10 of the best white paint colours for your walls and ceilings
One of the hardest decorating decisions to make when painting your home is to pick the perfect white paint colour. Unlike heavily pigmented colours, it is incredibly hard to select a shade of white off of a colour card. White paint colours also have a vast spectrum - from warm or off-whites to pure brilliant, creamy, antique, cool or shadow whites; to whites with undertones of blue, yellow, grey, brown or red. Choosing a white shade to paint your walls, ceilings or woodwork can feel like a minefield, so here are ten popular white paint colours that have been tried, tested and endorsed by design experts.
School House White - Farrow & Ball
Slaked Lime - Little Greene Paint Company
Silent White Pale - Little Greene Paint Company
Flawless - Crown Paints
Shaded White - Farrow & Ball
Khadi - Atelier Ellis
Steamed Milk - Rust-Oleum
Snowy Owl - Sanderson
White Dove - Benjamin Moore
Canvas I - Paint & Paper Library
‘School House White’ by Farrow & Ball. Image credit: Farrow & Ball.
School House White - Farrow & Ball
Now firmly cemented as one of Farrow & Ball’s most coveted paint colours, School House White is a fairly new shade for Farrow & Ball as it was only added to their colour palette in 2018. Now Farrow & Ball’s most go-to white (overtaking ‘Wimborne White’), this is the first white colour to navigate towards on the Farrow & Ball colour card. The soft shade was inspired by the white tones often used in old school houses, so it is a very architectural white and works particulary well in older, period homes.
A dreamy kitchen extension painted in Slaked Lime by Little Greene. Kitchen designer and owner: Jess Hurrell. Image credit: Kasia Fiszer Photography.
Slaked Lime - Little Greene Paint Company
Slaked Lime and its associated shades on the colour scales chart (Slaked Lime Pale, Deep and Mid) is a very popular white with a dedicated following due to the nature of it being a clean, crisp white that isn’t too bright or blinding. It’s a brilliant soft but warm shade to use in large rooms and in kitchen extensions where lots of other colours will exist in the space (this shade has no overt undertones so works alongside a variety of hues).
Slaked Lime by Little Greene used on the walls of my own kitchen. You can see the difference between Slaked Lime and a pure brilliant white with the contrast line between the walls and the ceiling.
Silent White Pale - Little Greene Paint Company
Interiors guru Bianca Hall knows a thing or two about white paint colours. As someone who has tried and tested many in her home over the years, it is Silent White Pale that was the shade she chose for her incredible family bathroom renovation. This slightly creamy white with small undertones of red works particularly well alongside lighter whites, pink, cream and delicate, soft brown shades. To see more of Bianca’s bathroom with pink marble tiles, click here to be taken to her blog.
The extremely talented Bianca Hall used Little Greene’s ‘Silent White Pale’ on the walls of her incredible bathroom renovation. Image Credit: French For Pineapple.
Flawless - Crown Paints
One of my favourite off-white shades and the colour I painted my own bedroom in! Flawless by Crown Paints - part of the Elle Decoration range - has a chalky, smooth matt application which compliments the neutral shade that can look greyer in the evening and creamier in the sunshine.
Flawless by Crown Paints in my own bedroom at home.
Shaded White - Farrow & Ball
This off-white is favoured by esteemed interior designers such as Rebecca Wakefield who named Shaded White her favourite white to use in client projects. It’s also a white that I painted my last house in as it has such a deep, interesting tone to it. A light grey-beige, it’s a gentle white with a perfect balance that isn’t ‘too grey’.
A perfect example of how Farrow & Ball’s Shaded White looks on the walls here in the wonderful home of Kerry Villers. Image credit: Kerry Villers.
Khadi - Atelier Ellis
Atelier Ellis is an independent paint brand launched by Cassandra Ellis that develops its own formulas and colours, so the carefully curated palette has been lovingly created and honed to perfection. Khadi - one of the 21 white paint offerings from the brand - is a deep, natural white that works well with tones of mustard yellow.
‘Khadi’ by designer paint brand Atelier Ellis.
Steamed Milk - Rust-Oleum
This off-white from multi-surface paint brand Rust-Oleum has cult status on social media. A clean white with a very slight yellow tinge, I’ve used this white on both the kitchen cabinets and in my small downstairs toilet at home. The great thing about the Rust-Oleum paint colours is that they are available for multiple surfaces (you can get Steamed Milk as emulsion or as kitchen cupboard paint) and it is at the lower end of the scale for paint in terms of price.
Steamed Milk used on the walls of my small downstairs toilet at home.
Snowy Owl - Sanderson
Loved by author and creator Lisa Dawson, Snowy Owl is a clear, pure white that works well in large areas such as hallways or on ceilings. A cool, antique white that avoids being dazzling or vivid.
Snowy Owl in the hallway of Lisa Dawson’s home. Image credit: Lisa Dawson.
Benjamin Moore - White Dove
One of the most popular white shades to use in the US, White Dove is very Hamptons white: milky, crisp and cool with just a touch of grey. A versatile white that can be used alongside many other colours.
Benjamin Moore’s White Dove is a popular shade of white in the US. Image Credit: Cozy And Kin.
Canvas I - Paint & Paper Library
The ultimate warm neutral - Canva I is a rich off-white that is incredibly warm and inviting and has a rich depth of tone. This is a great white to use in minimalist, pared-down black-and-white interior design schemes as the high pigmentation makes it a stand-alone architectural shade that doesn’t require a lot of other elements in the room to make it feel visually interesting.
Canvas I by Paint & Paper Library is used here on the walls and the woodwork in the home of The House That Black Built.