Where did the time go? A year ago yesterday, we moved into our current new-to-us, really old home, a house we didn't originally intend to seriously consider buying, but that we all really love.
The house was built in 1912, but the interior was completely redone the year before we bought it. We hear it was a gut job. (They even moved a staircase!) And every wall in the house—with the exception of an attached porch off my office (beige)—was painted white. Specifically, Benjamin Moore's Simply White.
A quick note about these photos: I love you muchly, but I am not a home blogger, and this is not a house tour. I hope these pictures give you an idea of our space and how it impacts our white wall satisfaction level.
We'd tried white walls in the past, and weren't happy with the look. In our old homes—built in 1939 and 1960—they didn't look pleasingly simple, they looked unfinished. My previous white spaces looked blah, no matter how much texture or pattern I worked into the room.
I thought white walls weren't for me.
But then we saw this house. It's a 1912 Craftsman, with lots of light, ten-foot ceilings, and interesting architectural details. We decided pretty quickly to leave the white walls for the time being. Moving is exhausting, and not painting is easy.
Our living room six weeks after we moved in. Don't worry, the tv hasn't been over the mantel for a long time.
I was surprised to discover that professional designers don't like all-white walls. House Beautiful calls it "a paint color mistake you should never make," and they're in good company. Designers say it's rare that a single color—no matter what it is—truly suits every room in the house. People are drawn to all white because it's simple and easy, but that doesn't mean it looks good.
The salvaged wooden island warms up our all-white kitchen. I take a lot of book stack photos here because the light is amazing.
• Our instincts were good: when choosing paint colors, the bones of the house are important. White walls highlight the architecture, so you need to like it.
• What I didn't realize: what's outside the house affects how the walls look inside the house. Of course a big tree in front of the window blocks light, but they also cast a green glow into the room. Ditto for our exposed green rafters, and the trees whose leaves turn orange and red in the fall.
It's easy to add pops of color to a neutral backdrop.
• It's easy. So easy. We have four kids and a dog, but we can touch up paint on the whole house in ten minutes because we just need one can of paint, or two if the trim needs help.
• Except when it's not. Our walls are flat white, which can't be cleaned. The trim is eggshell, which is easier (but not easy) to wipe off.
• More easy: having a uniform scheme (if we can call this a "scheme") saved me from having to make piles of decisions at a time when I couldn't afford decision fatigue. Plus everything seamlessly flows.
White walls are great for photographs, especially this textured brick. It looks yellow-ish here: we snapped this right after we moved in and didn't yet know how to shoot the white walls. Shirt from Readerly.
• Houseplants look amazing against white walls.
• The lighting matters so much. My favorite white rooms are the ones with light on two (or three) sides. It's hard to get great light in a room with light on one wall only. My urge to paint over the white correlates perfectly with the amount of light a room gets.
The fireplace, decked out for Christmas. Even without the stockings, the stone, brick and wood provide texture and visual interest.
I haven't done anything to our home for a while, and while we're definitely settled in, the house isn't remotely "finished." Not that a house is ever finished—but after a six months reprieve from thinking about our space, I'm ready to dive back in and finish some halfway-done spaces and hang a lot more art and photos, and I'll definitely be considering paint options. After a year with white walls, I have a good feel for where white is perfect, and where pretty neutrals could better serve the space.
We're about to de-white at least one room: my daughter and I are planning a mini makeover for her room, she wants to paint. I agree. Her room gets gorgeous light—for about two hours a day. The rest of the time the white looks blah, so we're choosing a nice neutral that better suits her space.
And for what it's worth, the pros say we'll see more dark, moody colors in the years to come. When it comes to my home, I'm not trendy—but I do like to look.
I would love to hear about your experience with white walls. Have you ever lived with all-white, or de-whited your own living space? I would love to hear about it in comments.
P.S. The furniture you live on, and the furniture you live around. And I'm not waiting for the next house anymore.
