To paint the house just normal white?

[ShinyMatt]

Just moved. The house needs a total repaint.

I am not originally from the UK, and where I'm from walls are usually just white. Pure brilliant white. I like that look - white walls with colour for accent only - but I am from a hot, sunny place in a lower latitude, and I know colour can look different in different places.

I admit, friends and the internet have gotten into my head, with all their talk of pure white being too harsh, their talk of Timeless and Jasmine White and Egyptian Cotton and dozens of others.

Should I buy 10 shades of not-quite-white and try them out? I'm not sure I feel qualified to make a decision based on a swatch on the wall! I am not a great decorator.

The house is bright (when there's sun!) with one or two darkish rooms. It's an east-west orientation. It is currently painted white - it's chipped and dirty but it looks like plain white to me.

So... AIBU to ignore all decorating advice and buy a big tub of trade white and go for it?

Anyone out there with better taste than me and more experience, feel free to set me right.

I think bright white works a lot better in grey and grim Britain than it does in hot countries, where it can be quickly too bright.

Do whatever you want in your own home.

I would get a couple of taster and try them first, you often have weird surprised between the name and colour on the pot and the colour you end up with.

I went "Greek Island" in the spare bedroom which faces the same way as the living rooms downstairs. Just an experiment, brilliant white walls and a lovely cobalt/turquoise blue for woodwork and bookshelves and so on. It is like going to Mykonos lol!

I'm a bit scared of replicating it downstairs, but might just give it a try. Can always change the blue.

I love white but it's the "pure brilliant " that's the problem-it has a tint of blue in it. If you can get a white without that tint, go for it. I know Farrow and Ball have All White, but it would be expensive for a whole house.

In my first house I painted everything white and it looked great.
It was a complete project that was hideous when we started so every room needed painting (kitchen was diarrhoea coloured 🤢 when we got there)
The house had colour in it, it just came from curtains, artwork, soft furnishings, plants etc
For me it wasn't just the look but the economy of buying big pots of brilliant white for everything.
My currant house has brilliant white walls in my studio, kitchen, bathrooms and kids rooms but they all look completely different due to the stylings of the rooms and we've got different colours in other rooms, they all work too.
Go with what you want don't worry about others.
It's true that brilliant white can look greyer in U.K. light compared with say the Med but it can still look great.

trade white all over and colour accents as you wish. it looks absolutely brilliant if that's your vibe (it's mine!)

An alternative is to buy the trade which but throw a cup of light brown or yellow or whatever in it, exactly the same amount in each tin.

I’d say go for pure white if you like it. Another advantage is you can easily do the ceilings at the same time, no need for cutting in while perched up a ladder. If it all needs a refresh then doing the ceilings too is a good idea.

But don’t skimp on the paint- use a trade tub of white, not the cheap as chips stuff. It’ll have much more pigment and covering power and probably a better consistency too.

Go brilliant white. Add colour with art and textiles. You won't have the hassle of looking for same paint if you need to retouch it. I think white looks great.

I like it. Our entire house is just plain white. The exception is the snug which used to be my bloke’s study. He’d always wanted a red study, we did it when we moved in and have never changed it because it really suits the room. Otherwise it’s white all the way.

PBW on walls looks grubbier more quickly I find.

I adore Jasmine White, it’s so beautiful on and looks very clean and not grey or cold.

Are you painting it yourself?

if so, be warned, pure white paint is crap for coverage across anything but a mist coat on fresh plaster- and even then it will take multiple coats

When I moved to my house it was pure white with some feature walls . But had seen better days and was dirty in many places. So I had to repaint . “For ease” I thought, just put another pure white coat over that and over the various pale features walls, maybe they’ll need another coat too.
well how wrong I was 🤣🤣🤣😭😭
I bought decent old school paint, one that had good reviews on trade sites. And at times I wept. Literally. Hours of work going over and over. Blotchiness, patching and even blistering on textured wallpapers . 2 years later I’ve recently had to strips off a whole section that was over a backing paper, sand down and repaint because it was flaking off - I assume just because of the sheer amount of paint it took to cover. And in case any experts ask, yes I did leave it full day or 2 between each coat.

