Colourists please help!!!

[LemonSwan]

I am loosing my mind with this.

Hallway north facing - basically no light at ground level, some natural light comes through from the large gallery in the stairs. This added contrast in a way makes the darkness downstairs look even more extreme by comparison.

currently painted in decorators brilliant white. Floor is black and white. It’s like walking into a real life version of Schroeder’s stairs. Way too much black, grey and white!

Decorators Brilliant white is coming out cold and grey downstairs. Quite nice upstairs but obviously very ahhh white!

Put a tester of james white on - this is coming out as a cross between bone and mizzle, or a lighter version of french gray.

Put a tester of Wimborne white - this is coming out the colour of somewhere between white tie & new white.

Where do I go with this? There’s obviously not enough whites in F&B to get where we need to go (the direction or destination I am becoming increasingly confused about).

Any ideas?

Would be so grateful!

We have Dulux timeless in our north facing it’s a really subtle warmer white works both upstairs and downstairs. We went through loads of neutrals in the search for the hall

Thanks ☺️ Did a pre-search on here and timeless did come up. Will have to do a tester.

I am just wondering if I am even being silly trying to pursue white. I am in such a muddle about it all and with it being such a pain of a room to paint I really want to get it right first time.

Ours is white and I’m glad we went with it as feels much brighter with getting very little light.

Hmmm my instinct for white paint in a north facing would be a yellow or red base (did you try Pointing?)

You could also just order all the warm white samples from Lick for comparison and contrast, quite easy to move them around and test on different walls without having to paint everywhere. That's what I did and immediately it was clear what worked best in the space.

Failing any warm whites, could also try terracotta type colours, a warm grey, or even just lean into the darkness and go full dark blue!

Thanks @Confused101687 - my instinct was white as well as obviously lightest. But it is also becoming grey and off whites super muddy and weird so now not so sure!

Thanks @JaffacakeJanine
I did actually do that. White 07 is basically the colour of decorator white we already have. There’s a couple of whites 01/02 /04 with a dash of grey and that’s just similar tone to plain white but even dark - so not right.

They had white 03/ 05 which is their yellow whites but that’s coming in way too dark. Similar colour to Wimborne but just many Shades deeper. Looking very dated and magnolia.

The pink white - 06 maybe was quite interesting but doesn’t really go with the rest of the black and whites we have in the room (floor, stairs and woodwork - doors and upstairs sashes)

I think the warm whites are potentially on the right track, or red based as you say. I just need something with the tiniest amount of colour and most companies don’t seem to offer that many whites. I did find Benjamin Moore has a lot of white variations (c.150) but really unsure which direction I am supposed to be going. Ie. The Wimborne is slightly too yellow for me and next to the light window I realised it’s actually pink. So before I would have thought move to a less yellow paint, but maybe I need to actually move towards one with more or less pink as the blue is cancelling the pink (don’t know if that’s actually the case). I hope you get what I mean.

I might just need to buy the Benjamin moore fan set to understand what is happening here.

Alternatively I like your idea of colour. It just seems easier!

I'm fond of Dulux White mist we have it in virtually every room

Have you tried slaked lime (little greene). I have it throughout my downstairs. It’s a very warm off white

Thanks both - more to add to the list.

I don’t have a dulux colour chart atm so will have to wait until later in the week to look at those.

Slaked lime is looking like a white in there rather than a yellow white so it might be perfect or potentially a bit flat. The colour it is on the card in proper light is exactly the colours I enjoy. Warm neutral not too warm IYSWIM. Which makes me think if it’s right on the card it’s unlikely to be right in our room.

Interesting to get that card out though because it’s next to Silent white series and is looking quite similar to Wimborne white in there.

Then next two are the pink and red whites. There’s something really special about these China pinks in the room, they actually seem to have a bit of pizazz about them. Perhaps we do need to change woodwork 🤦‍♀️

Or failing that just go for colour. The masquerade series (terracotta) like a pp says looks interesting.

Right I ordered the Collection fan deck (as contains all the whites) and ordered Chantilly lace sample as apparently it has zero undertone so will give me a base for comparison.

Bloody £30!