We moved last June and painted our bedrooms and office, but the rest of our house is white. The previous owners painted the ceilings a different shade of white and there's about 6" of that shade at the top of each wall. That drives me crazy. I agree the white walls are great for photos, but it doesn't feel warm enough for me with the furniture we currently have and the lack of sunlight we get. I think it looks great in your house, especially with all those windows. I have been in love with your library since you first posted it!
Our last home had a very light, yellow based color that I loved, but all of our photos had a yellowish cast to them. I am still trying to decide what color to go with when we do get around to painting. I love to search color schemes on Pinterest!
Our walls are yellow pine with clear finish. Not my fave, but I have appreciated that I don't have to "decide" what to paint the walls!
One of my favorite rooms ever was painted Sea Star by Benjamin Moore.
I agree completely with the outside impacting the inside. Last year I was really tempted to paint my greige/taupe walls cloud white to match the trim. I had these lovely white silk curtains and I was convinced it would look so light and airy. Fast forward to this winter. After over two months of white snow and white skies I couldn't stand white anymore. I took the white curtains down and put up the old green ones and am very happy I didn't paint the walls. I'm pretty sure once the green of spring and summer are back I will be dreaming of white again ; ). For now I'm happy to have some warmth and colour on my walls. If I lived somewhere that didn't have 4-6 months of snow on the ground I might be tempted to paint more rooms white.
All-white can be very zen and focus the attention on other aspects of the décor. We have very good light, with east and west windows in our "great room" (open-plan living/dining/kitchen). When we bought the place, we covered the pink and mint green walls (seriously) with white, but after a few years we went for a barely there ecru, that's just the glow of sunrise on white. The furniture is mostly white, and you can't tell the difference unless you hold a sofa cushion against the wall. There's just a little warmth to it. Sometimes the ultra-clean, very white look tugs at my heartstrings, but I'm not in the mood to paint.
I just have to comment on this fun post, Anne, since I have always had white-ish walls in every one of my eight grown-up homes. Every single room. I used to think I wanted something other than white walls, but it was really important to my hubby so we have always kept it simple. I've had so many friends encourage me to paint the walls a fun color — especially when our kiddos were little. Might sound boring to some but I just looked at it as one more decision I didn't have to make. (We did wallpaper once which was fun but never, ever again. That's another story!) You are so right about white not going with everything – and about how the outdoors and natural light make a difference. We used to live in an uber contemporary house on the side of a mountain. Shaped like a triangle with lots of glass. White worked best there. I warmed up the spaces with textures, earthy tones, pops of color. Easy to decorate with that simple palate. All very soothing and, as you said, serene. Our current home is painted a warmer white, but it's still white in every single room. I love it. Peaceful.
Kim, your paint colors sound beautiful! Can you share specific colors?
This post came at just the right time, as I'm selecting paint colors for our entire first floor. Currently, we have a few different shades of a buttery yellow in every room ?. If I never see yellow again, ??. It just casts a dingy hue over everything. I considered white, so I was glad to read the pros and cons of all white. Our bedroom is painted a dark chocolate brown. It works great for a bedroom and it's a very large room with vaulted ceilings, so it can handle the color without feeling claustrophobic. It's very soothing to my light averse tendencies. However, I did learn that dark colors show dust easily. I think we're going with Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter, a classic gray, or 'greige', with warm undertones. It's their most popular color and beloved by decorators because it can go cool or warm depending on the light or surrounding objects. It works equally well with white trim and dark woods. We have a fairly open floor plan, so I think I'm going to stick with that one color for continuity and ease of touch ups as you mentioned. I also plan to paint our kitchen tile, which is a dated multicolor pattern, a high gloss bright white to convert it to a subway tile look without re-tiling. The only spot I plan to add a little color is the laundry room and perhaps the powder room, where I'm going with a light blue/aqua. I'm thinking Benjamin Moore Ocean Air, Wedgewood Gray, Palladian Blue or Sherman Williams Sea Salt. Taking suggestions! The laundry room is small and has no natural night and the powder room has a tiny window. Happy painting!
