>
DIY

The Perfect White Paint Color

Updated on

If you’ve ever had to choose a white paint color, you know the struggle is real. There is no plain white. The options are endless and the names can be misleading. In this post, I’m sharing my process for choosing the perfect white paint color for my bathroom walls.

My favorite paint colors are all Sherwin Williams. Because it’s my favorite, I’m only sharing SW whites in this post. Side note: did you know you can request any color from any brand? I’ve done this in the past to take advantage of a sale Home Depot was having since they don’t carry Sherwin Williams paint. All I had to do was ask for a gallon of Behr Paint + Primer in the Sherwin Williams color that I wanted. The lady at the counter didn’t even flinch at my strange request. I had no clue this was such a common thing.

To begin choosing a color for my bathroom, I reflected on what will be going in the room. Since my vanity will be a color (no spoilers here) and my floor will be darker, I want the walls to be very bright and fresh. My bedroom walls are a cool, blue-grey so another thing to keep in mind is to make sure the bathroom doesn’t look too similar. Even though I love it, there is such a thing as TOO much grey.

Next, I popped into Sherwin Williams and grabbed all the shades of white paint chips that appealed to me. There are SO many. I only grabbed a fraction of what is available. The very nice man that I talked to said the color Extra White is their truest white. He recommended using it to compare all other colors to. You can see how it compares in the picture below.

Once I had my selection of whites, I grouped them into cool and warm tones and taped them on my bathroom wall using painters tape. (See how gross and dingy my walls currently are?)

Since the wall is already white, it’s a little tough to see some of the colors, but isn’t it crazy how not white some of the “whites” are?!
Once on the wall, I quickly eliminated the bottom row of whites. They are too warm for the look I want.
I like all of the colors on the top row. Any of those would probably look very similar to the color my bathroom already is, which is okay because it would still freshen it up. However, something about the coolness of the shades in the middle row are really drawing me in.
Mountain Air is gorgeous. You can tell from the picture that it’s more of a grey-white, but it even has a little blue in it as well. I LOVE it but I’m going to have to keep it in my back pocket for another room. It seems too similar to the blue-grey color that is already on my bedroom walls.

Finally, I decided to try Ice Cube and Rhinestone in a small sample. And Mountain Air… just for kicks. I never paint a room without trying a sample first– yeah, I really live on the edge. I would recommend buying a sample in the exact brand that you will purchase the rest of the paint in.

Also, I picked up some cheap sponge brushes to test the colors on the wall so I wouldn’t have to clean any of my good paint brushes. Totally worth the 78 cents. The picture below shows how the colors actually look on the wall when dry. The paint chip on the farthest left is Extra White, just for reference.

To my surprise, Mountain Air, is almost invisible on my existing paint. I thought it would be way too dark, but it’s actually the opposite! Mountain Air is back in the game. I really like Rhinestone, but I worry it will look too similar to my bedroom. Ice Cube looks very bright and clean, but it also has a pink tint to it.

After seeing the colors on the wall, my decision is even harder. I’m not sure which color I will end up picking but I’m really leaning towards Mountain Air–the color that stood out to me from the beginning. I’ll probably paint the entire wall with what’s left in the sample before making my final decision.

I’m sure whichever one I choose will be beautiful. Let me know what you think and if you’ve ever used any of these colors in the comments! Thanks for joining me and stay tuned to see the finished bathroom renovation 🙂

You may also like...