White Dove by Benjamin Moore Colour Review

This week in my colour review, I share with you one of my favourite white paint colours: White Dove by Benjamin Moore.

COLOUR CONVENIENCE

Before we dive in, did you know that I put together a collection of Paint Colour Guides to help you avoid making costly mistakes when it comes to choosing paint colours? White Dove is one of the colours available.

Don’t miss out, see all of my new Essential Colour Guides. These paint colour guides are a super helpful resource to have on hand when needed.

TOP TIP:

Don’t be fooled into thinking that when you hear the name of a paint colour, then that specific paint colour, must be that colour. Confused? LOL

What I mean is, just because White Dove is called ‘WHITE’ Dove, doesn’t mean to say that it’s a true white.

As an example, I’ve noticed that some clients can get put off when I show them a colour that has the word ‘Gray’ in it, if they are not a fan of Gray.  However, because all grays have undertones, what one perceives as ‘Gray’ in their own mind, can be completely different than the actual ‘Gray’ colour I’m specifying .

As for the whites, stick with me and you’ll understand what I’m talking about when you look at my white paint colour comparisons.

Here’s what I’ll be sharing with you about White Dove in Episode #2:

• The Undertone of White Dove
• Colour Comparisons to other whites
• Best Whites for Ceilings, Doors and Trim
• Fabulous Colour Combinations
• Favourite Applications In Interior Design

Another view of my Toronto clients dining room. Notice how the White Dove paint colour on the walls match perfectly with the custom ripplefold drapery?  That’s not a coincidence. 😉

Okay, are you ready? Let’s do this! Watch my video review by clicking the image below.

White Dove OC- 17 by Benjamin Moore

Undertones:

White Dove is not a true white. They rarely are!  It has a creamy undertone that makes it a soft, rich white paint colour to work with for your interior decorating projects.

Colour Comparisons:

Despite what my husband thinks (that all whites are created equal and look the same) this is so not the case!  When you begin to compare whites, you will start to notice how very different they all are from one another.

This is why it really bothers me when contractors or kitchen companies recommend a cabinetry colour, without even factoring in the counter tops, the back splash or any other fixed elements in a space. That’s a totally backwards way of thinking!!

Below are comparisons between White Dove and Chantilly Lace by BM. As you can see, the White Dove is creamier than the Chantilly Lace. Chantilly Lace is what I like to refer to as one of the rare ‘true whites’.

If you prefer a white that is less stark than Chantilly Lace, but more creamy than White Dove, Benjamin Moore’s Ivory White is a good alternative to consider.

Best White Paint Colours

You could use either of the whites mentioned above as trim colours to pair with White Dove on the walls, or you could just continue using White Dove!

In my Toronto clients dining room, we chose to keep the natural stain of the wood trim, as it was also the finish on their gorgeous, warm toned interior doors, as well as part of the charm and character of their home.

Fabulous Colour Combinations

Here you can see my large painted board Hale Navy, tucked behind a baseboard painted in White Dove.

Below you can see the paint colour combination together that I used in my clients main floor decorating project.

In my previous blog post where I reviewed Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams,  I recommended White Dove as one of the best whites to pair with it.

The image below is the work of a good friend of mine, the extremely talented Kristie Barnett, AKA The Decorologist. I love how Kristie painted Kendall Charcoal on the  ceiling.

I always find the painted ‘fifth wall’ to be so dramatic, unexpected and exciting in a space.  I also included Krities’s work in my video about the Best White Paint colours. 

If you are looking for a lighter contrast, White Dove also looks great when paired with the classic greige tone of Revere Pewter HC-172 by Benjamin Moore.

As shown above in the colour palette of the three colours used in my clients home, Sea Haze 2137-50 by BM also works wonderfully with White Dove.

Here, I’ve added Classic Gray 1548 into the colour combination, if you wanted to bring in a fourth colour.

The walls in the image below are painted Sea Haze and this is the same clients living room, as the industrial styled dining room shown earlier in this post.

This fun fireplace floor tile that we used has warm tones that pair beautifully with White Dove.

Fabulous Colour Palettes 

You can see in this colour palette just how flawlessly all of these hues look together.

This pattern below shows a more masculine colour combination in various tones by Benjamin Moore.

A QUICK STORY

For this particular interior decorating project, it was quite tricky to choose a colour for the walls in the living room. Normally, specifying colour comes very easy to me.

In this case however, I was initially a little unsure about using Sea Haze. Mainly because the colours that we used for many of the accents in the room such as pillow fabrics and in the area rug are what I like to refer to as ‘clean’ colours.

Sea Haze is a colour that I consider to be more ‘muddy’ or ‘dirty’. I almost never mix ‘clean and dirty’, but here it worked.

To double check though, I was able to see this paint colour in our 3D rendering software designs that we did for our clients. It’s not a perfect match because we are looking at it on a computer program, but it was enough to give me confidence to give it the thumbs up and move forward with this colour.

Favourite Places to Use White Dove

As shown above, I love White Dove in either an entire room, or as trim colour and also for custom mill work.

Below are graphics I designed, I just love creating these! I think they are pretty, do you?

I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!

If you’ve used a paint colour that I’ve reviewed or you want to ask a question, or even if you have a different point of view to mine, please do share!  Live locally to the Toronto or Burlington area?  Contact me here me here to inquire about an in person Colour consultation.

For colour advice, please note that I can’t always give advice based on simply reading about a scenario.  If it were that easy for me to recommend the perfect paint hue without knowing more about the specific space; the lighting situation; what other fixed elements to consider etc, then I really would be even more magical than I already am. HAHA!

This is how I can help you…

You will find much of the information on White Dove plus more stunning colour combinations in my White Dove Essential Colour.

I have now have 30 colours to choose from in my Paint Colour Guide library. See the entire collection here.

Remember, it only takes one mistake to take your home decorating project from divine to disaster. Don’t let the paint be what stresses you out!

Take my Colour Quiz to see which Colour Palette best suits your style.