There are hundreds—no, thousands—of shades of white paint on the market. They range from warm to cool, soft to bright. We asked local designers to share their absolute, all-time favorite.
SWISS COFFEE Kelly Moore
“It’s my go-to white paint. It doesn’t take on surrounding colors, so you can put it next to gray or pink and it stays white. I’ve never used the same color twice—except for this color, which I use consistently, over and over. It’s the white I have in my own house.”—Cheryl Holben​
ALL WHITE Farrow & Ball
“I love it because it’s an honest, bold, crisp white. It pairs well with any color or material and is classic yet clean. I recently used it in a bedroom paired with a beautiful rich gray, and it was stunning. It works well in both natural and artificial light but is not for the faint of heart. It’s a very unapologetic white.”—Amy Aswell, Amy Aswell Interior Design
RIGHT WHITE Restoration Hardware
“Right White looks like a pure white without the coldness that is associated with a pure white. I would describe it as clean, crisp and bright. I like to use it in design schemes where I want a bright white trim to pop from the wall color. It especially looks great in contemporary spaces. I used it as a trim color in my master suite, and after many years it looks as good as when it was first painted.”—Joan Muttera, JM Designs
CHANTILLY LACE Benjamin Moore
“It is a beautiful bright white that makes for a very clean look and pairs wonderfully with warm grays. It works very well for modern interiors. I recently used it throughout an entire home, walls, ceilings, trim and kitchen cabinetry, changing only the sheen.”—Todd Peddicord, Todd Peddicord Designs
WHITE CASHMERE Kelly Moore
“My favorite white is my own custom color that I had Kelly Moore mix for me. It is a soft shade, not stark white, with no yellow, pink or blue undertones. It is an ideal white for spaces that are filled with a lot of natural light, and it’s beautiful with floors stained the color of driftwood or white sand. We have a lot of floor-to-ceiling windows in our home and a lot of white birch trees on our property. It blends beautifully with the birch trees and is especially beautiful on winter white days. It is a soft white during the day, and at night it glows.”—Paulette Trainor, Paulette Trainor Design
MASCARPONE Benjamin Moore
“Because I design in a transitional style most of the time, I tend to use a white that is warm, not stark, and lends itself to working with mellow, antique and patinated elements such as aged wood, vintage linens and parchments. I like a soft white, so there is not quite as much contrast as you might use in a very contemporary interior. I use white for trim most often, to contrast with a muted wall color.” —Janice Stone Thomas, StoneWood Design
