Cloud Cover Benjamin Moore Kitchen Cabinets

Choosing the right white paint color isn't always easy but I definitely have a few top go-to whites including Benjamin Moore Cloud White. It's the color that I painted both our family room and our kitchen and it works so beautifully in both spaces! Today I'm sharing the reasons that Cloud White is one of my top white paint color choices and showing you how it compares to other similar whites. Plus at the end of this post I'm sharing my go-to formula for mixing and matching pillows and where to find great pillow inserts. Let's get to it… (post includes affiliate links; full disclosure statement available {here})

Cloud White (OC-130): Why I Love It

There are two camps of white paint colors – cool (blue toned) and warm (yellow toned). When I was looking for a white paint color for our family room, I wanted a warm (but not too yellowy) white and was deciding between Cloud White, Simply White, and White Dove. The truth is that anything would have been better than this red that I was painting over – yikes!

What I love about Cloud White is that it's a warm but not too yellow white that helps give our family room a cozy feel. It's also bright but never stark and has none of the green undertones I've found with some other whites. It works beautifully with our wood media console, brass art frames, and everything else in our space:

Sources: {TV console} (similar)  |  Chandelier (satin bronze)  |  White tasseled pillow cover  |  Blue linen pillow cover  |  Green & blue block print pillow cover  |  Faux fiddle leaf fig tree  |  Rug  |  Pair of floor poufs  |  Art prints (details in {this post}  |  Acrylic coffee table (similar)  |  Coffee table tray (28″ square)  |  Black and white striped box (on coffee table)  |  Brass cricket (on coffee table)  |  Wood beads  |  Basket planter  |  Rattan chair

We also have Cloud White in our kitchen where it works well with our tile, countertops, and cabinets:

Sources: Lantern pendants over island in gild size small (12.5″)  |  Rattan counter stools in Fog  |  Pulls on island drawers (12″)  |  Large framed floral art print

Benjamin Moore describes Cloud White as "lightweight and luminous, this subtle, sophisticated shade of soft white is reminiscent of vapor clouds on a clear day." That's definitely a bit more creative of a description than mine but I do agree that it's a sophisticated soft white – almost like the perfect soft but not too yellow lightbulb!

The Best Trim Color to Go With Cloud White Walls

Whenever I paint the walls of a room white, my choice for trim color is simple – I use the same exact color as the walls but in a glossier sheen. When you compare Cloud White in flat or matte to Cloud White in satin or semigloss they actually look like different whites since the same white in a glossier finish looks lighter and brighter. Using the same white paint color for your walls as your trim gives you just the right amount of contrast and of course you're guaranteed that they'll work beautifully together. In both our family room and our kitchen I used flat on the walls and satin on the trim – I prefer flat on the walls to a higher sheen paint because it's so much easier to touch up down the road.

Cloud White vs. Other Similar White Paint Colors

If you're thinking about using Cloud White to paint a room in your home, you're probably considering other similar whites too. The two similar whites that are most often "in the running" for those looking at Cloud White are Benjamin Moore White Dove and Simply White. It can be really hard to tell the difference between these three whites from a tiny color swatch so I ordered large paint color samples from Samplize {here} to show you how the three colors compare.

If you're not familiar with Samplize, they sell 12″ x 12″ squares with the actual paint (not a computer generated version like with your typical color swatches) rolled on them. They have an adhesive backing that allows you to stick them on your wall and get a better idea of what the color would look like in your space:

The adhesive doesn't harm the walls and it's not so sticky that you can't remove the paint square and reposition it somewhere else in your room which IS something you want to do because whites can look different depending on the part of your room they're in and the light that they receive.

I'll go into detail about how these three paint colors compare to one another but you'll already be able to tell a bit on your own by looking at samples of Simply White and White Dove on my Cloud White kitchen walls:

And on my family room walls:

Looking at these pics of the three whites I'm comparing, you may be thinking that they actually don't look "white" but are more off white. That's because you're looking at them on the stark white background of your computer screen. Cloud White, White Dove, & Simply White look like whites when they're on their own but if you place them next to stark white, the creaminess of these colors comes out.

