Here are some photos of the actual house. We are planning to do coffered ceiling in the grandroom - though I am now a bit afraid it might look too busy. we are also doing wainscoting in entry foyer and in the dining area. Grandroom has two south facing window and one west facing sliding patio door. We have a lot of trees all around and get a lot of shade from the trees in the summer.

I couldn't attach more images but here are the color schemes I am thinking of.

Benjamin Moore:

Sherwin Williams:

Thank you so much for your help!!!

Do you kitchen cabinets have trim/molding at the top that flows into trim in the other rooms (vs stopping at a casement opening or something)? If so, I'd be inclined to continue the Pure White color for the trim. I think the Heron Plume and Classic Gray are very similar so either is fine. I like the slight contrast in colors with either Heron Plume or Classic Gray. FWIW, I have BM Gray Owl with Chantilly Lace for all my molding/doors, etc and it's a subtle but noticeable contrast (east facing room)

Thank you so much to both of you above. So do you think I should just not use white for open floor paint color? I had light pewter on my wall my old house and loved it. Thanks for the suggestion!

I think the whites you've picked won't work. they're too cool.

if you want a white wall, it's fine. I did it, so I must like it!

Does it all have to painted right now? before your kitchen is done? It's always best to try out a few samples.

I'd stick with the SW Pure White for trim, which matches your cabinet color. If you like BM Classic Gray, choose it as your main house neutral.

We painted our main floor BM Classic Gray and the trim is Chantilly Lace !! :) I don't think you can go wrong with Classic Gray.

@petra do you find that chantilly lace contrast is a bit stark? I know a lot of designers do simply white as the trim color for classic gray but chantilly lace works better for the bedrooms in our case so we want to keep it cohesive...

@hawami Yes, it is a little bit stark but not bad.

You are having your entire interior painted and there is absolutely no way anyone here can give you an accurate read on how any color will look in your house! As helpful as I’m sure everyone is trying to be, the only way to be certain is to hire a local color consultant. Why take a chance when there are so many variables. You have a lovely home; spend the extra few$$ to get this right!

@lynartist thank you! Actually, I did hire local designer who likes more stark whites for the home (Decorators White). My other designer whom I have worked in the past also recommended bright whites (Gallery White by Behr, Decorators White). However, Maria Killam and her team strongly discourages this option. Hence, I am super confused!!!

I’m suggesting you hire a local color consultant ( specialist)! Not an ID.

Both of the designer choices are .. well, safe and typical. MK may be fine but they aren’t standing in your living room! If for no other reason , get that second opinion just to make sure before you spend any money on a costly mistake!

I am not familiar with Heron Plume but it seems to have a pinkish undertone. It doesn't mean its a bad thing in your case, it matches the stone/tile/ counter in your picture. In my experience Classic Gray is very unassuming and safe. It is not a trendy gray and I would stay away from anything that has more gray in it than CG. Classic Grey looks better in my east facing room vs west facing room but I have no regrets and I would do it again :). Whites are ok too if that's the look you're going for. Some might look cool and blue-ish , some will look yellow in your west facing room ( e.a BM Simply White).

I am trying a few more whites today, incl Greek Villa, Extra White, Snowbound and Pearly White! Paints are so difficult!!!

We did BM intense white in most rooms, paper white in kids bedrooms, gray tint for master, and decorators white for all trim. Gray huskie in laundry. Everything looks ahhhhmaaaaazing. This was all under the direction of our designer. We get east west light. Nothing screams “gray” except huskie.

This sounds amazing!!!! Again, my cabinet color which is Pure White is going to clash though. But what you described sounds awesome. Do you have photos?

Some of these are random but I wanted to try to give you an idea of the grays in each room. Our cabs are not stark white though. They are a bit more very light greige. And center island is a deep charcoal gray with hints of blue. I can try to find a pic of intense white in the living areas too. But the pic of the stairs has intense white. Trim is decorators. Master bath is gray tint.

Please try a large board sample of Heron Plume before you use it. It can go very pinky/ Mauve.

@NYCish nice!!! I like this! My kitchen cabinet is SW Pure White and countertop is Cambria Swansbridge.

I really like this combination! Thanks for the pictures and suggestion!!!

This is a good pic of intense white with some natural light

@lindacottonwood yes!!! I did three large boards of Heron Plume and they all have pinkish undertone. I am not sure why Maria Killam’s team like this color enough to recommend...

@NYCish what color did you paint interior doors? In DC also? Thanks again!

@hawami of course. Hope it is helpful. And I must say, even with winter light East and western, none of these colors go blue or pink or purple or green. The name “intense white” is quite the misnomer.
We just painted the basement intense white also. I also really like paper white in the kids rooms also. Gray huskie I like a lot, however it does go a bit blue/purple depending on the color temp of the bulbs as we have it in rooms with little natural light.

