BM is a full spectrum paint that gives their colors a leg up. But both brands are good. Builder’s painters get better deals from SW than BM. But there are so many colors available one should be fine with finding good choices in either line. When building a new home, we tend to get overly focused on every single element and forget the big picture. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith.

When purchasing a home in lower price range choices become limited. Paint is well worth upgrading because it is so expensive to do over. To say nothing of the inconvenience.

Jennifer P, Are your cabinets light gray or white? I don’t trust the colors I see on my iPad. I am not sure I’m seeing the same colors you are seeing. If your cabinets are white, do you want your moulding to be an exact match for your cabinets? If so, have you taken a cabinet door into SW and told them to “match it”? (My cabinets will be white and go up to my 9’ ceiling crown molding so I’ll want the molding to match the cabinets. My KD is sending a door to the builder to see if he can come up with a paint match for my trim. If we get that solved, then I’ll still have to figure out a wall color)

Is your floor a raw white oak? I haven’t figured out floor color yet but am going with 7” wide raw white oak installed — I have to still decide whether to just seal with a Bona product or stain. I intend to protect with Bona HD. I definitely don’t want any yellow tint to my walls — I don’t want the floors to pick up any yellow or orange tone.

My builder’s electrician promised to try out a number of different Kelvin color LED bulbs in my recessed lights so I can decide if I can live with a single temperature — like 3500k or 4000k — or need to upgrade to something like the Phillips Hue system so that I can adjust the light color the bulbs throw off to suit my mood (meaning adjust the lights so that I can live with the paint on the walls and floor color as outdoor lighting etc changes). In my beach place, I have the color SW “reliable white” on the walls in a bedroom and adjoining bath. Because the lighting is different in each room, the paint looks entirely different in each place. Even crazier, I have recessed lights and decorative vanity lights in that bathroom —- they each throw off a different color. I played with the lights (only recessed, then only vanity, then combo, changing the Kelvin color and brightness level) driving myself crazy, seeing how the different lighting entirely changes the color of my paint samples and my wood floor samples.

I am losing sleep!

Yep. Lighting is huge. And the reason I try to get folks to paint white coat first in new builds is because you don’t know what your artificial lighting is going to do in your spaces. Once lighting is installed and proper bulbs in place, then final wall colors can go on. To keep costs down, they want painters in and out. As few trips as possible. It’s a struggle. Best of luck to you both. The colors you are using are neutral enough I believe you will be fine in the end.

I’m an ADD kind of gal....and I just need daylight LED bulbs. I’ve learned this about myself...so I already know what I’m I’m dealing with in regards to artificial lighting. I have a cabinet match from SW I’m happy with. Mainly for the custom range hood and custom crown. I wanted the walls/ceilings trim to all be the same different white from my cabinets. And that’s the struggle in picking. I’m on my own out here (w the exception of this thread) bc my home is in the $850k range and my builder uses low end paint....ive for kids and a strict budget in order to afford the things we do and I made a a mistake in the planning process of not asking about paint and it’s allowance- now I’m here....so I’ll be giving up some fun tile and a few other “wants” in order to get the right paint 1st time around. It’s another reason I’m putting so much weight in this decision and overthinking it....I don’t want to waste the money getting a “good” paint for a huge upgrade and hating the color.

I should really stay off “universal blogs”....for paint colors Bc they haven’t helped me very much since everyone sees color diff and every houses needs are diff....but I apparently can’t help myself. Tonight I read over and over about people “mixing bm linen white w bm decorators white” as a best kept secret, yet, no pictures? Who knows about this?

Mtpo, feel free to email me, ive made every mistake in the book I’ll help if I can. Pritchardjenny0@gmail.com

Who knows about this?

This was Mario Buatta's custom white. ''I take a gallon of Benjamin Moore regular white [OC-151] and a gallon of Benjamin Moore Linen White [OC-146] and mix them together,''

And what does it look like!? I’m super curious....

I don't know. Never mixed it up. And, of course, you're not going to be able to discern anything from an online photo. Buatta himself described it as a "Colonial white".

Well sheeeeet. guess I’ll be spending the next hour on google trying to discern what colonial white means. lol.