My husband and I bought our first house in the summer, so it was our first opportunity to actually have control over the paint colour in our home. Each of the rooms of the house we bought was painted a different colour and we actually came in and painted the whole thing white. It's a pretty tiny house, and the "white" actually has a green undertone – almost like an extremely light mint. It completely refreshed the house and made everything (like the unfortunate flooring) look better. I love it! And I love seeing how the colour changes depending on the room or the way the light is shining.
Love this! We are a White House. We use a soft Country White so it isn't glaring and I prefer a semi-gloss. It isn't dull and wipes easy. I can pick up color with curtains and decor. I think the creamier shade works well with cool or warm colors and any season. I find it calming. Love white!
Hmmm, but here in the UK, magnolia is also a euphemism for 'boring'! Builders used to slap it everywhere in new-builds, but a warmish white will top it any day.
You may say you're not a home blogger, but I love seeing pictures of peoples homes!
I lived with roommates in rentals well into my adulthood, so when I bought my home this past year, I wanted anything but "rental white!" (But I think a nice quality white paint looks great in some homes). Most of my rooms are a very light shade of gray that pulls slightly warm. I painted three of my four bedroom walls navy blue – which I love – but only because I have other light, airy rooms to spend time in.
I feel like I need a summer house and the winter house. In winter I want something cozy and warm, but when summer rolls around that coziness just feels cluttered and oppressive (and summer's light, breeziness feels cold and empty in the winter). I can do some changing for the seasons with accessories and textiles, but I'm not about to repaint and buy new styles of furniture with every change of the season!
That shot of your couch and all those pillows looks SO cozy and comfy.
I realized that the rug you have in your library is the same one I have in my living room – I love it so much!
I'm with you, Anne! We had our new-to-us home painted Benjamin Moore Simply White, too, top to bottom.
I'd choose the same color all over again. Everything is light and bright and airy. A wonderful fresh palette.
I just wish it wasn't chipping here and there on that woodwork … and was a bit easier to clean.
Moved to DE in Aug 2016 to a newly built home. Walls were left painters white…waitiing the year out for settling cracks to be repaired – then we were going to paint. In the meantime, we decided to move to Charlottesville- another new home and another year of white walls!!!!
After spending my formative and collegiate years in homes without being able to paint, I was determined once on my own to never have plain or white walls again. That being said, just shy of 20 years in to that, I greatly appreciate lighter and more neutral walls.
I'm glad I read your post because your pictures had just about convinced me to go white but we do not have strong natural light so I'm thinking that's a no go. One of the reasons we don't have great natural light is one of the things I like about the house ironically – the front nor back face east or west. Our last house had an east facing front and west facing back and it was blazing hot in the evenings which drove me bananas.
Great post and thank you for sharing your home and what you've learned!
Thank you so much! I finally understand what I did wrong. We bought our first house last may and it had a variety of problem paint colors (my son's new room was Pepto Bismol Pink) so I announced we were painting the entire interior on move in and that it would be all white except for one wall in the master and one wall in the family room. I was SO excited after our last home had some beige walls that made the house look dim to me. But when it was finished it didn't quite work. Months later I'm still dissatisfied. After reading your post today I think I finally get it – we just don't have enough light for what we did! It has been an interesting learning experience (all first homes are I'm sure) and now I'm taking time to get to know the space and us. One of these days I will have the chance to make some new paint choices here and I won't be painting the entire space white!
When you are ready to try colors, paint two coats on a very large piece of cardboard. You can move it around the room at different times of the day and see how it looks.
