Painting and Decorating Concourse
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Whites and Off Whites
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Whites and off whites are used for ceilings and trim, as well as for a neutral "color" for the ceilings and walls of an interior room. The most common off whites are gold wihtes ("antique" whites), and warm beige whites. Gray whites are cold whites but offer good hide and coverage. The closer you are to pure white (FFFFFF), the more "neutral" the white is. Pure white, is hard to get one coat coverage with. I normally add a drop of lamp black, and a drop of gold to any white that I use for trim or ceilings to help in achieving good hide and coverage. The drop (actually 1/32 of an ounce), "offs" the white enough to get better hide, but it is really not noticeable as an "off white".
Warm whites (in my opinion) just look better, than the black / blue whites. Warm whites are tinted with yellow / gold (raw sienna, yellow oxide) and can have a bit of beige (burnt umber) added.
Many manufacturers offer an ultra white or luminous white base for those who want a pure white. Pure whites are definitely two coat paints, you will not cover anything (except maybe an almost pure white) with a bright white in one coat. Bright whites will show dirt when used on trim.
Using white of trim and ceiling
It is customary to use white or an off white on the ceiling. When doing so, you want to use the same white on the trim as you use on the ceiling (and vice versa). Don't use a gray white on the ceiling and a warm gold white on the trim.
The main reason for tinting a white is so that it won't show dirt and for hide. Enameling trim can be the slowest part of the job, it is nice to be able to do it in one coat.
The colors depicted are created with the RBG "additive" color method. The hexadecimal color code is attached to each color for easy duplication on a computer.
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