White Home Interior?

My house interior is all off white with all of the trim in a sharp white.

I add color in other ways and can change things out easily.

My daughter, thinks it is a boring white house and her room is pepto bismol pink with gold sparkles. I can't want to get that room back to white now that she is moved out and on her own!

I would never paint my walls white. I have rented for years and I hate having white walls and not being allowed to paint it. It just seems so plain to me. Also any type of stains or finger prints would show.

All white would drive me insane. However, my sister is an interior designer and her go-to "white" palate is Benjamin Moore Navajo White on the walls (creamy) with Benjamin Moore White Dove (bright) for trim. Benjamin Moore Ceiling White on the ceiling. Walls should be matte - Benjamin Moore's regal matte finish is scrubbable - and trim should be gloss or semi-gloss. The contrast in finish and shades makes the trim really pop. When we were moving from our old house, I did a few rooms in this scheme to better stage the house and it really is a lovely, sophisticated modern look that is very easy to live with without being stark or antiseptic.

FWIW, don't ever use cheap paint. Benjamin Moore is expensive but I tried to save money using another brand and hated it so much (spatters, poor coverage, colors not true) I ended up re-painting with BM.

I think it looks best if you have a very modern home with lots of windows. If you have a ranch, Spanish, Federal, etc, I think it looks rather stark and cold. The other thing is, your furniture would really need to go with it as well. White walls with a big La-Z-Boy recliner looks like a crappy rental. But if your house is super modern, full of light, and all your furniture is Swedish Modern, you're in luck because all white will totally work!

That said, if you don't quite have the architecture or furniture to carry off stark white, maybe try a color that is still neutral/cool, but less drastic. Currently, most of my downstairs walls are a pale butter yellow, with white ceilings and trim. I have double-height ceilings and tons of windows, and the overall effect is very light and airy - like you imagine an all-white room being, without having to change everything in my house to white. Anyway, just a thought.

There are a million shades of white. See what suits your fancy. If you want, there are even white palate recommendations. i.e. white A for the ceilings, white B for the trim, white C for the walls etc etc.

White's only disadvantage over other colors is that, to the extent this might be relevant, it will show stains and imperfections a little more strongly. Those smeary handprints, newspaper ink, candle soot, cooking grease, dust, pollen, etc etc can pop against white more so than against other colors.

Best,
F. B.

The only 3 rooms in my house that have color on the walls belonged to my children. One is sage green, one is medium blue, and the last is lavender. All other rooms are linen white and I love it. Easy enough to add color through pictures, accessories and window treatments. And the best part is you don't have to remember color names to do touch ups on the walls. I gallon buckets are cheaper than single gallons.

We rent a large 6 bedroom house. The ENTIRE inside of the house is white. I.hate.it. All our furniture is either oak, black or neutrals. If you have furnishings that go with it, then I could see it. But no, I don't like it and would change it in a second if I could. Good luck.

Put some color in your furnishings. Buy a decorating mag - it seems that more interiors are becoming white, vs. colored walls that became popular after the 80's.

Just make sure it's a pretty, warm, creamy white. There are some really hideous whites.

Also, put some gloss in your paint. Eggshell or satin. Flat paint is lifeless and won't wipe off.

No, no regrets but I decided I wanted something less stark in our new house.

I chose an off white that had no yellow in it....it wasn't a cream color but more of a winter wheat color. I don't like warm colors at all and chose an off white that had more of a blue undertone instead. I love it. I don't notice it at all.

When we bought this house it had cream colored walls and the accent wall was yuck, a medium colored coffee with a lot of milk in it color. I felt depressed all the time.

I like muted colors so I know that I don't want teal walls or something bright colors. I want walls that blend in to the background where we can see everything else.

So I chose a slightly off white color and I'm very happy with it.

We've always had white interiors - so does my mother.
If you get bored easily, you can change curtain colors frequently (or seasonally).

I don't have a white interior. Every rental I've ever lived in (mostly apartments) had all white walls. It is very antiseptic feeling to me. Once I owned my own home the last thing I wanted was white walls everywhere. But, since we couldn't decide on particular colors for each room, we had them paint it all white so we could easily change it later.