Since his designs were Chintz, florals and traditional in nature, I suspect an off white with a touch of warm, i.e. yellow! I doubt it is a crisp white.

Mario Buatta · More Info

One of his iconic rooms!!!

Must say, the last person I'd think of when thinking of white would be Buatta. (Vincente Wolf or Darryl Carter,sure....oh, and @Lori A. Sawaya remember this http://mynottinghill.blogspot.com/2012/11/cracking-darryl-carter-bm-paint-code.html) But the "secret"formula white mix I've read many times. Sometimes using those two shades,sometimes others.

@hollybar I do! :)

@ Jennifer P

You have not listened well. You cannot see what a white or any other color paint will look like painting tiny 1" splotches on anything.

You cannot see what your white color will look like in the room with small paint samples that you are looking at on an already colored wall.

All you are doing is comparing on white to the next white and you have no idea what this will look like in your space when all the walls are painted.

This is even more important when dealing with the subtle amount of color in a white paint.

Are you going to have large expanses of the color that is currently on the wall? If not the white you are looking at has to be isolated from this color.

You have a room with northern exposure with huge windows. It is getting a lot of light, but the light is diffused light that is being reflected off the atmosphere vs southern light which is direct sunlight. If you look at the sky you will see a lot of blues grays and whites. Those atmospheric colors are being reflected and sent into your northern exposed room. Northern windows have light that is somewhere between 5500 and 6500 k. It is cooler light which is why Chantilly Lace felt too cool. Chantilly Lace is not a cool white - it appears cool because the light is cool.

The only way to add warmth to the northern exposed room is to add a bit of the yellow you are so terrified to add.

Image below - issues in black, question in white.

If you are sure you want to go ahead with white walls then go buy 2 pieces of 8' x 4' drywall.

Paint 2 coats of Primer on each. Paint 2 coats of White Dove on one and 2 coats of Simply white on the other. Let them Dry over night.

Place the two pieces of drywall on the north wall - stair wall - remove any coatings from the windows so you can see the colors in the true light that you will get in the rooms.

Place your flooring and countertop on the floor in front of the painted drywall and the cabinet door against the painted drywall.

Which one do you like better? Take that piece of drywall and move it to the south wall and set your cabinets countertop and flooring samples with it. Again the samples must be on the same plane (horizontal or vertical) as they will be seen in your space.

Do you still like the color on this wall?

Move to the East and West walls.

If you like Dove White better than Simply White you want to stick to a softer white.

If you like Simply White better than Dove White you want to stick to a cleaner white.

If you like one on one wall and hate it on another you can't have white and will need to choose a color. The shadows and shades of the room are too different for your tolerance capacity.

These are both subtle whites with just a touch of yellow to warm them up. Appropriate for your space.

If you still are not convinced that you can be happy you may want to try a white from C2 that is made from a full spectrum palette and higher quality pigments.

For a similar color to Simply white one of each - 516 Architectural White and 804 Sheer. For a similar color to Dove White buy 612 America's Cup.

If you want to continue testing colors keep your 1 favorite drywall board and re-paint the other drywall board with one color at a time and play until you are exhausted or find a color that you like better. Don't ever do comparisons with more than 2 colors at a time.

If you look at the picture below you will see a nice neutral white color on the bottom row.

As a large sample with nothing else competing with it, it is beautiful.

It is the same exact color that is in each square above.

When you compare two colors the result is not the same as when you look at the color in isolation.

You have to isolate the colors that you will be using from colors that will not be present when you test colors.

BTW - this is a representation of white dove. The one you thought was yellow - it is difficult to make white dove go yellow - it can, there is some yellow in it, but it is a de-saturated gray yellow that will be more likely to look a bit green if paired with purple (yellow's complement).

