I have had my kitchen area painted with Dulux Cowardly Custard half strength walls for years now and I love it and never tire of it. I love how cheerful and clean the rooms always look and the colour is not overpowering. Other areas in my home have walls in green and aqua blue and the three colours mix together well and stronger shades of yellow can be mixed with it also. I have just redone the kitchen cupboards and did them in Cowardly Custard too with white benchtop and white glass mosaic tiles and my small kitchen looks so much bigger now. A pale colour will not make a room look smaller.

Wish i found this Q &A before. So many beautiful people advising and sharing here! I am Repainting Tropical Queenslander with dark red and orangy timber floors and this thread is so helpful. I painted Whisper white and it is throwing so much Green it makes me so sad I am going to repaint. I get loads of tropical sun in the north facing - with eastern morning sunlight. Was just about to go and buy Natural White just to cover it. Do you think it will be too dull/warm a colour. I do like a fresh feel and contrasting with vivid white decorative trims. The whisper white looks nice For a while in the morning while the morning sunlight throws read up onto it but then it returns to a green

Hi Sandra, what a beautiful room you can make, I would love your fire place, my thoughts would be to go the lighter colours including painting you panelling, as a few others above have suggested keep the trim and wall colour similar, big floor rug as suggested also. Our sitting room is 4x4 metres, when we first moved in, I painted it quite a dark pink shade and had way too much dark furniture from our downsize that I thought I could not live without. After two years of trying to make myself like it, I finally heavily culled furniture and changed paint colour to a very light grey tone. It probably isn't my perfect colour choice but heaps better, I also purchased some lighter profile furniture, I sit in this room so often now, I just love it, it has gone from a room I tried not to look at, to a room I really like being in. I will put a couple of before and after in for looking at darker colours to lighter colours from very similar angles

There are lots of paint manufacturers apart from Dulux, and hundreds of whites that it could be. Unfortunately the natural light in the photo, the type of camera, any photo editing, and the adjustments on your computer screen make it impossible for anybody to say with any accuracy what the colour may be. The only way to find the right white is to get samples and make your own judgement on site. I always think that Perth light seems stonger and brighter than Sydney light - possibly due to Sydney's airborne pollution in the inner city? There are lots of online resources by various paint manufacturers about choosing the right white, but don't make selections from an online digital image as it won't be accurate. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls