White Walls Are Trending: Best White Interior Paint Colors

SHOP:  Ethan Sectiona

Trends are interesting, in that once was considered outdated suddenly reappears in a fresh, new way and we have reason to love it again. In fact, so much that it becomes a trend!

White walls, for example. As a designer, I remember when priority #1 was usually to banish the white walls and create some warmth!

While eliminating the white may still turn out to be the best choice for some designs, and not everyone will like this new trend, white is definitely one of the new favorites of the design world.

Thrifty Decor Chick

But how can you reinvent white walls? Isn’t white just white?

Yes, but many designers are using it in ways that seem fresh — using contrast, playing with texture, adding interest with ship lap, plank, or brick walls.  We recently jumped on the trend with a DIY white faux brick wall for our showroom.

We live in Minnesota, though!  White seems too cold?

It definitely can be – it all depends on the white you choose (warmer whites vs. cold, stark whites) and what you pair it with.

Using white in conjunction with warm or bold colors, cozy fabrics and leathers, loads of texture and the warmth of wood also lends itself to a cozier space.

Barrow Cocktail Table| Similar Sofa | Coventry Display Cabinet
Paint Color: Hirshfield’s 0023 Shell Tint

So which white paint???

There are definitely a lot of whites out there – amazingly so.  In fact, Benjamin Moore alone has 250 white paint colors!  Yikes.

Designers have their favorites though, and even paint companies tend to sell a certain few more than anything else.  To save you some time, we’ve narrowed it down for you.

White Paint Color Options:

Out of all of it’s 250 white paints, Benjamin Moore chose Simply White as it’s 2016 Color of the Year — “a warm white, and it felt to us the cleanest and the most versatile. It looked fresh with a warm palette or a cool palette.”

(You can read more about how they chose the color here.)

In our recent Q&A with Stephanie from The Divine Living Space, she chose Benjamin Moore’s Decorator’s White as her current favorite – “a warm and modern white without blue or yellow undertones”.

Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White | Evars Anderson Interior Design via HomeBunch

Studio McGee is known for their fresh white spaces and they’ve tested and tried dozens of white paints. They have a great round-up of their top choices, including Benjamin Moore White Dove and Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee, here.

We use Hirshfield’s paints exclusively in our showrooms, and this past January they blogged about the warm white paint color Sugar Dust 0011.   It’s a favorite off-white paint of their designers and works well in a Minnesota climate.  Read more about it and see more inspiration here.

Cindy Parker Interiors via Houzz

The Hirshfield’s whites that we’ve used to date in our showrooms are: White Fence, Mineral Water, Always Neutral and Shell Tint.

Keep in mind that the environment and lighting in a furniture showroom is quite different than a home environment.  Also, any image that you see on the internet showing a paint color will look different in real life.  Always test paint colors in your own space before committing!

For more inspiration in white, check out this post: Decorating With White: Tips, Inspiration and Ideas.