Great info Jennifer- I’m a visual learner and these very specific explanations using my own space and colors I’ve tested as examples to make a point are priceless. essentially, as I stated earlier- I should have just hired a color consultant from the very beginning. anyone Whose been following this thread at all that’s thinking of painting & building that would be my hands down advice...or it becomes an obsession and a waste of time and money to tinker with the art of color if it’s nowhere in your realm Of expertise. And not just color, but the actual line of paint as well.... I have made it through life quite successfully using “logic”...and I can safely say, that when it comes to messing w paint colors, Street logic does not equal a favorable outcome. Lol. Simply saying “I like this color but it’s too dark, so lighten it” logically sounds right, reality-nope. This whole thing started w the need to color match. I’ve ditched that idea & decides to pay the extra money & go w BM regal like I’m used to. I still have the issue that I’d like something more in between the simply white and the white dove- but I’ve given myself decision fatigue at this point so I suppose I’ll just pick one. I have no C2 retailers in my state. And I’m def hiring a color consultant to do my exterior.

Good plan.

Agreed!

I am not going to try to explain the phenomenon you are experiencing here but if you want more insights and knowledge look up “inconstancy” and “metamerism”.

I have matched before and it shouldn’t be a problem, however a problem may with the person that is doing the matching for you and if they input the numbers correctly. A person at a big box store messed up the name of the color that he put in, and when I returned the paint another employee at the store caught his error and remade the paint for me free of cost. It looks like other people gave some good advice in regards to correct ways to paint swatch in a room.

Get a sample of alabaster and pure white and mix them together and see if it's " It."

Seely, that’s hilarious....bc i actually did that. I won’t lie.....it’s quite fabulous. I did a 10 to 3 ratio w the syringe, as was suggested to me earlier to use A syringe. i was trying to avoid having to mix...but it DID work on a small scale. Problem I’m having, is needing that color in mass quantity for an entire house, 3 floors, trim ceilings, walls the whole shebang. I worry about consistency for future touch ups etc.....I have 3 diff samples of pure white and 2 are basically the same one has a touch of green/grey, so I’ve mixed all my samples together (same sheen) painted them on a huge sheet of drywall, 2 coats of primer first, w 2 coats of the pure white To see. I’ve done the same w snowbound, which I had 2 samples, one was fabulous one was pink. As well as BM oxford white and BM simply white. I’m really trying hard to just pick a BM color, as is. Thanks to this threads advice, I’ve learned the hard way...comparing more than one color at a time is no bueno. In doing this, whIte dove was out immediately. Bc I can’t help myself and I know it’s dumb....I also threw a touch of simply white into my Oxford white and that color was gorgeous as well....but I’m trying to keep my personality in check at this point and simplify. I’ve hyper focused this paint dilemma to it’s death and the more I learn, the easier it’s becoming to Tone down my angst and just roll w one. I’m taking these large drywall testers to the house in the morning and making a decision!

And I’ll just add- that thru this whole experience, while I don’t have anything against SW, the BM paint does seem to have a noticeable diff when dealing with “comparable shades” and tonight when I did my huge drywall tests w primer first, I asked my husband, whose color blind, which he liked....he said “they look the same color but this one just looks better for some reason” pointing to the BM sample. i Agreed....but it’s all in the eye of the beholder, as I’ve also learned here.

When you did your paint tests, did you buy a gallon of each color/finish you plan to use or did you use the paint at comes in the samples?

After all all this angst from afar, I went to see the progress on my house yesterday and some of the interior doors were installed and had been painted with a white primer. But for the difference in sheen, the primed doors match my kitchen cabinet sample. Maybe I should just do nothing and let the builder do his thing!

I should show this post to my husband, which would drive him crazy! He was was so annoyed with me during the whole color choosing process when we painted all of our walls, saying I was overthinking it. Guess I’m not the only one and that’s why I love this site, LOL!

One day their "match" is relatively on & the next day it's very off. You take your chances. I really worry when we're dealing with light neutrals :)

@Jennifer Hogan your suggestion was brilliant. I wish I would have done the big pieces of drywall testers in the very beginning! in doing this, I found that I actually liked a few different shades that I believe I’d be happy with. Not comparing the colors I was considering to multiple other whites next to it or other testers on the wall to distract was a game changer....in addition, seeing it in a larger scale and bringing it into multiple different rooms w my samples also helped me appreciate the color even more, or throw it out until I ended up with 2 I liked. it’s a bit of a rainy day here today- so just to be sure, I’m going to go check them out again tomorrow w better sunlight & make the choice :). Thank you so much for this recommendation.

