Here are the 3 Reasons Your White Paint Color Looks Yellow, and What to Do About It
Choosing a white paint can be like splitting hairs – there are so many colors, and so many colors that look so similar. So it can be frustrating to finally settle on one, only to get it on the wall and realize it doesn’t look like you wanted it to. One of the most common problems with white paint is that creamy, or yellow, undertones that appear much more prominent than they did in the paint store or on a swatch.
I’ve said this before, but in one of our first apartments in Chicago, my husband and I decided to paint the bathroom white. I wanted something with some warmth and grabbed a color card at Sherwin Williams that looked perfect, brought it to the counter and ordered the paint. When I got it on the walls, it was like a pale butter yellow.
Not all cases of white-looking-yellow are so extreme, though. Maybe you chose a popular off-white paint color that looks pretty white in all the houses on the internet, and for some reason it still looks a touch yellow in your home. There are reasons this happens, and ways to avoid it. They are….
You have cool-toned hard finishes and chose a white with warm undertones
This is the number one reason your white paint would look yellow in your house. Your hard finishes are things like tile, flooring, window casings, anything in your house that you aren’t moving or painting. And, if they are cool toned, like gray, silver, blue-gray, cool green, or even a cool-toned white trim paint, any paint color with warm undertones will instantly look much warmer next to it. That’s because the coolness of the finishes contrasts the warmth in the paint and makes them more obvious.
The easy fix? If you have cool-toned hard finishes like gray, silver, or true black, use a true white or a cool-white paint color, instead.
You have bright white trim or cabinets
Similar to placing a warm white paint next to a cool-toned finish, if you place a warm white paint next to a bright white cabinet or trim paint, the warm white will look much more yellow, since the undertones become more obvious.
You might not even realize how bright white your time or cabinets are, either, until you bring home the warm white paint because your eye has nothing to compare it to, I like it to, like, when you clean a pair of dirty white sneakers, and you clean the first one and you’re like ‘Oh my God, I didn’t realize how gross these really were!” because now you’re comparing the clean white sneaker to the dirty one. The dirty one looks much worse next to the clean one than it did on its own.
You have warm light in your room.
The third reason your white paint can look yellow is because of the lighting in your room. Hardware stores and paint stores tend to have very bright, fluorescent lighting that makes paint colors look cooler. Homes, on the other hand, usually have softer light from incandescent or warm-LED bulbs. If your room is south-facing and gets lots of warm light, this can also make your paint look more yellow.
Other reasons your white paint can look yellow include:
- You put a finish or varnish on it. Sometimes, polyurethane and other sealants can yellow over time, which makes the paint underneath look yellow, too.
- You have cool-toned curtains or furnishings. Like your hard finishes, cool-toned furnishings and drapery can bring out the warmth in a white paint.
- It’s time to re-paint. If you’re just noticing the yellow in your paint, it may simply be time to repaint it, since white paint can yellow after many years.
So there you have it! If you want to learn more about white paint color, check out:
