Sometimes a story isn’t just about color; it’s about resilience. I was reminded of this recently during a consultation with a client, Kellie. She and her husband, Judd, are deeply committed to their community, owning the building that houses a sober living home for men in recovery. Kellie is heavily involved with the organization, so when a charcoal grill fire tragically burned that building down, the loss was immense. As if that wasn’t enough, this happened at the same time they were in the middle of building their own new personal home.
Juggling the immense task of rebuilding the ranch house and overseeing their own new build, Kellie was faced with a mountain of decisions. The one that brought her to me was for her new home: the seemingly simple task of choosing an interior white paint.
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Get an EstimateWhen a ‘Perfect’ White Goes Wrong
Kellie is a sharp woman with a good eye. She had already done her research and picked a color: Sherwin-Williams’ White Heron. It looked great on the tiny swatch. But when her contractor put up a larger sample, her heart sank. “I can see a pink undertone to it,” she told me, “and I hate that.”
She was stuck. After everything she was managing, the last thing she wanted was for her new family home to be painted a color that felt wrong. The frustration was real. Her painter was ready to go, and she was paralyzed by the fear of making a costly mistake. This is a classic color challenge. The way light interacts with a color is dynamic, and the abundant natural light in her new home was pulling out a subtle pinkish cast in White Heron that she just couldn’t unsee. That doesn’t mean that White Heron will show up pink in your home. It all depends on light and the environment the color is in.
A Simple Plan for Color Confidence
My goal wasn’t to just give her a new color, but to give her a process and the confidence to make the right choice herself. Since I wasn’t physically in her space, I acted as her color coach. We needed to find alternatives that had a similar softness to White Heron but without that pesky pink undertone. I pulled out my fan deck, and we landed on three fantastic options to sample:
I also suggested she use a cleaner, brighter white like SW 7551 Greek Villa for her trim and ceilings to create a crisp, beautiful contrast with any of the three wall colors. With the options narrowed down, the real work began. I gave her a simple plan to find “the one.” First, get large, peel-and-stick samples of all three colors. You can’t judge a color from a 2-inch square.
Next, I told her to move the samples around the house — a sunny wall, a shady corner, the living room, a bedroom. Color changes dramatically with light. Then comes the hardest part: live with them for at least a full day. Notice how they look in the morning light, at high noon, and in the evening with the lamps on. A color you love in the morning might feel different at night. The goal is to find the one you like best in all conditions.
Finally, I encouraged her to approach this like she was at an art gallery. Take a deep breath and just observe. This is a feeling thing. Your gut will tell you which color feels calming, which one feels right. It’s a process of elimination — once you identify the one you like least, remove it and focus on the remaining two.
Finding Clarity and the Perfect Color
By the end of our call, the feeling of overwhelm was gone, replaced by a sense of clarity and empowerment. Kellie had a straightforward plan. She knew exactly which colors to sample and, more importantly, how to test them to make a decision she could feel great about for her own home.
She was no longer just picking a paint color; she was mindfully curating the atmosphere for her family’s new beginning. She could now move forward, confident that the walls of her new home would be wrapped in a color that felt truly peaceful and right, allowing her to focus her energy on the other important project at hand.
Choosing a color, especially a white, can feel daunting. But you don’t have to do it alone. Sometimes, all it takes is a little guidance to turn stress into a simple, and even enjoyable, process.
A Note on Color Accuracy
Please keep in mind that the colors you see on your screen may not be a perfectly accurate representation of the actual paint colors. The images in this post are intended to be a helpful guide, but their appearance can be influenced by several factors:
- Monitor Differences: Every computer, phone, and tablet screen displays color slightly differently.
- Photo Rendering: The way a digital photo is processed can subtly alter color tones.
- Lighting: The biggest factor of all! The lighting in the photo is different from the lighting in your home. The time of day, the direction your windows face, and your artificial lighting will all change the way a color looks on your walls.
For these reasons, it is essential to get real paint samples and test them in your own space. Observe them throughout the day to see how they adjust to the unique light and conditions of your home before making a final decision. This is the only way to ensure the color you choose is the color you will love.
The Accidental Pink: A Color Story on Finding the Perfect White was originally published in Torlando On Color on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.