Black.

Also be conscious of exterior elements - if you have nothing but trees outside your windows your white paint will be more greenish-white (something I wish I had realized before painting my entire kitchen!)

I fretted and stressed trying to find the perfect shade of white.

The room ended up just looking white.

People can choose to paint their colors of their emotions on a white wall and it will have an opinion. For me, white represents neutral. It has no opinion.

It entirely depends on the lighting and other elements in the room.

Right now, while I dwell in a dark and small basement bachelor, I'm all about the cool grey-whites. I know that sounds nuts - you'd think it would make the apartment seem darker and colder (an issue when you live in AB) - but it made a huge difference. The grey shadows in the dark corners aren't as noticable because they blend in with the grey in the paint.

Chantilly Lace is the best of these - it has a tiny hint of gray which makes pictures look great and does not give a colored cast. The UK equivalent is a color called Snow Drift (which the architect Norman Foster uses as white in his schemes). The other trick is to chose the right shade of light bulb to keep the tone neutral.

i used chantilly lace in matte finish in my living room and it looks beautiful (super white in semi gloss for the trim). i wanted the art and furniture to pop and they really do.

I like Navajo White from Sherwin Williams. This is the color of all my doors, baseboards, and ceilings. It's a warm white, and it looks great against all the colors of my walls, which are taupe, blue, and green.

Who makes Snow Drift in the UK? My scheme has lots of greys in it so a greyish-white is my quest. I would choose Chantilly Lace too, because it's a good song! ;)

I'm laughing as I recall going to see our builder when my husband was traveling, and while there, being asked to choose the color for our jetted tub. There were about a dozen choices of 'white' - similar to the variations above. I just picked one, a warmer shade and it was fine. I was sooooo glad my husband wasn't there else we would have argued, agonized and debated WHICH WHITE to choose....and it would have taken a lot longer than the 1 minute it too me to make the decision alone. I've NEVER told him this story. He thinks the tub is "what came with the house". :)

I just painted my attic master suite walls & ceiling in BM Swiss Coffee and I love love love it.

I traded the dirty antique white the previous owners liked for a nice bright ultra white. It made such a difference in here with the big windows and open floor plan.

I just painted my new living room Cloud White by Benjamin Moore. This, after trying Decorator White, China White, and Simply White. It's creamier than plain white but it works with our furniture and dark floors.

Depends on the room. There's always a "right" white. The problem is, for every one right white there are a dozen wrong whites. If you've ever been in a white room that felt drab and dingy, it was probably because of a bad white. Rooms that get lots of light are easy. But rooms without natural light? Good luck. It's probably better to go with a color.

We used Decorators White by BM to paint our fireplace and we honestly couldn't tell the difference between the paint and the primer--the color was exactly the same! It looked a little bright at first but now we are getting used to it. I considered repainting it Simply White but I think we'll just go with it for now.

Distant gray is on my kitchen walls, with Chantilly Lace on the ceiling--they looks great. Whitewater bay is in my hallway, where there is a little natural light but not tons--it looks fabulous, too! I have been sampling so many white paints this summer, but it all paid off. I love how they look!

Hahaha, I've, uh, never painted anything white. Ever.

Doesn't Chantilly Lace have a slightly pink undertone?

We went through the same process with BM and ended up with "super white". Since we live in Seattle, bright white is our strategy to get through the cloudy, overcast part of the year!

I used Super White by Benjamin Moore in my living room (which lacks natural light). It is so much better than the beige that came with the apartment. Before the Super White, the room looked super yellow.

@rosenatti - I think I inadvertantly started the rumor that Chantilly Lace has pink undertones when I sent in before & after pics of my Chantilly Lace paint job:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/look/a-reader-room-paint-color-update-chantilly-lace-101720

A lot of people commented that it looked pink, but I don't think it is - I think people were just picking up on the reflection from the extremely salmon-colored house next door!

I'm thinking of Super white as a temporary/maybe permanent solution for my bathroom. As far as I've experienced, I have painted many white walls in my time, that is about as white as you get. Any thoughts on that statement

Sawyer white, which later was called swiss coffee, from Valspar was the white that we used for all our trim and accent walls in our brighly painted home.

Sawyer white, which later was called swiss coffee, from Valspar was the white that we used for all our trim and accent walls in our brighly painted home.

Dh just the painted living room in my new house. I picked out a nice blue for the walls and a white for the trim and ceiling. Before painting it was the standard base white.

I nearly had a heart attack when he started on the ceiling. The white looked like a shell pink. He continued anyway and when all the old white was covered and the blue on the walls, it looks like a nice creamy white again.

Paint colours are really hard to get right. Although the blue is lovely, it's not quite what I had in mind. Luckily I have the rest of the main floor to try blues on!

