Painting Our Home White with Benjamin Moore

If you’ve ever had to choose white paint before, then you know it’s not as easy as looking at a color chip, and you’re on your way.

White paint looks different in every house, in every room, and at every time of day. Yes, it was one of those pull your hair out of your head decisions for me. Did you watch my stories when I was going through the dreaded paint choices?

Well, hopefully, this post will save you a couple of headaches if you’re trying to find a beautiful white paint color. Depending on your budget, this is something you want to consider… PAINT QUALITY MATTERS!

I knew I wanted a warm white in our house, mainly because the original plan was to paint our whole house the same color. So with our designer, we chose White Dove (OC-17) by Benjamin Moore early on in the process. It’s a popular color amongst designers because it’s a soft white with a hint of grey and it just looks very classic. It also looks beautiful on trim and cabinets, which we ended up using too.

When it came time to start the painting, our painter tested our paint color in a kid’s room upstairs. I knew that paint looks different on walls than it does on trim, so we tested both. When I saw the sample in Taylor’s bedroom, I was disappointed because it looked so grey and yellow. It definitely wasn’t what I was envisioning, and I remember my heart sinking a little.

I didn’t know what to do because we had all settled on the paint color quickly early on. I never predicted this would happen. I didn’t want this decision to affect the timeline of the build, so the pressure was on!

I called Benjamin Moore to talk about their paint colors because, at this point, I thought we needed to select a different white, and they told me that Benjamin Moore’s white paints are tough to match because most painters start with a grey/white base. Not sure if this is true or not, as I haven’t fact-checked this, but it made so much sense in our case. I then decided to get a sample of the actual Benjamin Moore White Dove to paint in their Aura line, and it made all the difference.

Most painters choose a lower-quality paint brand, because it’s more cost-effective and mix the color you want. This isn’t always the best route like we experienced. Like anything, quality lasts longer, and this is very true with paint too. When it comes to quality paint, a lot of the time, it goes on thicker, so you don’t need as many coats, which ended up being the case in our situation. So a gallon may cost more than a knock-off brand, but you won’t need to buy as much, which makes a pretty big difference when you’re painting an entire house. You also have a piece of mind knowing the color is precisely the way it’s supposed to be.

Benjamin Moore also has a line called Scuff-X, and the name pretty much says it all. It’s super durable paint that protects your paint finish from dirty little hands and scuff marks. We chose this paint for crowns, frames, doors, and baseboards. Scroll down to the bottom for our full list of products.