I have slowly been re-painting the interior of our home in white. Our house does not get a lot of great natural light – we have a lot of pine trees on three sides of our house. But we also have a ton of woodwork – wood paneling on the vaulted ceiling of our main living area and more oak built-ins than you could ever want, plus natural wood trim and a gigantic two-sided brick fireplace that sits in between our dining area and living room. I've heard people say that you can never have enough storage but I'm here to say you definitely can! (And we have three small kids so I'm coming at this from the perspective of a family of five and all the trappings of small children.) With all the built-ins, plus windows, doorways, hallways, etc. we have very few fully, uninterrupted wall spaces and I'm finding I like the white to provide some consistency between rooms. Our bedroom is more of a very light gray but I painted our guest room/home office from yellow to white and it was transformational for me. It is north-facing and was instantly so much brighter. So I do think there are always exceptions to every rule and, of course, we all have to just be honest about what we like to live with. Your house looks beautiful and I love all those big windows!
I painted my entire home white when I moved in years ago. I wanted something easy that was not magnolia. Magnolia is used in almost every rental property in the UK, drove me bonkers!
I have added colour with curtains, furniture, accessories and art. If I get bored it is easier to change acessories etc than repaint. I love it. The white is calming, peaceful. It also provides a great backdrop to the great views of parkland from every room in the flat/apartment.
We've lived in our house almost 15 years and it was all white when we moved in. We painted and repainted till I found colors that worked, my husband just goes with the flow.
We've painted every room but one. Unfortunately it's time to repaint some of the rooms. Want the same colors, just need painting. As for that one unpainted room, maybe someday.
Your house is so pretty and I like the white! We keep coming back to a pale gray color for our walls even as we move to different houses. It seems soothing and works for us.
The thing about white is that it always feels clean to me. And it forces me to stay clean which is also a good thing. Depending on whether you have north or south facing windows it's important to choose a warmer/cooler white to complement the room otherwise the color will never seem quite right.
All that being said, I do also love color in the right places. Our master bedroom is a very deep green with almost dark gray undertones and since we have natural, American cherry floors, a cathedral ceiling and a wall with a triple gang of windows it really feels like being up in a treehouse. It is incredibly serene.
My "library" is also painted a darker brown, it's called Ticonderoga Taupe by Benjamin Moore, and the book cases are white and there is a large bay window that lets in plenty of natural light. The feeling is cozy without being cramped.
The largest room in the house has very strange brick on a tall fireplace. It has a beige-pink color (have you figured out that I live in an early '90s house yet?) and it was such a start contrast with the white walls. I painted them a very soft taupe and now the brick blends in very nicely and the walls are very neutral and light.
My entry hall and staircase are what I thought was going to be a soft, sunny yellow…but I hate it. That's going back to white very soon! But which white????
I'm Swedish but living in Copenhagen, Denmark. I think probably 90% of all the walls in Scandinavia are white! Couldn't imagine living without the light it gives during the winter months. Having said that, our old apartment we did have one wall with William Morris' blue arbutus in our bedroom and Joseph franks epic red Eldblomma ( check it out!) in our living room alongside white walls, it looked fantastic with 13ft to the ceiling! Your house looks lovely Anne!
Aaah! I didn't the top half of my family room Navajo White (BM I think) and I love it. I wasn't ready to deal with the neutral wallpaper on the bottom but when I do I'll do the whole room that color. I want to do my kitchen and living room (where we spend most of our time) in the same color but it sounds like my 60s rambler isn't a good candidate (lights always on in the kitchen, LR is north-facing with one window). Sigh. I just dream of all white!
White walls are one of the things saving me this winter! Everything in our back room — curtains, walls, countertops — matched our terrible 70's wood cabinets, and just absorbed light.
I painted the cabinets navy (Benjamin Moore Stunning) and the walls white, and I can't believe the difference. Having moved from a southern state to a midwestern one, I really felt the shorter winter days partway through the season, but not this year!
