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Benjamin Moore Trim Color - need help!

2 years ago

I am having all walls, trim and doors in my house painted. This is a renovation and the painters are doing the basement first before rest of the house. The basement walls will be pale oak and I need to select the trim color. Since I don't know about the rest of the house yet, I'm struggling with the paint trim color. BM OC-151 has been recommended as a "neutral" white for trim, but I'm worried it's a very stark white. Has anyone used BM 151? Is it very stark white. Other recommendations for a BM white trim that is suitable for the whole house before knowing wall colors? Hardwood floor will be white oak natural finish and kitchen is also light with a natural oak island and white perimeter cabinets. Any help with trim color suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

Comments (6)

  • 2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    This might help. Scroll down to see her suggestions for trim color.

    https://www.kylieminteriors.ca/quick-paint-color-review-benjamin-moore-pale-oak-oc-20/

    Here’s a video.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hctoabzXyJU

  • 2 years ago

    Chantilly Lace (OC-65) is what is recommended by BM as the best trim color for Pale Oak, and it's what I have in my living room - both of them. But CL is a very bright white, so if you think White OC-151 is bright, you probably won't like CL. If you want something less bright, look at White Dove (OC-17). It's not what I would choose, but it is a very popular, versatile BM white. I think Decorator's White (OC-149) is too gray. It's what was in my house (from the previous owners) before we painted. It looks dingy next to Pale Oak in the bright light of my living room.


    Have you gotten larger samples than the paint chips, or painted part of a wall? It's difficult to get a good idea of how large amounts of colors will look just from a paint chip. There have been a couple times when I thought I had the right color, but after seeing a large area (about 10-12 square feet) I changed my mind. I have had three houses painted top to bottom at this point. :-)

  • 2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Did you see this review? This person used it throughout their house.

    https://www.hellolovelystudio.com/2023/04/benjamin-moore-oc-151-white.html

    I used BM Chantilly Lace for all my doors, trim, crown, ceilings, cabinets and built-ins. It is a bright white, but not cool or warm. There are many choices that could work, it just depends on the look you want and what looks best in your actual space. I ended up with the BM Chantilly Lace because it was the only white that didn't turn dingy in my north facing kitchen. In a previous house I used BM Simply White and was also happy with that color.

  • 2 years ago

    I went thru this dilemma just a few weeks ago. Painter came in during renovation and just started doing OC151 without even asking! We prob did have that in a few places (100 yr old house and lots of different trims and door colors throughout)
    I quickly had to come up with a game plan and ended up with simply white in semigloss for all doors, trim and crown. White dove was too yellow in my house- tho I’ve liked it a lot in other homes. I also used cloud white in flat in a couple of wall areas and I wonder if I might have been even happier with that. But alas- the painters finished yesterday and I’m really happy with how simply white works with my wall colors.

  • 2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Think about what other colors you will want in your palette.

    I used BM Edgecomb Gray throughout all but 2 rooms of our home (similar to Pale Oak).

    For all the trim (crown, 5" base, 3 1/2" casing, 5 pairs of french doors, floor to ceiling built in cabinets, other cabinetry, etc.) we used BM Vapor.

    It is not a stark white at all, but never looks "yellow".

    ETA: I really like the BM Scuff X in Matte for the walls - very easy to clean! For trim, I like satin to semi, but it depends on which paint as the gloss levels vary.

    Scuff X Satin is very nice for trim!

  • 2 years ago

    We've used OC-151 in two houses now, with a variety of colors. We do lean towards a cooler palette, but OC-151 has worked great with BM Mayonnaise, Mascarpone, and Simply White, all somewhat warm creamy colors, with whatever weird color our dark pinky-beige pseudo-Tuscan bathroom tile is (previous owner installed), and the crazy patchwork of colors in our bedrooms (aqua for the master, dusty pink for one kid, lavendar for the other). I'm sure there are some warmer tones it's not the best fit for. But it really is a versatile color.