Argh I had settled on Dulux Timeless for living room but due to great MN advice I think I need something darker - please help!

[IHeartKingThistle]

OK so this is the black wall thing again. Someone on my other thread pointed out that if off-white is next to a black wall (and also underneath on the cupboards in our case) it will look a lot whiter due to the contrast.

We'd chosen Timeless because it was a soft off-white. What can I use instead that's soft and light but clearly a neutral, so it won't look bright white against the black? A light stone or something?

Help!

Crown stone white

Natural calico?

Ooh I think we might have had calico before. Will check those out.

Dulux Soft Hessian is lovely with black.

Ooh is it? I don't want to go too warm or sandy looking. Bloody neutrals!

OK natural hessian looks a bit too brown I think; any other ideas?

Stone white looks quite nice actually. We have F+B Skimming Stone in our bedroom and it's lovely - but really can't stretch to F+B for this big room!

I've got Timeless in my living room. Was hoping for a room bathed in soft creamy white. Have almost a stark white living room. Too big a room to bother doing it again. Looks quite fresh and bright, I'll give it that.

Have used both timeless and stone white in the house.
Have stone white in the kitchen (big room) with kitchen units and panelling painted in f and b hardwick white.so a strong colour
Bedroom has lots of grey furniture and black snd white floral curtains ,4 windows and looks lovely.
Hall,stairs and landing is quite dark so has timeless which works

Egyptian cotton- we have just done kitchen/diner- nice.sort of creamy/greyish.

This is such useful information! Right Timeless is sacked. Stone white/egyptian cotton are contenders although I'm a little concerned about the egyptian cotton being too warm. This is hurting my head!

Sorry, I'm using the dulux Irish colour chart. I hasn't realised until now that it is different to the UK chart. I dont think soft Hessian and natural Hessian are the same thing. If Egyptian cotton is the same there a real yellow thinge to it.

OK so that might make stone white the only contender? Ooh actually what about Just Walnut? We have that in the spare room and it's very much a neutral as in you'd never notice it but it's clearly not white. Could it work against black?

Dulux ivory lace?

Hmm I think that looks too peachy!

We had jasmine white in our bedroom - can't remember if it is dulux or crown.

Hello to anyone who still cares about this! OK so bought my bodyweight in tester pots and have painted pieces of paper next to bits of the black colour.

Our homebase does not have Stone White!

Natural hessian, jurassic stone and nutmeg white all too dark/brown. Contenders are Just Walnut, Polished Pebble, Egyptian Cotton and Snowfall by Crown. Egyptian cotton is the darkest of these but they all look pretty ok against the black.

The complicating factor is that we want to use whatever neutral we pick on all the built in shelves and cupboards, and the wall behind the bookcase is going to be painted in a rather gorgeous yellow ochre. You'll only see flashes of it but I guess it can't clash with the neutral!

Has anyone used one of my top 4? How dark does Egyptian cotton look on the wall?

Thanks!

Dusted Moss 3! Is great pale greyish white and looks good with ochre!

Ps I vote snowfall, love that colour, almost identical to my suggestion about. Very Cornforth White from f and b...

I vote for dusted moss 3
Just found this picture
Love it!!!

Does this help any- Egyptian cotton? But in
Electric light- I can take one in
Normal light tomorrow if you want?

Egyptian cotton is actually quite a light, cool colour - we have it in our bedroom and it's lovely, not dark at all.

Wait...WE CAN DO PICTURES??? How exciting! Thanks so much everybody, I really appreciate all the help. One of these will be great, and hey, with a black wall in front of them no-one's going to walk in and say 'Hmmm, not sure that's the right beige...' surely?

Next question - how important is getting endurance/wipeable paint for a living room with a 7 year old and a 4 year old?

I bought dulux trade diamond hard matt for hall stairs landing as I have two dogs and kids. I think that's the trade version of endurance. Just watch out as some wipe able paints can be a bit shiny. The one I used does wipe well.

Must say that I find the dulux trade centres really helpful.