Mary, how paint will read is determined by many factors, including what direction a room faces, the furniture in the room, the light factors in both the room and outside , how each person sees color, and of course, the paint itself. I normally do not recommend toning paint (adding white) to achieve a lighter look. The reason is that it is that, as Lori points out, it is a guess as to whether or not it will work and I can predict better from a paint chip. However, sometimes clients want to try it. Ironically, I just had a client paint a room SW Requisite Gray. She is one of a only a few of my clients willing to paint her ceiling. She wanted to try Requisite Gray at half. It turned out perfectly. Does that mean it would work in your space? You cannot be sure. I always recommend painting on a piece of lightweight drywall instead of on the wall or ceiling itself. That way, you have the opportunity to move the piece of drywall around the room at different times of day to see if it will work for you. Much success to you in your project!

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)

Interesting suggestions, all! I have the Samplize of Simply White and many times i have seen people say they see "yellow" so I'm a bit leery of that. Mountain Peak White - yes, need to check that out. And White Opulence isn't one I would have looked at but now I'm thinking maybe? But I see bit of pink - and I have seen a wee bit of pink in Pale Oak at times - would White Opulence bring it out even more (which I don't want). What color white would have the opposite effect (keeping it the greige that I see in "normal" light)? That is one thing that is keeping me away from the White Dove, I read somewhere that the grayish tone was bringing out the pink in Pale oak. And thank you to Beth H for that pic on lighting. I have to check into what we have selected and whether I need to adjust that.

You can find Chroma values for many of the more popular colors and brands in The Colorography Lab. We're adding new colors daily. Flo has special Color Strategist training and knows how to convert color data values into a hue, value, chroma color notation. At this point in time, a Color Strategist or The Colorography Lab are the only two resources to get accurate chroma values for major brand's pant colors. Dunn-Edwards is the only paint brand that publishes accurate hue, value, chroma notations for their colors in their fandeck. Unfortunately, Easyrgb doesn't directly display Chroma values. Neither does any of the hand-held colorimeter (Color Muse, NIX, ColorReader) apps. It's a very powerful color data value. As powerful, maybe more powerful, than LRV. I'm working on influencing changes in the architectural coatings industry to include the most useful color data value information. It's an industry that overall is allergic to change.