Talk to me about white

[GrubbyWindows]

I've just had the go ahead for my builder to get stuck into my new place, largely decorating. The deal is he paints it all white. Will it be ok??? Should I be choosing a designer white?? And if so.. which?
The only white in my current home is the small north facing bathroom which is in Wimborne white, and all the woodwork here is pointing.
The new place is fairly bright, and faces south east on one side and northwest on the other.
Argh! I'm suddenly having a panic it will be stark and gloomy!

[Bluntness100]

What kind of house is it? As in modern or fifties or listed etc?

I agree all white tends to be very stark, but it depends on the house and then the soft furnishings that go with it.

[GrubbyWindows]

V early fifties/late forties, v solidly built, wood floors and v misc quite colourful furnishings once we are in.
Thank you!

[Bluntness100]

Hmm, the mismatched colourful fittings might make White a good idea. For me White throughout is quite stark and rather bland it's hard to warm up.

I'd go for softer colours, so I have an old house, my hallways is a very pale grey. My living room is a sort of cream that verges on pale caramel , the other living room is pale eau de nil (like a green duck egg blue) my bedroom is duck egg blue, my kitchen is cream, the other bedrooms are white. So all the colours basically are very pale but definite colours. The furniture isn't colourful though.

Maybe post a pic of some of the rooms, or maybe your sofa and it would be easier to judge?

[GrubbyWindows]

In our current place we have a lot of colour- soft grey in the hall, beigey mushroom in the living room, gentle purple/grey in the bedroom- and deep brick red in the other bedroom, and lime green in the kitchen! It looks great, and I love it, but in this case I haven't time to choose the right colour for each room, so we are starting with white everywhere, and will hopefully add colour in time. Realistically with two very small children it will take a while though.

The dilemma is whether to let the builder just slop on his trade white, or choose a fancy white from somewhere instead. Urg.

[milkmoustache]

Silk emulsion gives a nice texture, but you should try and avoid a pure white which can be very clinical. A touch of grey in white can make all the difference.

[Allthebestnamesareused]

Dulux Timeless is pretty much the same as F&B Wimborne White - we have used both. I like that is is a soft white but not creamy or ivory.

[Allthebestnamesareused]

He wants to use white because then he doesn't need to cut in round the ceiling/top of the wall etc and because he can buy trade white dirt cheap.

Ask if he'd use a different colour if you paid the difference

[BusterGonad]

I don't understand, if it has to be white than surely it's a cheap big pot of white, otherwise choosing your own expensive white defeats the object doesn't it? If it's because of the cutting in ask him to do the donkey work and keep the paint and you can cut in yourself!

[Headinthedrawer]

We had our whole house painted white by the builders as they built it.Used a dulux bog standard one as the point was to cut costs and give us time to make decisions regarding colour later.As it is we love it...kind of a scandi look.Wooden floors, (fake) berber rugs,pops of colour.Might change it one day but for now I'm please we didn't spend loads

[Twinkie1]

There's a white called Milky Pail, it's by Dilux and our architect told us about it. He has an all White House and went through about a million whites to get this perfect one.

[drspouse]

We are thinking Antique White for our Victorian house which is being replastered through most of the downstairs but we haven't really had time to choose anything.

[bimbobaggins]

My whole house is painted white. I love it , it's lovely clean and fresh and you won't get fed up with colours or paper that can date.