Fifty Shades of WHAT?
Fifty Shades of White
I recently bought my first home and the minute our offer was accepted, I drove like a bat out of hell to the paint store and bought a swatch deck to celebrate. Later, as I was fondling the deck (don't judge), I was hit with a strange wave of nostalgia.For 15 years and over 40,000 posts, I educated fine jewel shoppers as a “prosumer” on a customer ad For 15 years and over 40,000 posts, I educated amateur jewelry sleuths as a “prosumer” on a customer advocacy website. One of my most frequent posts (it eventually landed in my personal FAQ file) for those obsessing over diamond color was this:was
“Have you ever gotten one of those huge paint fan samples? A thick fan of literally hundreds of shades of white? When they are right next to each other you can tell that one is bluer/colder and one is a bit warmer and another is much warmer, but really, they are all white. Then you pick one after agonizing over this white or that white and when it’s on the walls people are like: ‘Oh. You painted again. And it’s still white. Great…’ And you say ‘But, it’s blue-white.’ Or ‘It’s this white now, it used to be that white. It’s TOTALLY different!’
The color scale for white diamonds is exactly like that. We're talking shades of white. E is cold. H is warmer, and J is warmer still. But guess what? They are all white.”ith those diamond shoppers. My best friends dubbed my quest “50 Shades of White.”
Life comes full circle in the strangest ways. As I fixated over the perfect shade for my walls, I felt a deep kinship with those diamond shoppers. My best friends dubbed my quest “50 Shades of White.”
Like diamonds, paint absorbs and reflects the light and colors of their surroundings. The lighting of a space changes the appearance of a paint color—instantly turning something that looked perfect in the store into a hard “nope” in your bathroom.
Which is why the day we got the keys, I took an embarrassing number of peel-and-stick swatches from room to room— once in the day and once at night—- and much to my partner’s amusement.
If you’re curious, the winning white paint was Cheviot SW 9503.
Life comes full circle in the strangest ways. As I fixated over the perfect shade for my walls, I felt a deep kinshipheir surroundings. The lighting of a space changes the appearance of a paint color—instantly turning something that looked perfect in the store into a hard “nope” in your actual space. (Which is why I ended up taking an embarrassing number of peel-and-stick swatches from room to room, much to my partner’s amusement).
If you’re curious, the winning white paint was Cheviot SW 9503.