I am a chemistry grad (many years ago) and have since found out that all paint companies have been reducing costs over last 15 years by using less and less of the Titanium Dioxide which is the pure white pigment. They use all sorts of things to mimic the pigment, some of which also leave very powdery finishes (e.g. you can’t use command strips to fix pictures to walls etc as it sticks to powder and then comes off a few days later). Many of these cheaper substitutes do not have the opacity of titanium dioxide

I came from having painted houses over the previous 30 years in various “magnolia” type shades as base - and never ever experienced anything like this . Paints with the slight cream hues have yellow and even blue or red pigments in, and they are much more opaque than titanium dioxide or the substitutes they’re using now. Hence why you get much better coverage with any paint that has a coloured pigment in it.

That’s aside from the aesthetic. Yep, I’m in north west, lots of rainy days , and where there are dark corners it just looks grey and cold. I think it’s fine for either very light , direct window view walls where you’ll set sunlight on them, but for walls without direct light from windows, corners etc it is just blah and brrr ! Oddly lots of people love it when they visit - but they don’t have to live with it.

I would never, ever paint any house, or even redecorate mine in pure white again.

Thank you all! Such brilliant advice.

Now that is a layer of complexity I had not considered! I will talk to my local DIY shop about - they are excellent. Thanks for the tip.

Your kitchen is beautiful.

An excellent idea! Like being on holiday in your home. It's a great, classic combination.

We moved last year and, like you, our house needed a complete repaint. I said I wanted it all done white, however once we’d been in a few weeks I completely changed my mind and went with neutral colours. It looks bright but feels warmer.

So, reading through all your responses, I plan to:

Stop worrying so much about choosing exactly the right Pinterest White.

Paint most of the house PBW (being careful about using v good paint with proper coverage). It can always be changed later.

Try a few samples of off-whites in the 'colder' rooms and the hallway and see what I think. I will try out some of the ones mentioned on this thread.

If a room seems shadowy or cold, consider changing the lighting. This was a great tip!

My sister painted every room white in her house....I wasn't sure to start with but its amazing! Every room has its own character and colour scheme due to rugs/lamps and decoration, and it looks really fresh. Go for it!

Yanbu. Both my houses have been all white with warm neutral laminate / carpet.
It makes like so much easier.

Every single wall both inside and outside my home is white.
You can add colour with accessories and soft furnishings.

I think you can go white, but at this latitude you want to pick an off white rather than true, optic white.

Here are some discussions of white for interiors to inspire you. These decorators are based in North America and reference Benjamin Moore paints, but you will get the idea. (You can buy BJ paint in Britain now. It seems expensive, but it’s not. You only buy as third as much as you would of Dulux or Farrow and Ball.)

https://laurelberninteriors.com/top-20-best-shades-white-paint/

https://mariakillam.com/5-reasons-cannot-paint-art-gallery-white/

BPW is usually much cheaper to buy and you can buy it in bulk. I'd say go for that and if you don't like it you can try an off-white shade. It'll be cheaper than shelling out for one of the off-whites and not liking it.

I read something years ago about art galleries not being PBW and that the best thing was an off white mixed with white - so only just off white.

My DD lives in a rental that has been painted all over in cheap PBW and they have just painted over all the mess. It is serviceable but I would say the quality and finish of the paint is important and also preparation of the walls and skirtings, woodwork and joins.

I really don’t think brilliant white works in the UK in most homes. It could feel extremely cold in the winter. However there are lots of lovely paints that are a subtle off white you could try. It will depend how how much light your house gets and, to some extent, the style of home. But you’re the one living in it, so do what you want!

Another reason to go with off-white on the walls rather than pure brilliant white is that after a year or two woodwork painted pure brilluant white always turns slightly yellowed. That looks more obvious if the walls are still brilliantly white. So I always do an off white on the walls and PBW on the woodwork.