“….what is good taste and is it a quality worth noting in a person?… Taste is different than trend. Trend is current and fun. But taste shows you know what things mean, where they come from, why they exist, and what they represent. Very few young people have great taste – it takes too much wisdom. I once heard that wisdom doesn’t come with age, it comes with experience”.
- Cobi Ladner (previous editor of H&H magazine in a tribute to Nancy Jane Hastings, freelance contributor), 2002
I’m planning to take my rental walls from off-white to white this weekend. It was more difficult that I thought to find a white that wasn’t pink, blue or yellow. I think the fear with white paint is that it will create a cold, sterile effect which is why the dingy yellow-ish white usually prevails. White reflects colours from the contents of the room, and plays with light, creating a variety of coloured shadows as the natural light changes. By and large, of the real white-whites I’ve seen a lot of “cloud white”, “simply white” and “decorators white”, all from Benjamin Moore.
The winner so far is “simply white”, although I’m tempted by the name “cotton balls”. There is a phrase from a children’s book (which one?) that appeals to me for a room’s mood, “quieter than a cotton ball”. Full report to follow.
from Benjamin Moore's online fan deck
simply white is a house and home favorite – by the way so glad Cobi is no longer there she didn’t have “taste” in my tasteful opinion- I did B Moore Bavarian Cream at the cabin and it is amazing – Thea did her house in Kelowna the same and it looks great there too – I always wanted to try B Moore Sugar Cookie!! I bought their fan decks at the Sally Anne a while back so I could be just like those divas on CityLine! Tip: don’t compare paint chips against each other they have to be evaluated individually which I am sure you know – do update us on how you came to your decision and how natural light and furniture affect paint choice – I would love your advice on this
i ended up going with simply white. i’ve painted 2 walls so far. fresh, clean and bright, love it. my room is east facing, i have a brown sofa and teak (coloured) furniture, so the walls tend to look yellow/brown and can hold a really pure white. my artwork and photographs look a million times better but now i think i might have opened a can of worms…