This hallways going to bankrupt me 🤣

We had that EXACT problem - north hàllway, more light from galleried upstairs etc.

After failing with white we went dark (F &B Railing). It has worked extremely well. Our wood is oak coloured. We love it so much.

For some reason it does not look like winter in the summer. Cannot quite figure that out!

@Justasec321

The colour fan came and my sample of Chantilly Lace. Apparently the purest of pure whites with no undertone. Still looks grey 🤦‍♀️

I think you are right so took a leaf out your book and I just went scurrying through all my samples. Blue Ground is the first paint which actually looks on the walls like it’s supposed to be that colour and no strange things are happening.

Is that a bit much! A blue hallway 😱

I don’t think we can go to black because the upstairs gallery is actually quite bright comparatively and as quite a large room I think black would be too much. Also the floor is black and I am trying to get away from a black and white scale.

I'd agree with PP - FB Pointing is a lovely cream white and illuminating in darker spaces

FB Tallow is basically posh Magnolia but it is a lovely colour without the orangey tone some magnolia have - and really reflects a lot of light so could work well and give some warmth to a north facing area. I think it is a lovely way of introducing a feeling of sunshine in areas that don't get any direct sun.

Or against black and white tiles you could go super bold and do one wall in something like FB India yellow and then the others in white... you could just try it and if you don't like it it isn't too tricky to paint over one wall (I painted over FB Brinjal with tallow on one wall, and that worked so it is surprising how well they cover).

Another possible is FB Borrowed lLght which is a light blue-grey colour but again quite illuminating in dark spaces. I have used it in both a North facing bedroom, and a downstairs WC without any natural light, and it worked well.

One wall in India yellow would then bounce around that shade and the other white walls would no longer look grey potentially...

north light is a cold light and painting walls in any sort of white will always look stark

Ooo now this is getting interesting. DP always wanted a yellow front door lol 😂

So DP liked the blue ground but thought it was a bit ‘primary’. I quite liked that as atleast the colour looked clean rather than muddy.

So I went in search of more greens/blues.

Dix blue is interesting but coming out quite dark. Like a strange version of oval room blue.
Teresa’s blue looks dark grey - a bit like a dodgy version of ‘light blue’
Arsenic looks dark green and has none of the jazz I love about it (a favourite in our old house). Like a grim version of Calke.

Picked up a few wildcards -
Setting plaster looks interesting - will have to see tomorrow in the light.
Skimming stone coming out like a cross between jitney and dove tail.

🤷‍♀️Ahhhhhh

Will add Tallow & pointing to the list.

At this rate may as well buy shares in f&b lol 🤦‍♀️

How did setting plaster end up? I feel you with the colour samples circus, I must have over 100 from various companies at this point 🤣

Well I quite like it! It’s not coming out with that pinky glow which I wanted and is instead a more reddy tan version but it’s interesting. It’s reading to me as both a colour and a neutral (due to the earthiness) IYSWIM. I like that. It’s unusual but looks bold and meaningful and think it would work as a centre point to nearly all warmer and cooler colours in other rooms.

But DP thinks it looks like brown poo 🤦‍♀️

Colourtrend cherished white was perfect in our dark kitchen. Neither grey white or cream white, not cold, just perfect.

Thanks @WithFlamingLocksOfAuburnHair

Will add that to the list as well.

For reference on the setting plaster colour it’s like a cross between the colour in shadow and this browny tone picture…

If you're going for colour, try Little Greene Linnet (pale yellow - stands up in north facing rooms) or Portland Stone, which is a warm stone. Chalky Downs is a good pinky warm neutral from Dulux.

Atelier Ellis Faded Blossom is a nice warm neutral too

Or go full terracotta - Farrow and Ball Red Earth is gorgeous, if you're feeling brave.

Nutmeg White has a definite pink undertone, we have just had it done on our hall, stairs and landing along with cotton white. I nearly stopped the decorator half way through as it ended up being much more of a colour than I expected but it is lovely and warm in our North facing house.

Wow I love those colours @dotdotdotdash in the Atelier brand.

Have never heard of it but they are all just gorgeous!

Trying to convince DP setting plaster is the one lol 😂