5 White Exterior Paint Colors We are Testing

It’s happening, everyone! We’re really doing it, Har! The painters are here, the wood rot is coming down, the hammers are flying. We are finally taking our sweet peach Colonial and painting it white!

Goodbye dinge.

Goodbye peach house (that Jackson calls orange…is it orange? Oh my gosh, are we living in an orange house?)

Goodbye red front door that would be so much cuter on a house other than a peach/orange one.

Hello a fresher look. An updated look. A look we’ve been talking about since the offer was on the table for this house in October of 2017. It only took us almost 3 years to bite the bullet. 😉

In choosing our whites, we narrowed it all down to 5 top color choices. It was a lot of walking my paint samples all around the outside, scrolling Pinterest for hours upon hours looking for the top white color choices, and then having our painters put up samples on all sides of our house to see how they change in light. Simple, right?

Moral of the story: There’s not just a “white.” Sherwin Williams has plenty and they all can look very, VERY different on each and every house. But here’s what we’ve narrowed it down to and the inspiration pictures that sold me on these choices.

Snowbound (SW 7004)

We used Snowbound when we did our main level remodel on all of our ceilings and trimwork. I love how it’s the perfect bright white with slight grey undertones. It’s crisp and clean without being stark. Snowbound has an LRV (light reflective value) of 83 so it will definitely reflect sunlight, giving it a bright, but not too glaring appearance on an exterior.

Alabaster (SW 7008)

We used Alabaster in Mya’s nursery, in our basement guest room, and I’ve been using it on our kid’s bathroom upstairs. I LOVE this white! It’s categorized as an off-white with beige/grey undertones. This color was named Color of the Year in 2016, and it’s still going strong!

If it’s the color Joanna Gaines picked for her kitchen…it’s good, you guys.

Alabaster has an LRV of 82 so it isn’t as reflective as Snowbound, but still is a crisp white for an exterior without traveling too far into the off-white realm.

Pure White (SW 7005)

This color appears very much like it’s described…pure.white. This has one of the higher LRVs of the group we are deciding between, coming in at an 84. Since it’s such a high, bright reflection, I’m well aware that this will bounce the most light on the sunniest of days. I have my doubts on this one, but when you see homes like this one…

You see just how beautiful it can be! Especially with the black shutters and front door we are going to have with it. *If you missed my exterior design board, check it out!*

White Flour (SW 7102)

On the color samples from Sherwin Williams, this is a favorite for me every single time. I keep referring back to it and it always catches my eye. However, and this is a big however, when I search for ‘White Flour Exterior Paint Color’ on Pinterest, one house shows up. Every other color, you get swarmed with picture after picture showing their homes painted that way.

But look at that ONE home you see…

It’s gorgeous!

This white seems to be more of a beige side of the spectrum, making it the only color we chose that goes more beige than off-white or grey tones. With an LRV of 87 I’m curious to see how this compares when we paint it outside.

Shoji White (SW 7042)

I added this one to my list last because I saw it on the side of Cotton Stem’s exterior when she was choosing paint colors, and loved it! She didn’t end up going with this color, but from the photo of choices, this may have been my favorite.

From that point on, I have wanted to see what it would look like at my house.

It has a LRV of 74, making it the least reflective of all the colors. It seems to carry an off-white/grey undertone to it, but she does describe it almost as being like the inside of a sea shell.

Our painters are finishing all of our carpentry today, meaning all of our wood rot will be replaced with fresh boards, our trimwork will be finished being scraped, and everything will be caulked and crisp by the end of the day.

Tomorrow, we hope to move on to power washing the house, and then it’s go-time!!

Dying to know what we picked? Check out the FINAL REVEAL HERE!

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