Paint my chicken coop!!!!!

– Abe Simpson

As the loft progressed, we decided to try soft white walls in the bedroom and reading room. I want to bask in all the fresh light.

But white paint is tricksy. What if it comes out too yellow? What if it’s too sterile? What if thinking about minor differences in paint colors is a control mechanism engineered by our insect overlords to distract us from impending doom? What if it looks dingy?!

I spent some quality time with Google, and found a gajillion opinions on white paint. Some articles list considerations for picking the right one:

• Finding Just the Right White (a painting contractor provides good advice for different types of light and rooms)

• Five Tips for Choosing the Perfect White Paint (from House Beautiful; covers issues to keep in mind)

• White’s Dirty Little Tricks (from the National Post, with lots of helpful snippets)

And various interior decor blogs provide some good, brand-specific recommendations for different situations:

• The Best White Paint Colors (from Kelly & Olive: “moonlight white OC-125 [Benjamin Moore] – a great white for more traditional homes where you may want the clean fresh feel of white walls [with] natural green undertones.”)

• 20 Great Shades of White (and Some to Avoid) (from Laurel Bern Interiors, emphasizing Benjamin Moore’s White Dove, Cloud White, and Simply White, and Farrow & Ball’s Pointing)

• Picking a White Paint Color: Eight Proven Winners (from Driven By Decor; another vote for White Dove, as well as Sherwin Williams’ Shoji White and Alabaster)

• Ten Tried and True Decorating Rules (in Southern Living; Editor-in-Chief Lindsay Bierman: “When you just want a room to be “warm white,” meaning not too yellow or too peachy or too anything else, then go with Benjamin Moore Ivory White (925). . . . I’ve already done enough agonizing for everyone.”)

• My Favorite White Paints (from The Hunted Interior; mainly warm-white faves including Moore’s White Dove, F&B Pointing, and SW’s Dover White and Alabaster)

The research helped–soon, I was down to either Benjamin Moore’s Moonlight White…

or Sherwin Williams’ Alabaster.

I also grabbed SW Dover White because everyone swears it’s delightful.

You can’t tell much from blobs on a monitor. Typically, I would buy several samples and paint them on boards or walls to compare (Kev calls this “when you paint stuff the same color and ask me to choose”). This time, though, I picked up (with paint shop permission) several chips of each white and taped them together into approximately s 7″ x 9″ sheet. This method is not the same as a fresh sample, but it’s close enough, especially since designers love these colors for being bullet-proof.

Kev held his tongue, but I agree that the samples looked pretty dang close, regardless of location or light. The camera did not capture the samples well, but here’s the Dover White:

It’s just a little too yellow. With all the shadows and skylight angles, it has dinginess potential in our space.

To choose between the others, I went to EasyRGB.com. They have a “similar colors” page that allows you to pull up any shade and compare it against other brands the site covers.

The site shows the closest comparables on a grid. I started with Moonlight White, and…

…it’s not just me — they really are very similar. I flipped a coin and picked Alabaster, which I bought in SW’s “Cashmere” paint. Cashmere self-levels for a nice finish (they say). Four gallons of that, and one gallon of the regular Super Paint in semi-gloss for the trim.

Too fancypants for us, but that’s Alabaster on the walls. (via)

Now we just need to find time to paint (and to report back)!

If you are shopping Sherwin Williams, remember that they are always offering a coupon or having a sale. They had a 35% anniversary sale when I bought most of the paint; when I went back for more, they were having a 30% event. Don’t pay full price!