I've Tested Hundreds of White Paint Colors – These Are the Five I Use Again and Again
After designing homes across the country, these are the whites I trust most – and why each one earns a place in my projects
If you've ever sent me a DM asking, 'Okay Molly, but what white paint color is THAT?' this article is for you.
I would venture to say it is the question I am asked more than any other. More than where I source antiques. More than what is my favorite stone. It's always the white. And for years, I've been… vague.
Partly because the answer isn't as simple as naming a paint color. But also because choosing the right white paint is one of the few design decisions that can completely transform a home – and one of the easiest to get wrong. So today, I am giving away the farm.
I've Tested Hundreds of White Paint Colors – These Are the Five Worth Using
If you look through nearly every project we've completed over the last several years, you'll start to notice a pattern. The cattle ranch in South Dakota. The storybook cottage in Maryland. Farmhouses throughout Oregon. Country houses in California… Even many of our new construction projects that were basically built yesterday but feel as though they've stood for generations.
They're white.
Or at least an MKS version of white.
Not builder white. Not stark gallery white. Not the kind of white that feels blue on a cloudy day and yellow by sunset. The whites I love are softer than that. They have dirt under their fingernails. They carry a little cream, a little earth, a little age. They feel more connected to nature than to a paint deck.
And while people often assume I choose white room ideas because they're 'safe,' the truth is almost the opposite. Decorating with white is one of the hardest schemes to get right.
One drop too cool and a room feels sterile. One drop too yellow and it starts feeling dated. One undertone can make beautiful oak floors look orange. Another can make limestone suddenly feel gray.
When I am choosing a white paint, I rarely think about the paint itself.
I'm thinking about the light. I'm thinking about the land. I'm thinking about every material surrounding it.
The same white that looks beautiful on a cloudy Oregon morning will look entirely different beneath the bright sun of Southern California. A white that feels perfect next to antique brick may fall flat against limestone. The white I choose for a heavily wooded property is rarely the same white I would choose for an open coastal site.
Before I ever pull a paint sample, I am studying what already exists. The color of the soil. The surrounding trees. The age of the architecture. The direction the house faces. The stone, plaster, wood, and metals we're using throughout the project.
The best white isn't chosen in isolation. It is chosen in relationship.
That's why I believe the most beautiful white homes feel as though they've always belonged exactly where they stand.
I often reflect on the buildings that have shaped my own understanding of beauty: English farmhouses, French country estates, coastal New England homes, weathered barns throughout the Pacific Northwest. Their power rarely comes from color. It comes from proportion, materiality, and light.
"When I am choosing a white paint, I rarely think about the paint itself. I'm thinking about the light. I'm thinking about the land. I'm thinking about every material surrounding it."
A white exterior captures morning light differently than afternoon light. It changes with the seasons. It highlights the shadow lines beneath a roof. It emphasizes the texture of stone and brick. It allows an old cedar tree or climbing rose to become part of the architecture itself.
White doesn't compete with a landscape. It participates in it. Inside, the same philosophy applies.
1. Benjamin Moore – White Dove
One of my most trusted colors is Benjamin Moore White Dove. If I had to choose only one white for the rest of my career, White Dove would be difficult to beat. It has a softness that feels warm without ever becoming creamy. It works with antiques. It works with contemporary architecture. It works with nearly every natural material I love. It simply behaves.
2. Benjamin Moore – Swiss Coffee
Swiss Coffee is another favorite, though for a different reason. There is something nostalgic about it. It feels familiar in the best possible way. In homes filled with old wood, linen, vintage rugs, and collected pieces, Swiss Coffee creates an immediate sense of comfort. It is the design equivalent of candlelight.
3. Benjamin Moore – Natural Cream
Natural Cream is soulful. Earthy, grounded, and quietly lived-in, it reminds me of old plaster walls in European homes – surfaces that have absorbed decades of light, life, and patina. There is a depth to it that feels impossible to manufacture. Antique woods appear richer against it. Limestone takes on a warmer cast. Linen feels more relaxed and effortless.
4. Farrow & Ball – School House White
Lately, I have found myself reaching for School House White by Farrow & Ball again and again. Of all the whites I use, this may be the one that feels most architectural. It is restrained, understated, and quietly confident. Every time I use it, I find myself appreciating it more six months later than I did on install day – which may be the greatest compliment I can give a paint color.
5. Farrow & Ball – Au Lait
The color I almost hesitate to tell you about because it has become one of my secret weapons. At our Willamette Valley project, we used Au Lait as the tint for Venetian plaster throughout much of the home. The result wasn't a paint color at all. It was atmosphere. The walls absorbed light instead of reflecting it. Morning light felt different than evening light. The surface shifted throughout the day in a way that was almost impossible to photograph.
Those are my favorite whites.
The ones you notice without knowing why. The ones that don't scream for attention. The ones that quietly make everything else in the room more beautiful.
Because ultimately, this is what I have learned after years of obsessing over white paint: the best white is never really about the white.
It is about what the white allows you to see.
The antique wood feels richer. The stone feels more textured. The linen feels softer. The architecture feels more intentional. The light becomes the star.
And perhaps that is why I continue returning to white, project after project. Not because it is safe.
But because 20 years from now, when countless trends have come and gone, I suspect these colors will still feel exactly as beautiful as they do today.
As a reminder:
- White Dove – the forever classic
- Swiss Coffee – the familiar, comforting white
- School House White – the architectural white
- Natural Cream – the soulful white
- Au Lait – the plaster white
Interior designer Molly Kidd is one of Homes & Gardens' Editors-At-Large for By Design, where she shares her thoughts on decor. See the rest of her articles here.
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