Mtpo- if I could do it all over again, I would have started With a few tester pots of my top choices (if you can pick sheen, Like at HD pick sheen you plan to use, if not, then whatever it comes in). put them On a tester board or peel & stick to see if I liked the real color.,,.then the ones I liked, put on the sheets of drywall as Jennifer Hogan suggested, pick the fave after seeing at the house with samples, then as a final check mark- get a gallon of the color in the actual paint line and sheen planned to use to ensure I still loved it. (Or if torn bt 2 colors, a gallon of each). That’s just me tho.....if I was starting over that’s what I would have done after all I’ve learned....I think I would have found a color in the very beginning doing it that way instead of getting lost in the comparison of whites against whites game.

Jennifer, Thanks. That’s really helpful. I purchased a bunch of the tester boards and will try out some of the SW and BM colors. I am so thankful I went with the builder’s suggestion for the exterior of the house. The siding, stone, and most of the trim is done, and it turned out nicely. I got to the point that I just couldn’t make one more decision. My brain went into lock down mode. 😁

If you decide to go with BM Simply White, I wanted to warn you now against color matching it at SW. I'm experiencing the nightmare of it myself currently. The SW match has a very obvious green tint. Thankfully, our painter was able to make our local SW store see the difference and they are going to try to color match it again but without using the computer ran code for BM Simply White. SOOO hoping they can get it closer but we shall see. For pricing reasons, our painter used Kelly Moore for the trim (also in BM Simply White but different sheen) but then was buying the wall paints from Sherwin Williams. The contrast between the Kelly Moore coloring and the SW was CRAZY! I'll try to come back and add a photo so that you can see the difference. I walked in and immediately saw it and told the painters to stop immediately. Thank goodness they had not painted the entire house yet!

Photo with trim already painted Simply White, and the wall painted in the SW match for the Simply White. Crazy

And, two more showing how green the tint is. It really is such an awful match by Sherwin...makes me wonder how anyone could approve it as a match!

Saying again....there is NO PAINT COMPANY that can accurately (accurately!) match another paint company's color. Does not happen.

I agree w southernbelle- that is one definite thing I learned here and thru this process. Especially If you are color sensitive and looking for something very specific...if you find a color you love, needs to be from that brands paint. I tried a ton of diff ideas for matching in the beginning and it just wasted time and money. If you have to do it, and there’s no way around it, my experience was that you will get a closer match having a piece of drywall with the real color to be scanned, then the computer formulations. Handover a piece of drywall and a little unmarked container w some of the ”real” paint to your painter guy and tell that’s the color you want and see what he can come up w. I’ve read whole threads about simply white specifically tho- where whatever the person tried wasn’t working and she ended up having to use the BM paint. Best of luck!! Paint matching is no fun that’s for sure.

Junk - do you have LowE windows? they could be giving "green" effect. It's all about light.

If it were indeed the LowE windows, then wouldn't the BM Simply White look green too? In the photo the SW "match" looks green, but the BM SW doesn't.

@Flo Mangan I will check on that, but wouldn't that also affect the trim & ceiling paint? (all of which are simply white...the trim was from Kelly Moore and matches the sample from BM Simply White near exact (SO wish the painter would have just bought alllll of the paint from them at this point but SW is trying to correct it currently to match better), ceiling was done by SW at a different time but I think ceilings always look different when facing down, but even it doesn't show green, & it also doesn't match the BM eggshell sample for the walls when beside each other.).

Each “plane” looks different because of the way light hits it. The trim is probably a different sheen level? So, no matter what, working with so called “whites” is all about bases and Chroma and light conditions etc. I never recommend “matching” be a it is technically impossible. Better to pick color you want from the get go. Unless your window glass is crystal clear (most not) you will get some of that green sheen.

I went ahead and checked it in a room with no window and it was still green so I've ruled out the windows. Thanks for suggesting it though! Being that the colors are all supposed to be the same, this is driving me crazy. It was the one reason I chose 1 color for all ceilings, walls, & trim. I didn't want to worry about things not matching or clashing. Never thought I'd run into things not being as I picked in the first place. Argh! Anyways, I'll stop there. I don't want to take over someone else's post! Good luck to the original poster on your selection!

