I always use an extender with Aura. It gives you more time before drying. If you're painting a bathroom, research "surfactant leaching." This happens when the paint in a bathroom isn't fully cured, and you use the shower. Google photos of surfactant leaching. Most paint stores will say latex cures in a few days, but I had this problem in two homes and did extensive research. You get ugly drips down the walls, and they are yellow or brown. You can wash it off, but it comes back. Now, when I paint a bathroom, I wait 30 days before using the shower. That may be overkill, and if you only have one shower, that would not be possible.

I'm headed to Benjamin Moore to try for a color match using their matching equipment. I have never loved a color matched paint before... but there seems to be no choice in the matter. I am told the rules are that you MUST match the trim to the cabinets... and I dare not accidentally introduce some new/different undertones OR ELSE! I anticipated choosing white wall and trim paint would be easy - HA! Nope. Apparently, there are six thousand white paint colors. And the rules of engagement are TIGHT. I'm sitting here with a sample piece of cabinet and four color decks from BM and SW. None of the whites look like a match. And, sorry to say, the Pure White by SW mentioned above? It looks especially mismatched to Kraftmaid Dove White. I wish Kraftmaid would either let their color formula out or provide healthier paint options. My Kraftmaid cabinet doors all came smelling like fresh spraypaint and needed to be remediated with a hydroxyl generator before they stopped making my VOC meter sing! KM certainly needs to step up their supposed "twice oven cured" process. Anyhow, it was terrible, and I want nothing to do with bringing a fresh Kraftmaid gallon of nightmares in to our home. I want matching trim, not the VOC levels of a meth lab.

I just painted my bedroom and master bath SW Alabaster with SW High Reflective White trim and doors. I LOVE the look, both colors work beautifully together. Depending on the time of day (morning sun) it looks white without being too stark white, as the day progresses it warms up turning into a vanilla cream in the evenings. My bedroom is west facing with more windows and a small south window. My master bath is west facing. The High Reflective White stays pretty true to color at all times. Unfortunately they were not able to do the cabinets in HRW as the paint I used on the cabinets could not be mixed in that color. HRW is a color that is funny at Sherwin Williams and kinda' tricky and definitely takes more coats to cover. I used Emerald paint in Alabaster on ceilings, walls, and cabinets in different finishes and Super Paint in Semi Gloss in HRW for trim and doors. I was nervous about using Alabaster on the cabinets in the bathroom but it worked perfectly. I will say, for those that are using a white on walls that is not as warm as Alabaster/White Dove, or more cooler grays (think grays that aren't greige) the Alabaster or White Dove warm soft whites are going to go yellow/cream. I would recommend going with Pure White for cabinets and trim. It is still a soft white without the creaminess of Alabaster. High Reflective White is also a good white it's not as soft as Pure White but still not so white that it looks cheap, but again HRW is hard to cover and cannot be mixed in many sheens and paints. I decided not to go with Pure White with my Alabaster walls because my husband wanted more of a contrast with the doors and trim, I wanted to use Alabaster on everything, but made a compromise with my husband, and went with HRW. I am not at all disappointed with the look. I know I spent countless hours agonizing over the choices and hopefully this will help others that are in the same position.

If the natural light in the room is north or east, White Dove always looks dingy and dirty. Cutting it 50% will make it look like skim milk…not good. If the light is the culprit do Simply White on trim (I find it rather important to keep all white trim the same). and Simply White on the walls.