Who would ever dream that choosing an interior white paint color could be so hard. Whites can be bright, creamy, and even carry some gray tones. Believe me when I say there are thousands of different shades of white. This can be a daunting task if you don’t have somewhere to start.
Keep in mind, when choosing the perfect white paint color for your home, you will need to consider the amount of direct sunlight your home or room receives. This will make a huge difference in the white you go with. You will also want to ask yourself these questions: Do I want a bright, stark white? A creamier white? Or maybe even a white with hints of gray?
We enjoy using shades of white on the interior because it creates that bright and airy feel that we love so much. White also creates a clean, timeless look that will never go out of style.
A few months back we wrote about our favorite exterior white paint colors, so in this article, I’m going to share our favorite interior white paint colors. This seems to always be a hot topic and a question that comes up very often.
Sherwin Williams Creamy
Our current modern farmhouse is painted in Sherwin Williams Creamy. We chose to paint the walls, ceilings, and trim all the same color. The only difference being the trim, doors, and shiplap are a satin finish.
We liked the clean look of it all being the same color and are doing the same in our new build. Not to mention, it makes for a much easier paint job.
Creamy is a soft and subtle creamy white. We chose this to match our kitchen cabinetry color which is also on the creamy side.
Benjamin Moore White Dove
White Dove by Benjamin Moore is one of the most popular white paint colors out there and for good reason. It’s a beautiful white that has subtle undertones depending on the light, but it always looks clean, elegant, and timeless.
Sherwin Williams Pure White
Pure White is one we also mentioned for the exterior. It is a very elegant white that pulls the colors of what is around it.
A majority of the walls, ceilings, trim, and doors in our current home are painted in Pure White. We love this color so much we are also using it in our current flip house project.
Benjamin Moore Navajo White
If you are looking for a creamy white, Navajo White by Benjamin Moore will be perfect. It is on the creamy side with a dose of yellow. I personally would use this color more in a sunroom, mudroom, or bath.
Sherwin Williams Extra White
Extra White by Sherwin Williams is a bright white with a modern feel. It is great for painting cabinetry and also beautiful on walls, trim, and ceilings.
Sherwin Williams Alabaster
Sherwin Williams Alabaster has been favored for many years, even winning color of the year in 2016. It is a very soft white, but not on the creamy side at all. It’s another top choice for our new home build interior walls.
Valspar Promenade
Promenade by Valspar keeps within the cool neutral white-gray tones. It’s a touch darker than Extra White, but just enough. It’s great for a living area or bedroom.
Benjamin Moore Simply White
Simply White by Benjamin Moore is a very popular white used among lots of designers. It’s a soft white, but not too creamy. It is for sure one of my favorites and maybe a contender for our new home.
Benjamin Moore Moonlight White
Moonlight White by Benjamin Moore is a sophisticated color and very versatile. It’s perfect if you are going for more of a clean, modern feel.
Benjamin Moore Cloud White
Benjamin Moore’s Cloud White is a classic off-white. Its name is very fitting because it is truly a cloudy white. It’s very warm and soft on the eyes.
Keep in mind that while going with a white, clean backdrop for the interior of your home, there are several ways to add warmth to an all-white room. I love the look and feel of the lighter color palette, but a home also needs elements of warmth to make it feel cozy.
Sample Before You Paint
Before you invest money in gallons of paint, it’s extremely important that you sample several paint color options first. You can do it the old-fashioned way, which is time-consuming and messy. Or you can use Samplize to order large peel-and-stick paint samples with accurate color representation.
31 Comments
Love this post! Whites can change the look of a house depending on the one you choose! Thanks for the pictures to go along with the names!
July 17, 2019 at 1:25 amYou are so right! And you’re welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.
July 17, 2019 at 1:48 amThis interior white and the exterior black posts are sooo helpful. Paint is soooo intimidating to me!
August 29, 2019 at 12:16 pmLove all of your favourite whites! What colour did you go with for your new home?
March 3, 2020 at 10:36 pmWould you mind sharing what color you have in your new home?
July 8, 2020 at 3:36 amWe just painted our son’s 1500-sq-ft ranch house White Dove — ceilings, trim, walls and doors. I feel like it is the perfect white. Bright in high light, soft with a hint of grey in low light. We couldn’t be happier.
July 17, 2019 at 1:27 amAwesome! It’s so nice to hear people’s first hand experience with a color. It helps a lot. And I like that you painted everything the same white! 🙂
July 17, 2019 at 1:49 amGood morning,
Can you tell me what color hardwood stain you chose for the first entryway picture? Thank you.
April 10, 2022 at 2:05 pmWe painted all of our interior walls Alabaster with Pure White trim and couldn’t be happier!
July 17, 2019 at 2:04 pmThere’s a very subtle difference between the two which is what we were going for.
I’m sure that is beautiful! If we were going to do a different white on the trim, I would definitely want it to be subtle.
