Cotton Balls, Benjamin Moore’s “Secret” White to the Rescue!

Hi Everyone,

Anyone who’s read my blog for a while may already know that I’m known for liking the Benjamin Moore paint color Cotton Balls.

In fact, several years ago, when pressed with a gun to my head, ;] I said that if you had to choose ONE white paint color, Cotton Balls was most likely your ticket.

Well, some years later, I recanted that position and gave Simply White the Edge. It’s not that Cotton Balls doesn’t go with everything, but because of its warmth, a clean white that is a bit cooler will be more versatile.

 

Although lacking in undertone, Chantilly Lace might be too stark to be “the one.”

 

Ultimately, I think Super White or White Heron are probably the best white paint colors. They are like a blend of Chantilly Lace and Cotton Balls.

White Heron, AKA Oxford White, is another great choice.

It, too, is like a blend of Chantilly and Cotton but leans more towards Chantilly. Below is the very cool, standard white OC-151. If you’re looking for a cool, very pale gray, this might be what you’re looking for.

 

Many years ago, I also posted about the only six white paint colors you need.

 

Please understand that Chantilly Lace, Simply White, Cotton Balls, and others didn’t exist in the 20th century.

 

Hold on a sec. I am being called downstairs.

We were discussing some of the details.

 

Laurel, how many times has this room been painted?

 

The walls, inside the panels, have never been painted. But, most of the trim has been painted four times.

If you recall, the first time was the disaster with the original painter when he was painting with gritty paint.

The second time was Swiss Coffee, which looked okay on some walls but too muddy on others.

The last time, we were going to paint the room Cotton Balls. However, Chris mentioned White oc-151, and instead of trusting my years of experience and instinct, I went with Chris’ years of experience.

Now, as I said, my old bedroom in Bronxville originally had plain white trim, and it looked good in the south and west-facing rooms. It was a soft, very slightly warm white. It never looked purple and I was surrounded by red brick in that building, too.

 

Okay, yes, window treatments will help with the lighting situation.

 

However, this version of Benjamin Moore OC-151 was either mixed wrong or the formulation was changed. No matter, I’m not fond of this cold, drab white that clashes with the ceiling, floors, and embrasure door hall.

 

Laurel, I’m not sure I understand. If the bathroom and embrasure hall are Cloud White, why don’t you just paint the bedroom, Cloud White?

 

That is a super, amazingly fantastic, and extremely astute question.

I pondered it intensely. Certainly, that makes the most sense, except the bedroom is the only one of those spaces with windows, so right there, during the day, we have a big difference. But more than that, the most problematic area has been the crown moulding in the bedroom.

Here’s why.

I adore this moulding, and one reason is that most of it lies on the ceiling, not on the wall. However, because of this, a pretty intense shadow occurs. Shadows are gray, so any red in the paint color will render that shadow purple. The fact that oc-151 already has a hint of purple, well, you get it.

 

If we observe the colors underneath Cotton Balls in the fan deck, we’ll see they are yellow greens with a touch of brown.

 

a

Therefore, it stands to reason that Cotton Balls has a very dilute amount of the same colors.

But, does Cotton Balls look green? I have used it several times in south, west, and north-facing rooms and have never seen it look green. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t. It always looks like a soft but clean, non-beige cream. It is never icy, but it is on the brighter side of white.

 

Now, let’s do some color comparisons with eight popular Benjamin Moore White paint colors. (This is the corrected version. Sorry about that!)

 

Starting on the left, the top row is Chantilly Lace with Cotton Balls. Here, we can see that Chantilly Lace is a super-stark white paint color. However, you might see Cotton Balls as a super yellow-looking paint color.

Cloud White is one of the predominant white paint colors in the apartment. I didn’t want to use it in the bedroom because the hue resembles Simply White, and I was afraid it might skew pink. The same was true of White Dove, a similar color to Cloud White but a hair less gray and a hair more yellow.

 

In the second row, there is a comparison of Cotton Balls and OC-151.

 

This is a huge difference! And yes, OC-151 is a very pale gray.

Cotton Balls and Simply White are similar in value but Simply has that passive red undertone.

Cloud White and Moonlight White are my pairing in the living room. They are very close, and they look lovely together.

Swiss Coffee and Moonlight White are very close to each other.

Simply White and White Dove make a terrific pairing on the bottom right.

 

Laurel, I’m not convinced. Cotton balls still looks like a yellow-green color.

 

I admit it does here, but that doesn’t mean it will look yellow-green on the walls, especially in my naturally pink bedroom.

On Monday, I checked on the color early on, and it looked like a nice, clean white.

Today, with the walls mostly done, it does not look at all green.

They still need to do another coat on the walls.

 

My painted bookcase is pushed away from the wall. It has yellowed somewhat over the years and could stand to be freshened up. You are looking at the fireplace bump-0ut and the niche behind it.

 

Cloud White looks warm in the hall and bathroom, and when I looked at the trim last night, I felt confident that it would look terrific in the bedroom.

 

I am very happy with how this looks; it will be even better after the second goes on the walls.

By the way, I have never used Aura for myself, and it is absolutely divine. There is no odor whatsoever. They might as well be painting with milk paint.

xo,

 

***Please check out the recently updated HOT SALES!

There are some fantastic new sales that began after the weekend!

There is now an Amazon link on my home page and below. Thank you for the suggestion!

Please note that I have decided not to create a membership site. However, this website is very expensive to run. To provide this content, I rely on you, the kind readers of my blog, to use my affiliate links whenever possible for items you need and want. There is no extra charge to you. The vendor you’re purchasing from pays me a small commission.

To facilitate this, some readers have asked me to put

A link to Amazon.com is on my home page.

Please click the link before items go into your shopping cart. Some people save their purchases in their “save for later folder.” Then, if you remember, please come back and click my Amazon link, and then you’re free to place your orders. While most vendor links have a cookie that lasts a while, Amazon’s cookies only last up to 24 hours.

Thank you so much!

I very much appreciate your help and support!