I greatly prefer matte walls, and I've been impressed with Regal Select's washable matte — on the wall between the stove and microwave, grease and tomato stains wipe right off, whereas they stuck stubbornly to the previous beige eggshell paint.
I thought I didn't like all-white walls. We rented for years before buying a house, and one of my joys of buying a house was the ability to paint… until we got through about room #3, lol. Anyway, we're currently renting again, and we have off-white walls throughout, and I DO like them.
This post was timed great for me! We moved into a 100 year old refurbished farmhouse and it has almost all flat white walls. After a year (and with 4 kids, 9 and under) let's just say the walls are looking BAD! Crayon does not come off flat paint and my daughter's masterpiece is a highlight going up our staircase. Eeks! I was thinking of paint the staircase Revere Pewter. The kitchen and living room get greatvkight and may still stay white but definitely not flat white! Thanks for sharing your experience with white. And I love how you added pops of color to your rooms!
Thanks for the great post. I have just bought a new home and painted it all a "cool" white. I love it'. Updating kitchen and furniture to white with black accents. Large black and white prints and one wall all glass overlooking trees and hills. Lots of natural light in my new open plan space. Waiting impatiently for new slate leather lounge and chairs, black floor lamp and new shelving and cupboards. Wooden floors and rich rugs with gold and red accents. With such stunning views from every window or wall, it really works. A move away from yellow based warm whites and I feel calm and peaceful and sleep very soundly. I will let you know if I get tired of it after 12 months! ?
My husband and I just moved from Mexico City, where all apartment walls are kept white. I love white. It's fresh looking, clean looking, and light just bounces everywhere to help lighten the space. Two months ago we bought a house that is all dark cafe colors: grey, beige, brown, forest green. It's cozy and warm, but it also feels dark. There isn't much natural light either. Last weekend, we painted my son's room that was bright teal and purple with sparkles-seriously. We just did the white primer because we were looking at a light grey or light yellow. I fell in love with the white primer!!! The room is the brightest in the house! We're in a ranch and his room is right off of the kitchen. It's so bright in there it makes me want to go hang out there instead of the other rooms. So, I'm contemplating painting the rest of the house white. It would be slowly, room by room, but I just love how bright it looks in here! Next will be the kitchen cabinets and walls. Thanks for the blog about white walls!
Late coming to this post. I have been renting for many years and got tired of looking at white walls! I just bought a house a few months ago and the previous owner painted the main level a medium gray. I thought I liked it at first until I started decorating and did some diy furniture painting and now my decor doesn't fit well with the gray. I'm wanting to go back to white walls but overwhelmed by all the various shades of white for paint! I have huge windows and plenty of natural light in the house. Guess it's time to get some color swatches and see what works best.
I have white walls in the living room entrance foyer and halls in my home. I love them so much….I am having my kitchen dinning room remodeled and am going all white !
I'm grappling with the reaction of some of my friends, that they seem to find my kitchen a little "blah", but I'm loving it. The busy stripes, the flowered border and orange knotty pine wainscoting were just driving me nuts. I wanted serenity, and I've got it. I LOVE looking at the simplicity and the warm tones (cake batter cream); it looks like a Vermeer painting. I had not considered the effect of how much light you get affecting the success of white walls, but the kitchen faces south/west and has windows on 2 sides.
I grew up in colonial homes which my mother tended to paint white, with colonial greens, golds and blues for trim. When we moved to NYS, our old farmhouse had red wallpaper in the LR, but after a while, we changed it to white again, with floor to ceiling bookcases, red oriental rugs and red upholstered couches, as well as a fireplace with a warm cherry mantel. So now my own first home has white shiplap-style in the LR, with a very small amount of cream wall, and red border, as well as white painted brick behind the wood stove, and red oriental rugs, with a dark red/brown leather couch. My bathroom is bright turquoise with white beadboard and countertops. My guest room is current (berry) red, with white trim. My bedroom is deep green with a lot of white accents. So, I have color! But people who say White is a Non-Color—-Is a white wedding dress a non-color? Are white skates a non color? White sails? White teeth? White peonies? White is truly a color!