And I did. Every single room in the house in the 7 years we lived there. It was a pain doing it that way.

For this house, we avoided that and chose colors to start with. Most color is in the bedrooms (violet for daughter, son wanted burnt brick red, our room is a muted shade of forest green, bathroom is taupe, dining is burnt red, formal living and guest bath are a shade of mustard/gold. And everything else is a neutral tone--but not white. I think it is called biscuit.

Anyway, that is what I would suggest for you, if you don't like color. Choose a neutral shade that you can use as a background... but not white. White is hard on the eyes after a while and unless you are going for one of those designer looks where all the furniture and carpeting is white also, with just a pop of color with some throw pillows and a lamp shade, then you will want something "softer" than white.

Good luck.

Hi E.,

My DH and I rented for the first five years that we lived together. White walls everywhere for five years drove me a little cra cra. The first thing we did when we bought our house was to paint paint paint lots of lovely colors. Haven't regretted it ever. I love my rich colors. If you do decide to go the route of white, at least use a satin finish to give the walls a richer look. Have fun!! S.

Not for me. Stark and cold looking. Just my opinion. It seems in the 80s all white was in. Not any more. If you like very modern decour it could work

White interiors are very popular, especially in kitchens and bathrooms, because they give off a very clean look.
Get on Pinterest and search "white interior" you will see hundreds of lovely white rooms in all different styles.
I might consider this kind of look myself someday, especially if we end up in an older flat in the city, but for now I'm pretty happy with my neutral earth tones :-)

Love love love my all white interior house. Biggest regret was "What was I thinking having an entire white interior house with 2 kids ages 4-5?" Over the years, most every white wall and/or door has dirt marks in the shape of little hand prints or markers, etc all over the house. White walls with little ones is difficult to keep white. Gradually I painted a room or two different colors, which helped. I'd say the worst area to maintain was the white wall up the stairwell, simply because it's such a long and tall wall. Fifteen years later, as the kids are in their late teens, things are better, so I have repainted all remaining white walls with a fresh coat of white paint and everything is lovely again. Good luck with your white walls. I love them and never tire of them. White is so fresh and crisp looking.

I love my white walls! It's like a blank canvas and it keeps everything light, cheery and bright.
I get my color from the art on the walls, from the collectables on the shelves and the furniture and accents I put in.
I don't like my walls competing with the things I would rather be looking at. A wall isn't interesting. I don't want it over powering things. The art on our walls are things like movie posters or signed art prints or other things along those lines so they can be any color of the rainbow. A nice, bright, neutral color makes the art pop and nothing clashes.

Our first couple of addresses were in military base housing. Everything is white. You can paint, but you have to paint it back to white when you leave (too much work for me!). I hated it. When we bought our first house (we built it and picked colors), we didn't have one white wall. We don't have extreme colors, but earthy tones.

A friend just redid her kitchen to all white cabinets and walls. She painted her pantry door turquoise. I love it!

Updated

Our first couple of addresses were in military base housing. Everything is white. You can paint, but you have to paint it back to white when you leave (too much work for me!). I hated it. When we bought our first house (we built it and picked colors), we didn't have one white wall. We don't have extreme colors, but earthy tones.

A friend just redid her kitchen to all white cabinets and walls. She painted her pantry door turquoise. I love it!

I think all white looks like an apartment. You need to go slightly off white to get the right look. Consult with a decorator at a small paint store. They will steer you in the right direction.

Yes, I painted my very small town house all white. It was older so the wall were straight cut, not much to work with. I put down forest green carpet. [Disclaimer] This was a 90's house.

The couch was white and my winged arm chairs were deep green.

I loved the white walls with the green color pop. Some people loved it and some said it looked very nice, but not something they could do in their home...green carpet.

My neighbor did it when they built their house until she could figure out what she wanted. She hated it. I agree - it depends upon the style of the house. It's a very expensive house and it looks like a rental because the personality of the walls doesn't match the personality of the house. She thought "blank slate" and it turned out "temporary until the next renters move it." It's been 5 years and they're still white because it would cost $20K to repaint. Every day when she wakes up, she said she cringes.

Sorry, can't help. I hate the ALL white look. Too plain.