The brain doesn’t know overwhelmed until you try to buy some white paint. Who knew there were a 1,001 options?! If you need a true white paint — a goldilocks white .. not too cool, not too warm — we wholeheartedly recommend Benjamin Moore’s Harwood Putty.

We came across this shade in our search for a trim color. At the time, I was obsessed with the Benjamin Moore Williamsburg Collection. These shades have fun backstories, rooted in Revolutionary-era history. They give you the sense you’re painting some authenticity into a space (A+ for marketing department). I also liked how it REALLY narrows the choices.

At first, we tried Capitol White. It was too buttery for our purposes, but actually *exactly* like the Capitol Building in D.C. (the chemists nailed it!).

We also considered Super White and Chantilly White from the regular BM Off-White Collection. They were too stark for us. You can see how there’s a little more depth to Harwood Putty compared to them in the screen grab above.

We had just lime washed our fireplace, and the Harwood Putty description sealed the deal:

“Inspired by the shade of lime putty used by the 18th century Williamsburg mason Humphrey Harwood, this almost weightless color mimicks whitewash.”

BenjaminMoore.com

Boom. We painted every inch of trim in the house with it, and then did our shiplap entryway in this white, too.

Harwood Putty vs. White Dove

The color White Dove by BM gets a lot of attention, and it should. It’s a great white, especially for exteriors because its warmth counteracts the blue tones of natural daylight. Harwood Putty is very, VERY similar, just not *quite* as warm. Here they are inside (top) and outside (bottom):

Outside, White Dove looks like a true white, in a soft way. It doesn’t look cream. Harwood Putty is another safe shade of white — right up the middle. If I had the exterior painting to do again, I could go one step warmer the White Dove without fear of it looking too creamy. Here is the house in HP on an overcast day:

Inside, where White Dove might get creamy in certain lighting, HP stays white-looking, especially next to pigmented paint colors.

We hope that helps if you’re hemming and hawing over which shade of white paint is a true white!

Need a neutral next? Check out our review of BM’s Bruton White, which is … GRAY!