I adore Heron Plume, from Sherwin Williams. It's in the greige spectrum, and has just enough depth to be interesting.

It's visible in the after photos here.

we just went with benjamin moore's "chantilly lace" (over "cotton balls") for our dark 2nd bedroom.

So nice to see the topic of shades of white being discussed. So many people just think white is white and comes only in white without realizing that the spectrum of white is all over the place.

I tend towards cool bright whites (I just used Decorators White (Benjamin Moore) for my last apartment. I liked that it was a bright pure white with a hint of blue.

I think white is highly underestimated and can be really lovely in the right hue and setting.

I like all of these but agree with those comments that mention light. One person's bright white can be another's dull grey or even beige depending on where the room is and how the light comes in.

What kind of white would you recommend for a northeast-facing room that gets little light and maybe a little bit of a greenish cast from the yard?
I was actually considering BM ice cube silver at one point and it looked like deep gray in there.

"Wash Basin" by Ralph Lauren has been my favorite. It is in my master bath, with Super White trim.

"Country Dairy" by RL is a clay white in my kitchen. Works nice with the black sashes and white cabinets and trim.

"Collector's Item" by Ben Moore in my living room, for the bookcases. Looks great with the natural wood trim and beams. Planning to do the walls a nice medium gray.

I put BM "Calm" on the ceiling and trim of my bathroom because side-by-side, it matched the tile.

It does not match the tile, but it also doesn't call attention to itself. It actually looks great.

I used BM Celery Salt for the trim in much of the house, but it's far from white - a greeny-creamy color which looks better than it sounds. It's also the exact shade of "white" in all the Amy Butler fabric I'm using to sew curtains, lampshades, etc.

Silk Pillow - it is warm and rich like thick lather in a bathtub. Works beautifully with exposed brick b/c it has a hint of red and yellow.

Sherwin Williams - Downy

I have a great deal of dark wood trim, and finding a white paint that looked good with it was tricky. I ended up choosing Benjamin Moore's Glacier White.

BM- Decorator's White for a more modern look, Simply White for a slightly creamier look. I paint everything white!

Warm grey always looks elegant and classy, and will go with pretty much any decor. I'd stay away from the yellowy-whites because they just end up looking like a sweaty white t-shirt.

It completely depends on the light and the architecture of the space. For example, I used- and loved- BM White Dove in my craftsman style apartment. The vaulted ceiling and weathered gave it a almost moody presence. We just purchased a home built in the 70's,with lots of angles and open spaces. The living room is north facing, but pretty bright. I like white in the main living area, and when I put up white Dove it looked terrible... dingy and very gray. I can't stand peach/rose tones in whites, so I tried to find one with just a touch of yellow but no peachy tone, and I ended up with BM Bavarian cream. It looks fantastic in that space. So here is my conclusion: try them all, even if it means blowing some cash on quarts and painting almost a whole wall.

@Vickyb

Snowdrift is a Dulux paint. If you cannot find it, you can reproduce Chantilly Lace by getting the formula from a US paint store and giving it to a custom paint supplier in the UK.

I have ''Chantilly Lace'' on every wall of my apartment and I absolutely LOVE it!!!
It's very very bright and not boring at all!

I totally recommend it!!

I like more grey/blue whites...but I'm a cool color kinda girl, especially for neutrals...no brown (or warmth, lol) in my house

Chantilly Lace all the way. I got that white brochure from BM and put it up in every room, and watched the colors in every light, time of day. Chantilly Lace was the most neutral, beautiful tone. I still love it - even in eggshell in the kitchen/bath and in semi-gloss on the trim. It's also a super clean white that doesn't make all my white cabinets (IKEA abstrakt white kitchen cabs), caesarstone blizzard counters and fixtures look creamy. Super white and decorators white unfortunately did that.

@Emily the cat - so glad you used Chantilly Lace after that thread! :) And not to be all stalker-y - but I check redfin in the 'hood and was surprised to see your place on there, you're only 3 blocks away! Sorry to see you leave the hood - your place is gorgeous!

For interior walls, I love Benjamin Moore Ballet White together with Super White for trim. Ballet white is cozy without color. It maintains its neutrality all times of day and all sides of the house. Using the Ballet White in a washable matte and juxtaposing it with a bright, Super White semigloss on the wide board trim makes everything look sharp and crisp without too much contrast.

@romeoandjewels - Hey, that's cool - how fun to have AT neighbors! Unfortunately, I never actually lived in that house - it was always rented out - and for reasons too complicated to get into here, it's definitely the right time for us to sell. But I'm glad you like it - I've always loved it, and I'm sad to part with it. =)