@ Yes. Your color scheme is very similar to ours. We have light white oak floors and dark island cabs with pure white perimeter cabs.

I was really hoping to pull off a “white” look but given the lighting situation, I think this might be a great solution!!!

@hawami yes decorators white for almost every door but we did a split finish for some. Power room (pearl river) and kids bath (paper white)

@hawami I can still pull a white or scandi look if I want to, but I really appreciate that the walls and rooms have some dimension. It’s not stark white. I thought I wanted “white white” and now I’m glad it’s not. It’s such a subtle color most people wouldn’t notice because it compliments everything so nicely. It’s a nice contrast to decorators for sure.

So we did some sample painting today!

Ignore the unpainted trim on the far left. There are three boards.

Left to right:

Decorators White

Pure White (SW)

Gallery White (originally Behr but BM version)

On the board, you can definitely see the bluish undertone of DW and gray undertone for GW. PW is pretty neutral.

After the wonderful recommendation from @NYCish, I tried Intense White. I also included our contender from previous paint session, Classic Gray.

Left is Classic Gray. Right is Intense White.

We took this photo right around 2pm and the lighting was probably at its best. During the summer, we get more shade due to all the trees surrounding our lot.

So our choices are:

1) DW wall + PW trims (kitchen cabinet is PW)

2) GW wall + PW trim

3) PW wall (eggshell) + PW trim (semi gloss)

4) CG wall + PW trim

5) IW wall + DW or PW trim

What do you think is the best option? We don’t want to paint again for a long time so we want to make sure we nail the colors!

Thank you!!!

We have Pure White cabinets and trim and I love it. It's white without being stark. I had looked at Classic Gray for walls but decided it would be too light (we have a lot of light coming in), so we went with Agreeable Gray walls.

hawami, if you see this - what did you decide? And are you happy with your choices? I'm going through a similar decision process.

Bondia, looking at all these the same colors also. What did you decide??

GrandmaBee A, we used Sherwin-Williams Pure White on our kitchen cabinets and all our trim which I am very happy with. It is just barely off-white though it reads as white unless you have it next to something much starker white, and has no yellow undertones, which is what I wanted. I also ended up using Sherwin-Williams Heron Plume on our walls. it is a real chameleon color, sometimes a perfect pale warm gray, sometimes more beige, which I actually like. But though I am generally happy with it (it’s a beautiful background color and has nice contrast with the Pure White trim), I would not necessarily recommend it because of the very occasional pink tone I see in some rooms, in some lights, as others mentioned. However for someone not bothered by that flash of almost pink, it is an excellent color. I realized that every greige was going to have some kind of undertone and this is the one that bothered me the least. I hope this isn’t too much information! Good luck with your decision making process.

Bondia, thank you for that help! Definitely going with pure white on my cabinets. What color are your doors?

GrandmaBee A, our doors are also Pure White.

Bondia, Thank you!

@GrandmaBee A what did you end up going with? I have pure white trim and cabinets and looking for similar wall colors in this thread.

@bondia in which light does the heron plume flash pink?

Hi @zory we went with panda white. It works well with our flooring and warm gold kitchen fixtures. Just enough color. Love it!

Zory, good question, when I noticed it in the past I didn’t really pay attention to what the light was, I’ll try to look for that and get back to you. After living with the paint color for about a year, I really don’t see that anymore so maybe it was just something I saw during the adjustment period.

Zory, I only see the pink tone in low light, but I don't see it in all low light. Artificial light more than natural, though again, not all low artificial light. And it is very, very subtle. I wouldn't see it if I weren't looking for it. Here are a couple of good reviews of Heron Plume:

https://www.kylieminteriors.ca/quick-paint-colour-review-sherwin-williams-heron-plume-sw-6070/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOQG7kG80Pk

@bondia do you have a pic of your heron plume with pure white trim? is there a lot of contrast?

Zory, there is definite contrast, enough that you know the walls are not painted the same color as the trim. But it’s not super high contrast. I am going to attach a few photos. They are not ideal but I am out of town and these are the best that I have on my camera currently. I could take some better ones for you if I were at home. My kitchen cabinets are painted the same color as my trim and my ceiling is painted Heron Plume like my walls. If you focus on areas where you can see the white trim or cabinets next to the painted wall or ceiling, hopefully you will get an idea of what it looks like.

Thanks!

Old thread, but will add my experience.

For our basement, we used SW Heron Plume for walls, and SW Pure White for ceiling & trim. Our house had light neutral floor tile that we were keeping. So I used the tile undertones to narrow down the whites and near-whites. FYI, in the BM colorway, the White Dove and Pale Oak strip was the winner, or very similar to SW Heron Plume and City Loft. Yes, lighting in your house makes a difference, but it is also important to find a compliment to given room elements.

@NYCish Please - what color white are your kitchen cabinets?