Benjamin Moore Paper White

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Benjamin Moore Paper White is a gorgeous off-white color that I used to paint my entire first floor with an open floor plan. It’s gorgeous and today I am sharing all the details and showing how it looks in my home.

When we bought our current house the walls were painted a two tone gray color. Medium gray and a dark gray. I had just had ankle surgery so painting wasn’t in the cards for me.

I waited a couple of years and once the walls started to show signs of wear and tear I started researching paint colors.

I really felt like it was way too dark in our house, especially in the summer when the trees were full of leaves and blocking the light in the back of the house. So I decided to go with a white paint color. But my hubby didn’t want white, he wanted some contrast against the white trim.

After much research, I decided on Benjamin Moore Paper White!

*This post contains affiliate links. For more details see my full disclosure.

Benjamin Moore Paper White: Is it warm or cool?

Paper White is a cool-toned paint color that pairs really well with other cool and warm colors. You can use it in rooms with warm tones in the furnishings and floors and it will look great!

What is the LRV of Paper White?

LRV stands for light reflective value. It’s a scale from 0-100 measuring the amount of light a paint color reflects. Zero being the darkest black and 100 being the brightest white.

The LRV of Paper White is 74.41 which makes it a bright and light paint color. It’s not the brightest off-white but it is pretty darn bright.

This is the reason I chose this color for my home. Because areas can be so dark in the summer with the leaves blocking sunlight I needed a color that was going to lighten my home.

Benjamin Moore Paper White Undertones

Paper White is really unique as far as off-whites go. It has blue and green undertones which you can see in my home at different times of the day depending on where the light is. But it also has gray which you will see in my photos below.

This gray keeps the blue and green toned down which makes it a wonderful color, especially if you are going for a coastal style.

How Light Affects Paper White

Light affects paint colors in different ways. Here are some rules of thumb to keep in mind:

• North-facing rooms have a light that tends to be a little cooler in nature and will come off slightly blue. Light colors will be a bit more muted or washed out while darker colors will be stunning.
• East-facing rooms will have brighter light in the morning and less in the evenings. The evening light will be a bit cooler. In the morning with sunrise, the bright sun will be warm. Warm color palettes are great for these spaces because they will help balance the cool feel of the evenings.
• South-facing rooms have consistent warm light throughout the day. The light really shows off the colors, dark will be very bright, and light colors will shine. Both warm and cool color palettes look good in a south-facing room.
• West-facing rooms have warm light in the evening and cooler light in the morning. Basically, it’s the opposite of east-facing.

You will see in my photos below that in bright northern light, my entryway, the paint color looks more gray and cool.

But in the back of my home which faces south, the color shows a little more of the green undertones. Ther is also very little natural light in the family room and that’s where you will see the paint color a little darker.

How to know if a paint color is right for you?

The best way to judge if a color is good for you then you will want to put a swatch on the wall and look at it over a few days. Look at it in different lights and decide if you really like it.

You can do this by getting a sample from the paint store and using a brush to put it up on the walls, but then you are left with a can that you can’t do anything with. Those samples are used with poor quality paint and aren’t meant for use on your walls permanently.

I recommend going with Samplize. They are a company that will send you a 12X12 peel and stick swatch of a paint color that you can stick to the wall. When you are done just peel it off and throw it away.

It’s easy and much less messy!

Benjamin Moore Paper White Whole Home Color Palette

Where can I use Paper White?

Paper White is a gorgeous neutral paint color that can be used anywhere! Here are my favorite places to use it:

• Entryway
• Bedroom
• Bathroom
• Family Room
• Kitchen
• Office
• Breakfast nook

Here are the places I used this color in my home.

Below are photos of Paper White used in my home. I did not alter or correct any of these photos so you can see the actually look. They are completely unedited.

Paper White in an Entryway

My husband wanted a light color but still contrast against the white trim and doorways so I chose Paper White. Our entry way gets a ton of light thanks to three skylights.

Here you can see that even in the bright light there is some contrast with the white trim.

