Choosing the best white paint for your ceiling can completely change how a room feels. While many people automatically reach for brilliant white, a carefully pigmented white can create a softer relationship with the colours throughout the room. It’s a familiar story. The decorator is ready to begin, the wall colour hasn’t quite been decided, and an inexpensive white ceiling paint is picked up to keep things moving. It may seem like the practical choice, but a stark brilliant white can feel disconnected from the rest of the scheme, drawing the eye upwards rather than allowing the room to come together as a whole. Our whites are created using the same carefully selected earth and mineral pigments found throughout our colour palette, giving you a choice of warmer, cooler, softer and brighter whites for ceilings, walls and woodwork. Living room in Plain White What is the best white paint for a ceiling? There is no single white that will suit every room. The best choice depends on your wall colour, natural light and the relationship you want to create between the walls and ceiling. For most schemes, Edward recommends choosing a softly pigmented white rather than a stark brilliant white. Four of our go-to ceiling whites are: Plain White Plain White is a soft white that works particularly well on ceilings. Its gentle character makes it an easy choice when you want a light ceiling without the starkness of brilliant white. Fair White Fair White is bright with a slight warm-grey character, creating a softer relationship with coloured walls. Grace Grace is a soft white originally created as part of our Nursery Collection. Fresh without feeling stark, it provides a gentle backdrop for both stronger and more delicate colours. Spanish White Spanish White is a very pale warm white. Its warmth makes it particularly useful alongside richer wall colours and in rooms where you want the ceiling to feel integrated with the wider scheme. Everywhere White, created as part of the Chatsworth Collection, is another particularly versatile option. Designed to complement colours across the Edward Bulmer Natural Paint palette, it works beautifully on ceilings, woodwork and walls throughout the home. Once you’ve found a ceiling white that works for your home, you can use it across several rooms to create continuity while allowing your wall colours to change. Living room with Spanish White ceiling and Cinnamon walls by Studio Strachan. Photography: Boz Gagovski Bedroom with White Lead ceiling and panelling by Max Rollitt. Photography: Chris Horwood Living Room with Fair White walls, Portland cornice and Plain White ceiling by Thompson Bell. Photography: Rachael Smith How to choose the best white paint for woodwork Once you’ve chosen the ceiling, it is worth giving the same consideration to doors, skirting, architraves and other woodwork. You don’t automatically need to use the same white on every surface. Woodwork provides an opportunity either to continue the ceiling colour or introduce a slightly lighter or deeper white for subtle definition. Every paint colour on our website includes recommendations for the rest of the scheme, including a suggested ceiling white and two complementary whites for woodwork: one lighter and one deeper. These pairings have been selected by Edward as a useful starting point rather than a rule. Follow the recommendations or compare several whites at home to find the relationship that works best with your wall colour and natural light. Everywhere White at Chatsworth Kitchen with Pure White walls and woodwork Living room with Silver White walls and woodwork Should ceilings and woodwork be the same white? They certainly can be. Using one white across ceilings and woodwork creates consistency and allows the wall colour to take greater prominence. Alternatively, choosing a slightly deeper white for woodwork can introduce subtle contrast around doors, skirting and architectural details without bringing another strong colour into the room. The important thing is to look at walls, ceiling and woodwork as parts of the same colour scheme rather than making each decision separately. Should you always paint a ceiling white? Not at all. White remains a useful choice when you want to create contrast with the walls or maintain a lighter feeling overhead, but it isn’t the only option. Painting the ceiling in the same colour as the walls can create a more enveloping interior, while using a lighter shade of the wall colour offers a softer transition. Our Shade Collection, which includes 60%, 40% and 20% versions of selected colours, provides another way to create this tonal relationship between walls and ceilings. How does natural light affect white paint? White paint can change considerably depending on the light within a room. A white that appears warm in one space may feel cooler elsewhere, while its undertones can become more apparent at different times of day. Room orientation, artificial lighting and the colours surrounding the white will all influence how you perceive it. This is why we recommend testing whites alongside your chosen wall colour in the room itself before making a final decision. Bathroom in Milk White FAQs What is the best white paint for a ceiling? For most homes, a softly pigmented white creates a gentler relationship with coloured walls than brilliant white. Plain White, Fair White, Grace and Spanish White are among Edward’s go-to choices, while Everywhere White is another versatile option designed to work across the palette. Should ceilings always be painted brilliant white? No. Brilliant white can create a strong contrast with coloured walls. A softer white, a lighter shade of your wall colour or even the same colour across walls and ceiling can create a more considered result. Which white works with every colour? Everywhere White, from the Chatsworth Collection, was created to complement colours across the Edward Bulmer Natural Paint palette, making it a particularly versatile choice for ceilings, woodwork and walls. Should I test white paint before decorating? Yes. Whites are particularly sensitive to their surroundings, so compare your chosen white with the wall colour, flooring, fabrics and other fixed elements in the room. Observe it in both natural and artificial light before making your final choice. More advice on decorating with white If you’ve discovered that there is much more to white than meets the eye, explore more advice from Edward and the team: How to choose the perfect pigmented white for your home – understand how undertones and changing light affect different whites. Pairing natural colours and whites – discover Edward’s approach to combining wall colours and whites. The White Edit – explore our collection of carefully balanced white paints and find the right shade for your home. If you’d like more personalised advice, our Colour Consultants can help you choose the right white for an individual room or develop a scheme for your whole home.
Court of Noke: Edward Bulmer’s historic Herefordshire home Step inside Court of Noke, Edward and Emma Bulmer’s Herefordshire home, and discover how more than 30 years of restoration, colour and considered decoration have shaped the house we see today.
Behind the Chatsworth Collection: 24 exquisite new paint colours Learn the story behind The Chatsworth Collection, a range of 24 new paint colours inspired by the interiors, heritage, and landscapes of one of this country’s most significant country houses.
How to decorate with Verdigris: heritage colour ideas for period and modern homes After headlining on the front cover of the November issue of House & Garden, we thought it about time we put ‘Verdigris’ in the spotlight. Read on to see how to use this colour in your interior design.
Modern Miniaturists For most people there is something unequivocally fascinating about all things miniature, from mini versions of food, to mini dogs and mini handbags. This can definitely be said for miniaturists Mulvany & Rogers and Simon Williams Miniatures, who work to a jaw dropping 1:12 scale for clients worldwide.
Celebrating the World of Fine Art, Antiques and Design: The British Antiques Dealers’ Association – BADA Week 2021 This week is the British Antiques Dealers’ Association Week 2021, which is running until the 17th of October. BADA Week is a nation-wide series of events to celebrate the diverse and outstanding community the BADA represents. To highlight the benefit of visiting their members’ galleries, exhibition spaces, collections and specialities in person with an exciting offering of events both in person and online.
Using soft greens in a dual aspect room Pomona is a fantastic colour if you want to use it where you have dual aspect rooms of East and South light and that’s because it carries a little bit of yellow and a little bit of blue and can balance the light as it transitions from the morning through to the midday. Find out more in this series..
