At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s hard to find the best paint color for your house’s exterior. White is a classic, but choose the wrong shade and you’ll end up with a very expensive mistake. We wanted to take the guesswork out of choosing the best white paint for your house, so we asked the architect and designer members of our Professional Directory to share their vetted shades of exterior white paint. They’ve painted countless houses over the years, and know what works. Here, they generously share their 10 favorites. What’s your go-to shade of white paint? Tell us in the comments below. Swatch photographs by Katie Newburn for Gardenista. Above: Top row, left to right: Benjamin Moore Brilliant White; Benjamin Moore Simply White; Farrow & Ball All White; Benjamin Moore White Heron. Bottom row: Sherwin-Williams Pure White; Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee; Benjamin Moore Linen White; Porter Paints Atrium White; and Benjamin Moore Cloud White. Above: On this house in Connecticut, Brooklyn-based O’neill Rose Architects used low-luster Benjamin Moore Brilliant White, which principal Devin O’Neill calls “a standard that always looks good.”

The firm worked with Donald Kaufman on the palette for the house, and chose Donald Kaufman Color DKC-44 in semi-gloss for the porch and ceiling. Above: Interior designer Meg Joannides of MLK Studio in LA recently completed this Brentwood Park home. On the exterior, she used Sherwin-Williams Pure White, a true white that barely hints toward warm. The charcoal gray shutters are painted in Benjamin Moore Onyx. Above: Architect Tim Barber chose Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee for this new house in Santa Monica. The color is also a favorite of SF Bay Area–based designer Nicole Hollis. Above: Donald Billinkoff of Billinkoff Architecture in NYC rarely uses any other white than Benjamin Moore White Heron. Says Billinkoff, “In bright light it is warm and in low light it is bright.” Above: NYC-based 2Michaels worked with midcentury antiques dealer Larry Weinberg in choosing Benjamin Moore Simply White for this outdoor room on Martha’s Vineyard. Interior designer Kriste Michelini also recommends this shade.

Above: LA-based DISC Interiors painted the exterior of this Loz Feliz home in Crystal Haze from Dunn-Edwards. This shade has the deepest tan inflection of the paints recommended here. Above: SF Bay Area designer Nicole Hollis chose Farrow & Ball All White as her pick–the whitest white of our recommendations. In this image from Farrow & Ball, the door and metalwork are painted in Pitch Black. Above: Nashville architect Marcus DiPietro chose PPG Porter Paints Atrium White for the exterior of this modern, Japanese-influenced home in Oak Hill, Tennessee. dining room decorating ideas with oak furnitureNext to Linen White (below), Atrium White is the second warmest of the bunch.diy decor for christmas Above: NYC-based Steven Harris Architects painted this Upper West Side townhouse in Benjamin Moore’s Cloud White. diy room decorations for school

Photograph by Elizabeth Felicella. Above: SF Bay Area-based landscape architecture firm Pedersen Associates admires Benjamin Moore’s Linen White, shown here on a house in Mill Valley. Says principal Pete Pedersen, “Here in Northern California, the quality of light is such that you need to take a little off of the whites to keep from too much reflective glare.” Linen White is the warmest of the 10 whites shown here. Looking for a shade of white to paint an indoor room? living room decor ideas with brown couchesSee 10 Easy Pieces: Architects’ White Paint Picks.room decor ideas college girl We also consulted architects for their picks for exterior shades of gray and black. cheap modern bedroom decorating ideas

This is an update of a post originally published September 11, 2013. ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,Next Gallery10 Wacky Exterior Paint Photos That Will Shock YouView GalleryPicking an exterior paint color for your home is tricky, but when a color expert gets it wrong it makes you wonder if there’s hope for the rest of us. Leslie Harrington chose a gray for her Connecticut home. When this long-time color expert pulled up to the house after one coat had been applied, she was shocked. “It had too much red in it and was too strong, so I called the painter and we came up with a solution,” says Harrington. She originally chose the same gray used inside the home to bring a holistic look to the house. And she didn’t want the same color as other houses in the neighborhood. “But the gray I chose was too red and brought out the red undertones in the roof,” she says. The painter added green to the paint to neutralize the red, and Harrington wound up with a color she loves and describes as elephant gray.

The trim is white, and to tie it together the front door was painted a smoky purple with a bit of red that complements the red from the roof, as if that was the plan was all along. So how do you nail the right exterior paint color, especially when the color on the small paint chip will have a lot more punch once magnified? Start by taking cues from the house style and what was typically used, such as a white or pale yellow for a Colonial home and earth tones for a Craftsman. Common Painting Mistakes to Avoid Putting Your Stamp on It You love turquoise, doesn’t everybody? You won’t be repainting your house for another eight years or so, and if you’re putting it on the market before that know that some house hunters won’t even look inside if they don’t like the exterior paint color. They’re thinking of the thousands they’ll spend to have it repainted. Tips: Be a good neighbor and think how the color fits in. “You don’t want to be a total oddball on the street, but you don’t want a color that’s too close to homes next door,” says Harrington. “

And the better the street looks, the more value it has.” You can add interest to your home’s exterior by painting the front door a color you love—it’s easy and inexpensive to change, if needed. In the South, pink houses can charm, but that’s harder to pull off up north, and the color of San Francisco’s painted ladies won’t work in Boston. Natural light plays an important role here and makes colors look lighter. Tips: The exterior paint color you first pick might look washed out once it’s on your house. Pick a color that’s one or two shades darker than what you think you want, or go a shade grayer. Paint a swatch on the front of your house where it’s in full sun, not on the porch or overhang where there’s shadows. Look at the color at different times of day. The color of the roof, window trim, sashes, and even the mortar matter. Tips: The mortar around the bricks is typically off-white, beige, or gray. So match trim to the mortar color for a look that’s warm and more natural, rather than painting it a bright white.