mommy, I can't comment on everything, I'm not that good! Just wanted to say I support your moldings and you painting them white. Just white is all we ever use, nothing extra bright, etc. We use bright white on the ceilings. Others have gone with the 50% color and loved it. I think it depends on the color and how it comes out when it's cut. Also, I love the Concord Ivory, I think it's a beautiful color.

BM Golden Straw 2152-50, Mannequin Cream 2152-60 and cornsilk 198, are very pretty colors you might want to check out for other things. Good luck with your project.

I'm not a big bright white fan myself. For a pure white, however, I really like BM "Simply White." For creamier white, I think Farrow & Ball's "Pointing" is gorgeous. I hope gwendolynne doesn't mind, but I've added a link (from the "Gallery" side of the forum) to photos from her home, in which she used "Pointing" for her trim work.

A really lovely and creamy not-quite-white is California Paints "Jewett White," which I used for the trim in my dining room. Here's how it looks most of the time:

In a darkened room:

And in brighter light:

Here is a link that might be useful: F&B

Thanks, I'm appreciating the pictures (I need all the help I can get). BM's simply white is actualy one that I was eyeing from my PB fan deck this evening.

Any ceiling help, cream colors, more whites to try? You are all the greatest!

We just completed a cottage home and went with white trim and creamy white walls. I love the look.

It's tough to suggest whites for other people's homes because so much depends on the light in the rooms. We went with SW "Snowbound" for the trim and SW "Creamy" for the walls. The effect I was going for was for a bit of warmth on the walls with a white that didn't make the trim look dingy or grey. In our case, I think these colors worked nicely.

I love the look of white, especially combined with very soft pastels on some of the walls. We have been gradually redoing all of our home's darker trim with white, and it opens up and brightens the rooms beautifully. We are redoing our guest bedroom and master bathroom in all white (with just a little silver sage or pale aqua trim and lots of white beadboard). I really love the look. I'll post pictures later this winter when they are done.

While I'm not really a white-trim fan myself, when we were prepping the previous house for sale we had every inch of the stained-pine trim painted just plain old off-the-shelf ready-mixed white (three different brands, even - Muralo, BM, and SW - and they all matched perfectly, that was so convenient and will be for the buyers as well when they need to touch up). It went over very, very well.

As for ceilings, though, I am a white-ceiling gal all the way. It always feels to me like colored ceilings close in the room, like putting a lid on a box, and a white ceiling "lifts the lid". (However, if you have very high ceilings and want to deemphasize that height, you may want to "close the lid".) The color of the walls does alter the color of the ceiling anyway just because of how the light reflects on it - the same white paint looks different in a room with blue walls from how it does in a room with red walls. With dark wood beams I especially love the illusion of old-fashioned white plaster between the dark wood - so pretty and classic.

The suggestions are all so helpful. I picked up a few more samples this afternoon and I'll let you know how the "testing" continues to go. I'm testing PB's simply irrisistible for on my island.

Mommy, your home sounds like it will be gorgeous. We just completed our build, and we went through a lot of the same decisions. We ended up painting our trim a creamy white, BM Vanilla Ice Cream, and it really works well with the earthy color pallette we used throughout the home - mustard, brick red, warm browns, etc. However, I do think that a brighter white works better with some cooler shades of blue, green, etc. So I think it depends on the wall colors you're planning on going with. I'm also with johnmari on the issue of white ceilings. Ours are the same creamy color as the trim. It does lend height to the room visually, and it also makes transitions between adjoining open areas easier.

I hope you'll post pictures when things start coming together for you.

Jan

Thanks for more ideas!

Jan, I would love to see pictures as your colors seem similar to mine. SO, if I understand you correctly...you used the vanilla ice cream color on the ceiling too. What paint sheens did you use in the different areas. Thank you!

Mommyto4boys - Here are some pictures. The trim, stair railings, windows, and doors are all the BM Vanilla Ice Cream, as well as the ceilings. The trim work is a semi-gloss finish, while the walls are the BM Regal Matte finish, which combines the look of a matte finish with the cleanability of a satin finish. As you know, cleanability is important when you have boys, right? LOL I have two of my own, so I'm in the same boat.

Here is the foyer area:
BM Vanilla Ice Cream with BM Wilmington Tan

Here is another photo with the same color combinations:

BM Vanilla Ice Cream with SW Flower Pot (note that the cabinets are not BM Vanilla Ice Cream, but a standard antique white, glazed in brown):

This is BM Vanilla Ice Cream with BM Old Canal:

My boys wanted blue rooms, so that's what we did, but I think a brighter white might look better with the blue walls. This is BM Vanilla Ice Cream with BM Swiss Blue:

BM Vanilla Ice Cream with BM Jet Stream:

Again, I love the creamy white, and I think it works best with warm colors.

Hope this is helpful,

Jan

Jan- Thank you! I have admired your home before! I love your colors and your kitchen! Dh wouldn't go for all painted cabinets & he (both) of us fell for this one cherry stain that our cabinet maker did as a sample. Wasn't at all what we originally had envisioned. Hence my reason for the painted island and stained cabinets, etc. Are you at all familiar with BM's concord ivory and maroccan red. I'm looking at the concord ivory in my kitchen/family room and the maroccan red in our formal dining room. I will try the vanilla ice cream this week. I think it is great in your boys' rooms. We have very similar styles. Thanks again for posting the pictures.

mommyto4boys, I think the BM concord ivory and maroccan red will look great together. I checked them out on the BM online personal color viewer. They are both warm and very harmonizing. They are similar to the colors we have, and they do work well with one another. Shades of red are so great in kitchens and dining areas. I read somewhere that the color red is stimulating to the appetite.

I know others have said that painting a large sheet of poster board or an entire wall will really be helpful in making you sure of the decision once you narrow your choices, and it sounds like you have. We struggled to choose paint colors, and it is definitely much harder than it looks.

We had hickory and oak stained cabinets in our previous homes, so we wanted something different this time, but stained wood is gorgeous and timeless. I love it just as much as painted wood. I think the two together (painted and stained) are even better. I do remember one of your previous posts on the cherry stain, and it is really stunning. Your home sounds like it will have a lot of detail and fabulous accents.

I should mention that I "stole" the trim color (BM Vanilla Ice Cream) and our kitchen color (SW Flower Pot) from a beautiful home on a parade of homes tour. Come to think of it, I used the same hardwood flooring and interior doors and door hardware as well - LOL. It was great because I saw something that really clicked for me, and I knew I would love it because I did when touring the parade home in person. It really helps to have an inspiration.

Jan

Some white suggestions:
warm white: SW Creamy, SW Dover White, BM Creamy White, BM Monterey White, BM Timid White.
more neutral white, not too cool or warm: Farrow & Ball All White, SW Pure White, BM Decorator's White, SW Snowboaund, SW Alabaster.
Starker, crisper white: BM Brilliant White, BM Decorator's White, SW Extra White