Top 5 Favorite, No Fail Paint Colors

It's no secret around here. I love to paint. It's like therapy to me. There's something about the smell and watching the walls change colors with every pass of the roller. Add in some great showtunes to sing along with and it's a perfect way to spend an evening.

It's also no secret that I'm a weirdy.

Since I love painting so much, you would think I'd have an easy time picking out paint colors. Nope. I love the process. I love the paint chips. I love testing out the colors. But it stresses me out.

It's like I can feel the colors. It has to feel just right and have the perfect undertone. A perfectly good color can make me feel extremely uncomfortable depending on the room and the lighting. Weirdy, remember?

My top five favorite paint colors are colors I have agonized over finding. Like, there may have been tears involved. I've spent a small fortune in discovering them(would you believe how expensive 20 sample paint pots can be?). These are all colors I have lived with in my house and that I love.

Here, in no particular order, are my absolute favorite, tried and true paint colors.

1. Bistro White

In my opinion, this is the perfect white. Made by Valspar, it is a soft white without an obvious undertone. Judging by it's location paint chip display at Lowe's, it has a green undertone but I can't see it at all. Look at it by itself, it's just a nice white. Put it next to a bright white(like the ceiling in the pictures below) and it looks slightly warmer.

Right now it is my favorite white paint! I used it in my boys' vintage modern nursery and I just bought a couple more gallons to repaint our guestroom. Which brings me to my second favorite color...

2. Woodlawn Sterling Blue

This is our current guestroom color and it is gorgeous! I really hate to paint over it but I do have reasons which will have to wait for another post. Anyway, my sister actually picked this color out for our nursery when I was pregnant with our first Little Man. It is the most perfect, soft gray-blue and is part of Valspar's historic paint collection.

3. Snowbound

Snowbound is a white by Sherwin Williams. It isn't the brightest white but it is a clean white with no real undertone. It is actually pretty similar to Bistro White but it has a chalkier look to it, which I love. I used it in our kitchen because I didn't want any undertones to compete with the bad lighting and already clashing warm and cool elements in the room. You can't really go wrong with this one at all!

4. Smoked Oyster

Great name, right? My first stressful paint search ended with this medium gray-brown color by Valspar. It used to be in our living room. I ended up painting over it because I found it a bit difficult to match colors whenever I wanted to change up the décor. I'd love to use it again somewhere like a bedroom where the décor isn't changed quite so often.  I still love this color and it's still one of my favorites!

5. Partridge Gray

My favorite light warm gray(or taupe if you want to get particular). I freaked out a little the first can I opened because it looked brown instead of gray. Once drying on the walls though, it was perfect. It definitely has that soft feel that reminds me of a mourning dove.

I first used it on a thrifted dresser, fell in love with it, and now it's the color in our master bedroom.

I do have more colors in my house than these, but these are my absolute favorites. Some of the colors in my house are fine but they don't feel quite right to me. These five are the ones I've never regretted, never second guessed, and always feel good.

Does anyone else stress so much over paint colors? Do you have any "tried and true" colors that you love? And does anyone currently have more than nine paint colors in their house? Or more than thirty different paint cans, counting samples? Inquiring minds want to know.

For a friend, of course.