Cream paint help please!

[FlamingoFlower]

I'm trying to find a nice light cream paint that doesn't look like magnolia or mustard.

I like the colour attached which is apparently twisted bamboo 2 so I bought a tester of this and it looks mustard and so dark on the wall! My walls are white so the colour behind isn't affecting it.

So far I have tried
Timeless
Dulux jasmine white
Dulux orchid white
Dulux natural calico
Dulux Nutmeg white
Summer jasmine home base own
Crown Ivory cream
Crown Antique cream
Dulux twisted bamboo 2 & 3
Wickes gardenia
Wickes champagne
Dulux almond white

All of the above look either brown, yellow or mustard when dry! Its going in a big open plan room with cool white led in the night and lots of sun/light in the day. Night or day doesn't seem to make a lot of different to the colours other than a paler brown or yellow!

We have Homebase classic cream which on our walls has no hint of yellow. This isn't a great photo but I am not home to take a better one, you can just see the wall colour around the picture.

Ooh I'm interested in this too as we are about to embark on the same project - finding a nice light not-quite-white paint for our walls

Flamingo - I admire you're thoroughness!

Have you looked at Farrow & ball? Dimity is a rich cream that doesn't look yellow

Lol I know It's driving me mad! Every paint that I've picked up looks the perfect colour in the pot but as soon as it's on the wall it changes to a completely different colour it's mad! For example I've attached what it looks like in the tester pot and then once it's dried, totally different!

Crown soft linen is lovely, I have it in a bedroom and living room- it's warm without being yellowy

I had a similar problem in house I lived in more than 20 years ago. I wanted cream and everything dried in brown.

I think we ended up sealing the walls with a Unibond solution and it solved the problem but maybe google info about sealing walls as there could be a more modern product nowadays.

I think it's virtually impossible to tell what colour a wall will be from a small patch on a white background. I've painted a room several times which looked a totally different colour right up until the last wall was completed. My best suggestion is to paint as large an area as possible and try to 'frame' it with your hands so you can't see the background colour. Some specialist paint shops will sell you a bigger sample pot for some of the more high end brands which is great as you can paint large patches in several different parts of the room.

Make sure you use up all of the samples you have painting as large a sample as possible - you may well find that one or more of the samples you already have is actually perfect.

Have a look at fired earth colours. I've asked a johnstones shop to match before. The finished wall colour tends to be very true to the swatches they have on the chart.

We have Timeless and it's really just slightly creamy next to white skirting boards, not yellowey at all, looking at it next to my cream sideboard and they're very tonally very similar.

Our house was a mix of very dark colours, so everything had a miss coat of white first so not sure if that helped?

did smokers live in your house? Or has it been damp? What colour do your sample go if painted onto plain white card?

Crown parchment is lovely, very neutral

I was going to save you time and say don't try natural calico but I see it's on your list. I have it and love it but there is a teeny hint of mustard about it in certain lights.
My friend painted her house in some very delicate Laura Ashley Whites there were a subtle cream - I think it was called Cotton White, pearl white and an ivory white (she had about 3 in different places) none of it looked brown or mustard

Piglet John it's funny you should mention that because for the sake of my sanity I painted one particular colour that I thought was perfect (before it went onto the wall) and it stayed the colour on the pot when it dried on white paper! how is this?!

Nope no smokers, not damp its basically just been renovated from scratch.

it was plastered last November and the whole house painted white for a good base at the start of june so shouldn't be any issues with drying out or previous paint colour!

off to buy more testers tomorrow then! grrrr

I'm really surprised Timeless hasn't worked out for you, we have it in our bathroom and it looks really white. It's a lovely colour and seems like it would be perfect for the room in your photo.

We've just painted our entire flat Valspar Swan Queen which is a really cold cream with almost green undertones rather than the pinky ones of magnolia. I really like it. If you have a B&Q they will colour match for Valspar if one of the 10,000 creams they have doesn't suit you. It was nice paint to work with too.

Serendipper I already painted one of the bedrooms in timeless and whilst its really nice its just too "white" for the kitchen I feel so wanted more of a creamier colour which I cant seem to find or I can find but doesn't seem to want to go right on the wall!

Farrow & Ball Wimbourne White. Has the tiniest yellow pigment and so essentially looks like a warm white. Google 'Justalittlebuild' - her kitchen / family room is Wimbourne White and it is gorgeous.

Try looking at Dulux trade ivory as there are I think 4 different shades going from very light to darker. We have timeless in our hall which is fine, but in the kitchen and conservatory it has an odd green tint to it which I think is probably due to the conservatory roof or just that its very light.

Had a similar trouble when painting the nursery
Spent months and so much money on testers
How can a paint look so perfect in the pot but so awful on the walls?!?!?!?
Moving house soon and I know my life will be taken over by tester pots!
Hope you find the right colour soon

I've been having this problem, looking for a very pale bluey-grey - everything looked so dark on the walls, but perfect painted on white paper. I found I had to go much lighter than I thought - so not actually look at blues/greys at all, but just look for whites with a hint of colour.

b&q antique white or farrow and ball pointing?

@FlamingoFlower ooh sorry I misunderstood, I couldn't work out how it could be mustardy! We had terrible trouble finding a colour that worked in one of our bedrooms and ended up going for one from the Hemsley range in Homebase. Worth a look there as it's very reasonable but lovely colours - does take a few coats though.

Another vote for F&B Dimity.

Thanks all.

I have now updated my colour testers to the following!

Dulux Vanilla White
Dulux Almond White
Dulux Ivory Lace
B&Q Antique White
F&B Pointing
F&B Slipper Satin
B&Q Victorian Lace
B&Q Ivory White

And the same problem... either too yellow, too mustard or too brown! I officially give up! lol