In the photo above you can tell how the paint color is so much brighter in the entryway with all the light then it’s a little darker as you move into a hallway where there isn’t so much light.

Paper White in the Family Room

This photo is taken in the summer when the trees are full of leaves. This time of year this is the darkest room in our house. The paint color still shines beautifully.

Here you can see the family room (with my newly recovered ottoman!) leading into the breakfast nook. There is another skylight in the kitchen so this space is a bit brighter.

The skylight in the kitchen helps brighten this space considerably. I love the way the paint color plays with the marble countertops and contrasts so nicely with the black in the furniture and breakfast nook coffee bar wall.

What colors go well with Paper White?

Paper White looks best when paired with cool colors. The colors I have coordinate with Paper White in my home are all on the cool side and here they are:

• Serious Gray in the Powder Room
• Smoky Blue in the Bedroom
• Studio Blue Gray in the Dining Room

So sticking with cool colors is a great plan if you are having trouble choosing coordinating colors. But if you are willing to risk a little Paper White can also go wonderfully with warm colors.

Look at pinks, greens, off-whites for trim!

What is the best white trim color to go with Paper White?

I really like to pair Paper White with Chantilly Lace or Sherwin Williams Pure White.

Prue White is more on the warm side but goes so well with Paper White. And Chantilly Lace is a great cool but really neutral white paint color. You can’t go wrong with either.

Color Comparisons

I love to compare colors side by side to really see how those undertones look. I am always astonished at what really comes out.

Paper White vs. Sherwin Williams Eider White

While these are both off white paint colors that lean gray they aren’t very similar. Paper White has much more green than Eider White.

They are very similar in brightness, Eider White has an LRV of 73 whereas Paper White sits at 74.41.

Paper White vs. Gray Owl

These two colors are much more similar in undertones. The big difference as you can tell is that Gray Owl is much darker than Paper White. Gray Owl’s LRV is 64.51.

Paper White vs. Sherwin Williams Snowbound

Snowbound is a gorgeous off-white paint color that is very bright. It’s LRV is 83, almost a full 10 points higher than Paper White. Snowbound also lacks the green in it’s undertones compared to Paper White.

Paper White vs. Sherwin Williams Reflection

Undertones mean everything and here you can see that these colors are both cool-toned but Reflection doesn’t have green, it has a lot of blue. Much more blue than Paper White.

Reflection is also darker than Paper White with an LRV of 66.

Paper White vs. White Dove

White love is a very popular off-white paint color from Benjamin Moore but that’s where the similarities end. White Dove is much warmer than Paper White. It’s also much brighter with an LRV ofn 83.16.

Paper White Vs. Simply White

Again, undertones mean it all. Paper White and Simply White are different in most every way. Other than being off-whites, Simply White is much brighter and much warmer. It’s LRV is 89.52!

Paper White vs. Chantilly Lace

These two colors are much more similar. They are both cool off-whites. The big difference between the two is that Chantilly Lace is much brighter with an LRV of 90.04.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Paper White look blue?

Most of the time I would answer this no but there can be some instances with the right lighting that the blue undertones will show. I would definitely test the color on all walls of a room you want to use it in to make sure it’s right for you.

What is the Sherwin Williams equivalent to Paper White?

There are no equivalents between paint manufacturers only similar colors. In this case it’s really hard to find a good match because Paper White is so unique!

Is Paper White a good color for cabinets?

I would answer this no. This color would best be suited for walls and leave cabinets wood toned or white.

Benjamin Moore Paper White Recap

We went through a lot of information today so let’s do a little recap:

• Cool-toned paint color
• Blue, green and gray undertones
• LRV is 74.41
• Looks great in any room of the home
• Not a great color for cabinets or furniture

Other White Paint Colors You Might Like:

• Benjamin Moore White Duck
• Sherwin Williams Greek Villa
• Sherwin Williams Nebulous White
• Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White
• Sherwin Williams Pure White
• The Best White Paint Colors