Here's my breakdown of how Cloud White compares to each of these two other whites:

Simply White vs. Cloud White

Simply White (OC-117) is one of my favorite white paint colors. It has a touch of warmth but is still light and bright. I've used it to paint several rooms in our home in NC including our guest room:

Sources: Queen beadboard bed (weathered white)  |   12″ Memory foam queen mattress (no boxspring needed)  |  Blue & white quilted shams  |  Blue tasseled edge pillow covers  |  Navy embroidered lumbar pillow cover ( with {this} pillow insert) |  Navy border duvet cover  |  Navy border sheets  |  White quilt  |  Backless bench at foot of bed  |  Nightstand  |   USB Lamp  |  Mirror (white – small)

and our breakfast nook:

Sources:  Woven pendant  |  Round table  |  Bistro chairs  |  7′ Round jute rug

The biggest difference between Simply White and Cloud White is that Simply White (which has an LRV of 91.7) is a brighter white than Cloud White (which has an LRV of 87.35). The higher the LRV, the brighter the color is. Another difference is that while both whites are warm, yellow hued whites, Simply White is closer on the color wheel to the green hues than Cloud White. Because of this, there are some cases when Simply White can unexpectedly throw some green undertones, especially if it's in a room where there are lots of trees and other greenery outside the window reflecting off of your walls.

This was the case in our family room – I initially planned to paint the space Simply White but after painting the first wall I could see some greenish hues that I wasn't expecting. Likely it's because our family room has several windows with lots of green trees and bushes outside of them that were reflecting against our painted walls and bringing out the green in Simply White. In the rooms I've painted Simply White in our home in NC, I see NO green undertones. It goes to show how important it is to test whites in the room you're planning to use them in because the same white can look very different from one room to another.

Cloud White vs. White Dove

Cloud White and White Dove (OC-17) are very similar whites. When comparing these whites above, I actually thought it was hard to tell much of a difference at all between the two which is why I layered the circle of Cloud White onto White Dove at the bottom. Doing that, it became easier to see that White Dove has more gray in it than Cloud White and is just slightly less bright (White Dove has an LRV of 85.38) than Cloud White (which has an LRV of 87.35). These two colors are super close in hue and while they have close to the same amount of yellow in their formula, Cloud White can look just a touch more yellow than White Dove because it doesn't have that added gray to subdue it.

Before we renovated our kitchen, our walls were painted White Dove and I was really happy with the color – it worked well with the countertops and flooring that we had at the time. I switched to Cloud White after our kitchen remodel simply because that white blended better with our new cabinetry, floors, and countertops. It's always important to compare the white paints you're considering to fixed elements in the room you're painting whether that be countertops, furniture, cabinetry, or anything else that's going to be staying put in the space.

That wraps up my review and comparisons of Cloud White with other whites! Remember that testing them out in your own space is key because the same white paint color will look different from home to home and even from room to room! If you want to buy Samplize samples of these three whites you can find the Cloud White sample {here}, the White Dove sample {here}, and the Simply White sample {here}.

Simple Formula for Mixing & Matching Pillows

Switching gears, I shared some video of our family room on Instagram Stories last week and got lots of questions about mixing and matching pillows so thought I'd share a quick and easy tip with you. If you struggle with figuring out a combination of pillows that will work on your sofa or sectional, the combination of a pattern + 1-2 solids + a stripe is always a winner! These are the pillow covers that we currently have on our sectional:

I usually start by figuring out my patterned pillow covers – in this case I went with {these gorgeous block print pillow covers} that I finally pulled the trigger on after eyeing for months. The greens and blues are perfect for spring & summer! For solids pillow covers I have {these cream tassel pillow covers} which go with everything and stay on our sectional year-round. It's also important to play off of the colors in your patterned pillows so I added {these blue stonewashed linen pillow covers} to my mix. What I love about linen pillow covers is that the colors tend to be softer and blend easier with the colors in neighboring pillows so you don't have to worry as much about matching colors exactly. And then for my "stripe" I pulled out the green in my patterned pillow covers with {these bargain priced pleated pillow covers}. They come in a pair and are really nice for the price plus there are lots of color options to choose from. While not technically a stripe, they're close enough that it works!

For pillow inserts, I like to size up two inches (order a 22″ insert for 20″ pillow covers) and I like inserts that are at least 5% down. I have several of {these Comfydown inserts} and they're great for the price!

And with that I'm off to enjoy the rest of our weekend! If you want to see details and pics of even more white paint colors, check out {this post} on my favorite 8 white paint colors that has photos of each paint color in real spaces. Also, if you haven't seen it already you might want to take a peek at our kitchen remodel reveal {here} with tons of pics of Cloud White in our renovated space.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Cloud Cover Benjamin Moore Kitchen Cabinets

Source: https://www.drivenbydecor.com/benjamin-moore-cloud-white-review/

Share this post