People often try to answer the classic ‘How to make rooms look bigger?’, another oft-spoken design query, with white.
However, all-white rooms can look like they are ‘floating’ so adding in different shades of white can eliminate this sense (as can an ‘anchor’ colour, such as a dark wooden floor).
Using different shades of whites is easy if you stick to one rule: only choose something with the same ‘temperature’.
A good example is white paint, which tends to have either a blue or a yellow base; try putting two sample cards together to see how tones differ.
A ‘vintage white’ usually has a yellower base and gives a softer, homelier feel.
‘Brilliant white’ is bluer and colder in feeling making it more suitable for offices or workspaces; in a home, it can feel chilly rather than fresh.
White kitchen cabinets or bathroom sanitary ware often have a cooler tone so you need to match your paint carefully.
A shade or two of a similar white hue is usually a better answer to warming things up, as is painting a washable matte texture to contrast with a high shine finish.