PS Anne: That yellow chair was the most inspired decision you ever made!
Being a military family the last 29 years we have lived with white walls a lot! There's even a whole decorating group called "White Walls" for military spouses. While I do love color – I normally paint our kitchen a buttery yellow – I also love white. Benjamin Moore's Dove White is a favorite. Designers/Pros aren't always right. All you have to do is look at Joanna Gaines and the farmhouse shiplap craze to know that white can look fabulous! We are currently in a rental with muddy grey/purpleish walls in the living/master bedroom that I would love to just paint white!
I have to admit that to me, white walls demand that everything else in the room be "perfect." You have to have furniture and accents and wall art that pulls it all together, and I find that hard. Plus I LOVE color. We didn't paint the existing colors in our last house, but after this house flooded and we had to gut and float drywall, I finally had my chance! Our living/dining/kitchen area are in a shade of burgundy. The living room is actually slightly darker than the other two, but you don't really notice it. I had wanted it to be noticeable but now I'm glad it's not!
Our bedroom is something like resort green – and it really does make me feel like I'm at a resort! The bathroom is brown – again a spa-ish color. My son wanted blue and green so he got what he wanted: 2 walls blue, 2 walls in a complementary green! And my office is in orange. Yes, orange! It's even a pumpkiny color. I've read that yellow is the #1 color to generate creativity but I'm not a fan of yellow, so I went with the next most creative color. The accents in this room are brown and (when it's straightened up, not like it is at the moment!) it's very warm and inviting.
I forgot to mention that I love lots of colors in artwork, and color in accessories. I guess that's why I like "white" walls. Right now, my mahogany furniture and artwork looks kind of "not right" with the BM Maritime White wall color.
Maybe it's because I grew up with white walls, but I love very very light walls. I am thinking I will go with BM Collector's White with our current home, which was built in 2003 and feels like I am living in a brown cave. There are LOTS of windows but all of the walls and ceiling were painted PPG Lulled Beige when we bought the home (with a reddish yellowish beige tone to coordinate with the tile floors, which look beige until I try to select paint for the walls…..then the floors started taking on a pinkish beige tone).
I tried BM Feather Down, but that color turned greenish yellow on the walls. It looked "okay" with the floors, but everyone's skin looks awful against the paint. Then I tried BM Maritime White, which is nice but feels depressing and dark when it's cloudy outside. The only time Maritime White looks good is when the sun is blazing bright and ALL the curtains are open. So BM Collector's Item is next on my list to try. Wish me luck. (I used BM Collector's Item in our last home, in the family room, and it was beautiful night and day, rainy and sunny, summer and winter. And all my art looked fabulous.).
I like "color" in other people's homes, but I can't live with it.
Loved reading this and all the comments. I'm a color girl all the way. Our former house had no white walls. Chinese red for the hall, Mediterranean blue in the kitchen, deep royal purple for the bits that showed in the library, to list a few.
However my husband and I are planning to move into an independent living cottage in a retirement community where the walls are all neutral and may not be painted. I've been a bit anxious about how I'll deal with that, so your post and the comments gave me some valuable ideas. Thanks.
I chose all white because I couldn't commit to any color scheme! The east facing rooms have Feather Down walls with Cloud White trim and look fabulous. The west/southwest-facing open kitchen, breakfast nook and family room is painted ALL Cloud White, BM regal matte and Satin Impervo for trim. The Feather Down looked crazy warm in the West/SW exposure so I went all in for Cloud White. Loved it for a few years but I'm SO sick of it now. I desperately want a change. I don't want to have all the molding and trim repainted but I can't for the life of me find a pale neutral or greige that pairs well with Cloud White and I want a light color. So I'm stuck ! Wish I hadn't chosen Cloud White. Anyone have any good ideas??
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