We’ve lived in rental houses most of our married life – my husband was in the Navy and we moved around so much we didn’t feel comfy buying. Last July, he retired and we bought our beautiful, beautiful house. Now, all of the houses we rented had walls in some shade of white – this is status quo for rental houses, I suppose. And our new house had mostly white walls as well. There was wallpaper in the kitchen, 2 bathrooms and the dining room, but wherever there was paint, it was white. But I LOVE color! So, I’ve been painting. I have pale olive in the living room, taupe in the master bedroom, rose in my daughter’s room, sunny yellow in the guest room, deep apricot in the sunroom, pale blue in the laundry room and china blue in the library. I left my son’s room white, because he wanted me to and I haven’t painted the room-over-the-garage yet because I haven’t decided what I’m going to do in there – right now it’s just a craft/ weights/ extra TV room. And I did use a warm white in the foyer and upstairs and downstairs hall because it’s a dark hall and I didn’t want to make it any darker. But I only used the white above the wainscot – below the chair rail I painted a lovely cocoa brown. AND I put wallpaper above the wainscot on two walls in the foyer. With these exceptions, every room in my house is painted with color and/or wallpapered/wallpaper-bordered with color.
So, this morning I was out buying paint (for the laundry room) at Lowe’s and I got to talking with a lady there who was also buying paint. She was buying 5 gallons of antique white. I told her about my house-of-many-colors and she said that she always paints all the rooms of her house white. I allowed that it was much easier to buy 5 gallons of paint at a time and that touchups would be easier too if every room was painted the same. She agreed that it WAS easier, but said that she really just preferred white – in her opinion it looked cleaner and brighter and more uniform to have all the rooms the same. She really likes white walls best!
Well, tastes differ, obviously, and that’s a good thing. But it made me start to wonder what my fellow Dopers prefer. So what do you say? Do you prefer colors or white?
Jess (whose painting pants have so many different colors that the painting counter guy at Lowe’s has taken to calling her “Mrs. Joseph”)
White walls do absolutely nothing for me. I can’t handle white or “builder beige”.
After the flood last spring, we had to redecorate our whole house in one easy (not) step. We have an entire house full of wallpaper. It was very difficult choosing colors while living in a hotel room but I’m very happy with the results. We have everything from neutrals (kitchen), to dark green (dining room) to golden yellow (master bedroom and bath) and I’m happy with almost all of our choices. I hastily chose a wallpaper for my second full bath to match the color pallette of the accessories in there already. However, when it was hung, it screamed FLORAL. It’s not hideous but not really my style.
I like colour. I’m living in a buildier-beige apartment at the moment, but its a relatively temporary living space (Well, total of about 2 years) and so not worth the trouble to paint. At least it isn’t pure white - we get a lot of sunlight, and pure white would be absolutely blinding! Once we settle into something a little more permanent, I am DEFINITELY painting AT LEAST the bedroom, if not the whole place.
There is not one spot of white paint anywhere in my home. My neutral color is linen white (it’s a much warmer color than white) - all the doors, frames, and baseboards and ceiling are linen white. My kitchen is blue with terra-cotta and linen white painted cabinets. My living room/dining room is a peach/pink color with some linen white. My bedrooms are are a light purple, something called desert rose which is a light pink/brown shade, and the master BR is a deep pink/peach color. My guest bath is aqua.
My walls are white - except for where I squarshed one of those nasty, predatory centipedes - that spot is kinda brownish greyish colored.
I like white. The house I grew up in had white walls and I like the way they brighten up the rooms. But I’ve seen pictures in my paint effects book that show some walls that have been washed with a couple of colors (like red with gold or blue with purple) and that looks very sophisticated. I wouldn’t mind maybe one wall like that.
Are walls were white but my wife found them too bright in contrast to our very dark furniture and the abundance of natural light the condo gets, so we decided to paint the walls. The two finalists were shalestone & gravel. My wife asked me to pick my preference and I said shalestone. She asked my why and I said, “Because if anyone asks me what color the walls are, I don’t want to say gravel.” So shalestone it is, now. (Looks off-off-off white w/a little cream to me).
I love whtie, off white, antique white.
My husband and son had to fight with me to paint his room blue. When my naughty girls ( bless them ) colored on the walls, it got painted … white.
White makes everything seem so bright and clean. My house needs all the help it can get on the looking clean part. ( Five kids to pick up after, its a tough job.)
I don’t like white, but I tend to stick to neutral wall colors - off whites, creams or beiges. I love woods and earthtones and large overstuffed comfy furniture so I need the lighter walls for contrast. I decorate and accessorize with color - drapery, pictures, throw pillows, etc.
You will not find a white wall anywhere in our house. Each room is a different colour. Our bedroom is a mushroomy beigey with a creamy blue-grey ceiling. Entryway and staircase walls are ragrolled green. Kitchen is yellowy… etc
White in my opinion is too harsh. Need some colour.
No white here. We’ve repainted three rooms. Two are now different blues and one is a brilliant yellow. I want to paint the bathroom in pink, and I’ve got yet another blue picked out for the hallway. The two spare bedrooms were painted a dark green and a mauvey-pinky kind of colour when we bought the place. I will probably change the mauvey-pinky one to a colour I can describe, but the green will stay because Mr Cazzle loves it. It makes me want to stick paper flowers on the walls.
I like color! The dining room is a cool pale green, the office is blue below the chair rail with a linen-with-blue-lines wallpaper above. Spare room is a light purple, daughter’s room is light bluish green, master bedroom is deep garnet. Kitchen has creamy walls with a multi-color fruit border. Both bathrooms are white, but they have borders also. Last area to be painted is the living room and the entry hall - we’re thinking sage green for that.
I’m renting the condo that I’ve been in for the last 12 years. I guess it’s been white since it was built, but I got tired of it. I painted the ceiling and trim Swiss Mocha, the living room, entranceway and bedroom Outrigger Canoe (pale green by Ralph Lauren which, btw, is really worth the extra money) and the rest Linen White (like porcupine says, it’s a warm white, almost buttery.)
We have a very colorful house. The whole living/dining room, stairwell and upstairs hallway, for instance, are painted a pretty sunny yellow. The colors were chosen by the previous owners of the house, but for the most part we’re pleased with their choices. The only things I’d argue with are the mint green in the entry and the '70s-leftover jungle print wallpaper in the laundry room, but after four years I still haven’t started to hate them badly enough to get off my duff and paint. :o
The only room where the walls are (light antique) white is the kitchen, which is also the only room we’ve redone. And there, much of the walls are covered by honey pine cabinets and lavender-blue tiles.
