And once you get everything in place and decorated, you probably wouldn't feel the creamy as much as you are now. But to answer your question, they work because there's enough difference in Chroma. And by work I mean one should not make the other look dirty or dingy. However, yours cabinets will likely appear white and your doors and trim will be creamy/off-white And that's fine as long as you repeat the palette of creamy + white throughout the space around the cabinets. That's kind of your theme going forward for the kitchen creamy + white. Again, I think you're better off living with the decision you made but only you can make that decsion and you can make it work.
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I wouldn't put those two colors together either. Since you already have Chantilly Lace kitchen cabinets you should go with that color. For me that would be way too much white, so if that is what's making you hesitate and gravitate toward a warmer white for the walls, look at other off whites for the wall color such as Silver Satin, White Wisp or Paper White. Warm colors don't really go with Chantilly Lace. If you use all Chantilly Lace, the different sheens will cause the color to look slightly different on the walls as compared to the trim so maybe that will be enough difference for you. Sample before paying someone else to paint so you're sure and you don't waste your money. Or if you do it yourself you will be wasting your own time. Your bedrooms and bathrooms are opportunities to use other colors if you don't want all white. It is usually best to carry the same trim color throughout a house, but I have cheated on that if there is a doorway (with a door that closes, not just an opening) between rooms. In that case the average person won't notice if the trim colors are different.
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Diana Bier Interiors, LLC
4 years ago
Both colors are very popular whites but are slightly different.

However, the way you have the samples on the wall is not a good way to choose a color. Painting one color over another distorts the color in 2 ways--the first is that the darker color is bleeding through the white and changing it.

The second is that the darker color next to the whites is causing the whites to appear different due to something called "simultaneous contrast."

"Simultaneous contrast
refers to the way in which two different colors affect each other. The
theory is that one color can change how we perceive the tone and hue of
another when the two are placed side by side."

Another factor to consider is that all of the "whites" are lightened versions of an actual color. Simply White is in the yellow family, while Chantilly Lace belongs to the green-yellow family. I've learned from Lori Sawaya, color guru, that we perceive whites in the green-yellow family as more "white" than any other hue. Also, you are correct in saying that Chantilly Lace is a more neutral white, since it has less color, or chroma, in it, being .27, while Simply White is .50. So combined with being in the green-yellow family, and having less of that color, Chantilly Lace will appear more white than Simply White.

Personally I'd select Simply White, since I prefer softer whites, especially with your maple cabinets and walnut floors.

BUT having said all this, the best way to select the color is to paint each one on large poster boards and view them at different times of day in different lighting conditions (natural, artificial, day, evening, etc.) I'd also prime the walls so you eliminate the effect that the existing wall color is having on your decision.

Hope that helps--good luck!
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
4 years ago

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