Yes,

Flo Mangan and not only that but let's take a paint color within Benjamin Moore. Fro example, "Wenge" from their 'Affinity' collection. I can buy a can of Wenge in flat, and a can of Wenge in semi gloss and the color is actually different. I had this happen to me on this particular paint color. The flat is a stunning dark brown with a true red tint. In flat. Go with semi gloss and the color actually has gray in it. (SOOOOO frustrating for those of us who are wanting a genuine "particular" color! )

Even 2 gallons of paint mixed by the same store with the same base at the same time can be different enough that it is noticeable. Good professional painters mix all their gallons together in a 5 gallon bucket to ensure color consistency.

Large Paint Projects & Boxing Paint Tips - CT Painter

www.franklinpainting.com › blog › boxing-paint-for-la...

In the painting industry, “boxing” is a fancy name for mixing, or combining same-color paints to achieve a uniform finished color. Here's how and why to do it.

What is Boxing Paint? « The Idaho Painter

theidahopainter.com › what-is-boxing-paint

Sep 3, 2019 - It's best to estimate the amount of paint you'll need and mix it in a 5-gallon bucket (a process called “boxing”). Tagged: boise Idaho painting, ...

Boxing Your Paint - Swatch Me Paint

www.swatchmepaint.com › boxing-your-paint

Jan 26, 2019 - It a good general practice to box, or mix all of these individual cans together prior to painting. A five gallon bucket with a lid works beautifully for ...

Boxing Paint Gallons - Painters in Northern VA - Home ...

www.patrickspainting.com › boxing-paint-gallons

Jan 24, 2019 - Boxing Paint Gallons is the process of pouring multiple paint gallons together into one container before you start painting.

@ Junk*Salvation

Simply White is a pretty clean white with a bit of yellow, but yellow goes green when gray or black is added. This can be from gray or black pigment being added or shadows adding grayed light.

@Jennifer Hogan We have compared SW's sample for Simply White with the sample we got from Home Depot for the Simply White (that we also have painted on the wall), as well as the trim that is from Kelly Moore (a local store) in Simply White. It "simply" doesn't match (pun intended). Honestly, the difference is so substantial that I can't fathom how they could consider it a match. The cheaper stuff from Home Depot is actually a much closer match than SW even got close to. Kelly Moore is the best match. SW tried today to match it closer and still failed. So, we are going to go back to Kelly Moore and pay a bit extra to get another sample in the eggshell (trim is semi-gloss) and compare it. Near certain it will be the homerun since they got it right on the trim, zero hint of green and all the trim has been painted throughout the house. I do appreciate it though & completely understand. I can even understand certain times of the day seeing more color but there is such a difference that my husband, who rarely notices colors, immediately asked why the walls were green and the trim was not. He thought I had bought 2 different colors of paint completely! It has been quite the saga. Long story short, the best thing to do when dealing with whites is to pick a color of white from the company you are using so that you know you'll be getting exactly what you pick, and not what they 'promise' they can match!

Due to the length of our remodel/rehab project, (LONG story), the paint brand we were using (Muralo) was bought by California Paint company. Even though CP swears they did not change the "formula", our trim color does not match. Not only that, but the same color is noticeably different in every sheen of California from each other!

The paint store (Benjamin Moore) eventually got it "close enough", but it is exasperating and expensive!

Hi all- I’m the OP of this thread and we finally moved into our house....I wanted to update you all that after all my drama w paint color, It held true that “paint matching” colors bt brands was a bad idea- I tried it all. I ended up getting so fed up I just went with “pure white” by SW and it ended up looking beautiful in every room with multiple different light sources and exposures. I did it in the entire house, on The trim, the walls and the ceiling- ALL ONE COLOR. it worked for me :) as I now begin to furnish- it’s been a great neutral backdrop and I don’t feel I iced out.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jekub/sets/72157715845051776/

Nice album.

See how easy it was to pick a white! ;-)

The house looks great. Can you share the brand/color of your kitchen/family room floors and your kitchen counters?

The floors are Canadian urban oak by Karndean and the counter is Neolith sintered stone- (porcelain) calacatta

@Jennifer P - so glad you stopped and made a decision and are happy with the decision you made. Sometimes the hardest part is getting off the merry go round.