It feels like every day we turn around and our inbox and DMs are filled with people asking what color of white they should paint the exterior of their home. Many of them follow that by stating “I do not want a stark white house.”
I personally love this question because our family built a “not stark white brick and trim home” six years ago and I have no regrets. I chose the only “white” brick option offered by our builder and I custom matched Moderate White by Sherwin Williams for our trim and shake. You can read all about it here.
LRV is an important term when it comes to paint. LRV stands for Light Reflective Value. LRV refers to the percentage of light a paint color reflects. It is measured on a scale from 0%, which is black and doesn’t reflect any light to 100%, which is pure white and reflects all light. So you can see the higher the LRV the “whiter or lighter” the paint will be.
Now let’s jump into THREE warm whites that are perfect for exteriors.
SHERWIN WILLIAMS: SHOJI WHITE (LRV 74)
SHOJI WHITE has a LRV of 74 giving it a softer, creamier, warmer presentation. I like to remind clients that white paint colors, in general, show up a lot lighter than you think when they are outside in natural sunlight. So, don’t choose white paint with a high LRV and expect it to feel warm outside.
Here is SHOJI WHITE at THE SHOCKLEY PROJECT.
HERE IS WHY WE CHOSE SHOJI FOR THIS HOME:
A few years ago a client of mine was building a new house. The majority of the home would be board and batten with a brick front porch. She has a vision, I had an inspiration photo and we went with it. We talked about a lot of shades of white. One day I asked her, “What is the color of your current home? It looks so pretty with your brick porch.” She said, “Shoji White and I love it!”
Sometimes in life (and design) if something isn’t broken….don’t fix it! She loved the warmth of Shoji. She would pair it again with another brick porch. So we went with it and it is stunning. It is warm and welcoming.
BENJAMIN MOORE: BALLET WHITE (LRV 73.54)
One of my very favorite painted brick homes belongs to a great friend and client. She painted her red brick home Ballet White a few years ago and it is stunning.
Ballet White is a creamy white. Almost the same LRV as Shoji White. Ballet White pairs well with natural stone in brown tones. So if you have a lot of natural stone on your home as well, this might be a great option for you. I love it with dark shutters and I love it with gray shutters as shown below. Everytime I drive up to a home painted ballet white or see one in photos, I am always taken back by the beauty of this color.
Via: HOUZZ
BENJAMIN MOORE: DOVER WHITE (LRV 82)
Dover is the lightest of all three of these paints mentioned in this post with a LRV of 82. This might be the paint for you if you love a lighter white look and want to steer clear of more visible yellow undertones.
I love how it is paired here with a soft gray blue for shutters.
As always, I recommend getting a sample of paint and trying it out on all sides of your exterior. Direction of the sun matters when selecting paint. Trying this out will allow you to see any undertones the paint may pull.
If you aren’t able to paint a sample on your home, I recommend painting as sample on a board, step back and see it from a distance. I also love paint samples from Samplize. They are true to color, peel and stick, and deliver to your doorstep in 24 hours or less.
Sherwin Williams offers peel and stick paint samples online. They do carry a select few in their stores that might be available for quick pick up.
I also recommend searching online for images of the paint color you are looking at, but I do often caution clients that most photos online are edited and the color you think you are getting might not be what truly is.
So sample, sample, sample!!!
Hope this is helpful and inspiring to those of you looking to paint your exteriors white.
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