9.28.2011

white paint vs white paint

You know you’ve spent too much time DIY-ing when you have a favorite white paint. Really, Cindy? You are pretty much the epitome of lame. But yes, really, I have a white that I’m in love with. It’s Chocolate Froth by Behr and I adore it. We used it in our bathroom last year on the paneling and trim. It’s beautiful. It’s perfect. It’s so warm and somehow has a tinge of chocolate brown even though it’s…white. Ok, so yes, I admit I have a problem. I’m head-over-heels in love with a white paint. But it’s pretty. See?





I’ve been saying for the entire (9 MONTH) length of this project that we’re planning to paint our kitchen cabinets with Chocolate Froth. We didn’t want to use a white that was too stark white, because there are a lot of browns in the kitchen and we wanted it to be warm and inviting not stark.

A couple weekends ago I was feeling like we were making zero progress and that it was entirely likely we’d never have a fully functional kitchen again so Nick suggested I start painting cabinets. I just about DIED OF HAPPINESS. Somehow, paint always feels like you’re actually getting somewhere. (Can I get an amen?) I was just testing out the effectiveness of some sanding techniques, so I used our existing bucket of (flat) Chocolate Froth to see how it looked on the cabinet.

And I didn’t love it. (It's on the right half)

It was just too warm. Meaning, cream. It looked old and dingy already and it had only been on the cabinet for 30 seconds.

We waited for it to dry. We looked at it in different light. We just couldn’t make ourselves love it.

Enter: plan B. We’re painting over all the trim in our house with Behr’s Swiss Coffee, so that was a natural choice for the kitchen. Since we planned to paint the kitchen trim the same color as the cabinets this would ensure the kitchen trimmed meshed with the rest of the house. And it’s not a crazy stark white…but it is pretty white white (this is really too long of a conversation about WHITE). 

I painted over half of the cabinet with a can of (flat) Swiss Coffee just to see how it looked.

(drumroll)

We liked it. Winner!




Here’s hoping we chose correctly, because we’re spending lots of quality time with Swiss Coffee on our brushes/rollers/hair/dog butts.
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

13 comments:

  1. Swiss Coffee is the white we used on all our trim! I LOVE the way it's just a little bit not-white and it looks great in our rooms with blue walls and the rooms with yellow walls. Of ALL the different shades of white, it's so funny we both picked the same one.

    ReplyDelete

  2. This post made me laugh this morning...a whole post about white paint. I love it! I have no idea what color our trim is, but we will need to repaint it soon. I will keep this post in mind for colors! Thanks girl! :)

    ReplyDelete

  3. Swiss Coffee is our "Go to" white paint. All trim in every house we've owned is that color :) Good choice! Good luck with the cabinets :)

    ReplyDelete

  4. Awww, look at the face. It says "Come on, Mom. A dog screws up once and you have to keep telling the entire world." Ike feels Beemer's pain. :P

    I was totally not understanding how white could be brown but I see it in your comparison photo. We are boring around here and always pick bright white...except for our kitchen cabinets which are creamish...and don't match our trim. Man, I wish I read decor blogs back in the day. Wait, no. Our house would still not be built because I'd be still deciding on the floor plan. :P

    ReplyDelete

  5. Suzanne & Deb - THANK YOU. I love affirmation. Because goodness knows we're just making this up as we go.

    Michelle - I know, I often wish I read house blogs back in '08, but I think it would've been totally overwhelming and I would've overshot our budget big time. The next house is sure gonna be interesting. : ) Totally loved your commentary on Beemer. It's so accurate!

    ReplyDelete

  6. AMEN! paint is amazing.

    Do you want to know why I'm a loser? I just get the bucket of standard white from Behr and paint all the trim with it. I just don't have the energy to choose a white and I like the super stark white. Plus, it makes it really easy when I need to refill (I always have a bucket of white paint on hand, don't you?). No thinking, just grab the can of white and go.

    It's going to look great. Keep up the great work.

    ReplyDelete

  7. We have also been renovating an old house (ours a farm house, so it's a bit different) but we also chose Swiss Coffee for trim and we love it! We also painted our kitchen cabinets Swiss Coffee and think it's a great fit. I live in a rural part of MN where paneling is top notch and the finishing touches are whatever Pa shot last hunting season. People thought I was nuts to use anything but stark white and even more so to paint the trim white *gasp*. We moved forward anyway and it is funny to hear the surprise in people's voices when they come over and realize that yes, there is something other than stark white walls finished off with skinny wood colored trim .
    Great choice and great progress. As much as I hate painting, I will shout out an AMEN! in regards to the progress comment.
    Blessed renovating!
    Tiffany

    ReplyDelete

  8. Yay for progress! Whites are SO HARD! We used atrium white for our trim and LOVE it, but our cabinets do look dingy in comparison.

    ReplyDelete

  9. My oldest son's room is Chocolate Froth with Swiss Coffee trim. Delicious!
    Margaret

    ReplyDelete

  10. I have a favorite white too, Cream Delight from Valspar. The swatch looks like light cream until it goes up on the trim, then it's just a soft white. Not harsh, not too cream. It's just perfect. I love it. And I hope I love it on my cabinets too...because I bought a lot of it. Right now it's the trim color in all of our rooms.

    ReplyDelete

  11. look at beemer getting his highlights on!

    ReplyDelete

  12. I'm passing through some of the blogs and thought id stop and say hello. And i hope that you folks have a very nice fall weekend. Richard from the Amish community of Lebanon Pennsylvania.

    ReplyDelete

  13. I know what you mean! Rob likes Behr Ultra Pure White, but I like the ones that are a little warmer. Behr is pretty much my favorite paint brand of all time. Love the stuff. Great color selection.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)