July 17, 2019 at 3:31 pmCan I ask what color you painted your kitchen cabinets? Just found your blog and I LOVE it!
July 22, 2019 at 4:39 amHello Amy! Our current cabinets were not actually a custom color, they were factory painted.
January 20, 2020 at 3:13 pmGreat post thank you!! Do you typically match the color of the walls to the color of your cabinets? The cabinets we ordered are in white dove. Should I paint the walls that color too or go with a more creamy white or simply white?
Thank you!
October 29, 2019 at 11:38 amI would like to paint my interior home trim,walls,ceiling the same color. Im going back and forth with SW -Alabaster White and BM White Dove. My kitchen cabinets are painted in Alabaster. I wanted to get your opinion. Some of my doors are painted with Wrought Iron color. I would like your advise of which color is better. Thank You!
January 19, 2020 at 1:10 amHello Maria!
January 20, 2020 at 3:15 pmI love painting the walls and ceilings the same color, great idea! Since your cabinets are already Alabaster, I would probably stick to this. It will be a good contrast with your doors.
I’m in the process of a complete change of colours in my home. My furniture is warm browns and tans with some blue and I have oak trim and exposed beams. My plan is a soft neutral pallet with cream walls and a darker shade for the beams. My dilemma is wanting a soft cream without it looking dirty in dim light but not too bright either. I’m looking a Benjamin Moore Navajo white but it looks dirty in some lights. Do you have a suggestion for my walls and a subtle contrast for the beams? Thank you
February 25, 2020 at 4:29 pmHi Rhonda. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. We used Sherwin Williams Creamy in our farmhouse and we loved it. It added just the right amount of warmth without looking too yellowish. You should give it a try.
March 24, 2020 at 9:24 pmHi Brooke & Henry-
April 19, 2020 at 5:28 pmThank you for all of the helpful articles on paint. Which line of Sherwin Williams do you recommend for walls & trim? Thank you!
Could you suggest a white that will compliment concrete which has both brown and grey undertones. I don’t have any grey in this room. Chocolate brown sofa and dark hardwood floors. I’m having a hard time finding the right white as I don’t want anything creamy. Any help is appreciated.
August 11, 2020 at 1:12 amHi!
September 8, 2020 at 3:30 amIf you paint Creamy on walls and want a complimentary lighter white on trim what would you use?
Can you please tell me what stain you used on the wood doors in the creamy Sherwin Williams picture?
November 16, 2020 at 3:37 amHello! I Recently chose SW Creamy for my new home, started to second guess myself and then found this article. 😁 Can you by chance please send more photos of your modern farmhouse? Thank you
November 26, 2020 at 1:10 pmPleeeeeese tell where you got the big black window that slides open!
Thank you
April 20, 2021 at 8:00 pmWe are going to paint our foyer in creamy Sherwin Williams and I love the simply white for the trim. I wanted to get your opinion to see if you think that would bring out any yellow tone from the creamy? I don’t want yellows.
July 17, 2021 at 5:57 pmThank you!
Amy
Hello
I am Struggling to find the perfect warm white for my stucco CA home (inviting yet not too yellow when the sunsets) not cold either or too grey…
I have Narrowed down to
White Dove (hoping not too bright white or grey)
Greek villa (seems warm not too yellow)
Swiss coffee ( worry to yellow)
Or I custom 50/50 Swiss coffee/white dove to mellow out both?
Why is this so hard hahaha
Also looking to do a dark black/brown so a warmer black for the trim areas.
August 22, 2021 at 10:17 pmI am Also possibly in need of a 3rd color for the random stucco popouts but worry the black would be too harsh for those
SOS hahaha
Kelly
Hi ! Im painting my interior walls BM Muslin. Trying to find the right ceiling color. I think that BM White Dove might be too grey. I have low light rooms except for a west facing kitchen. I’m leaning towards Simply White but might be too yellow in the west facing kitchen. Help!
August 30, 2021 at 7:27 amHi! Great colors and article! I also have painted our modern farmhouse sherwin williams creamy and am looking for the wood stain color you have in the creamy picture if you can please share this would be such a huge help! Thank you and take care!
October 7, 2021 at 5:50 pmHello, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get a lot of spam responses? If so how do you protect against it, any plugin or anything you can suggest? I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any support is very much appreciated.
February 24, 2022 at 4:22 amI’m looking for advice I got my kitchen cabinets painted white dove and I’m thinking of painting the entire house the same is this a good idea? Or what would you suggest I paint the walls my floors are going to be a light honey colour
March 16, 2022 at 8:29 pmSherwin Williams Pure White is in the picture at the beginning of the article but then you don’t mention it. When you talked about BM Pure White, did you mean SW Pure White? I know BM makes a Pure White too, was just looking for it in your article since it’s in the circles at the beginning!
April 16, 2022 at 5:15 amSame, curious! As we are about to paint whole interior + Cabinets in SW pure white. We have alot of natural light.
August 4, 2022 at 10:50 pm