B”H
Did you ever struggle to find the right shade of white paint for your home? Although I appreciate the use of white in interiors, my house is actually full of color, so aside from choosing the white paint for my kitchen cabinets a few years ago, I hardly go visit whites on the fan deck. Recently, however, I began work on a design project for a friend where I had to search out the perfect white paint. Without getting into the complexities of color theory, let’s just say that white is a color, and not all whites are the same.
The design project calls for building bookcases and a new credenza for their living room, thereby expanding the storage area for children’s books, toys, Sephorim (Jewish books), and other judaica. The first challenge was figuring out the new layout, and working with the carpenter to maximize the space to fulfill their needs.
The second challenge was… you guessed it… choosing a white paint for the new carpentry work! Although the couple initially thought the bookcases should be stained a similar shade as their wooden floors, I convinced them to go with white paint, instead of a wood stain. This was one of our inspiration pictures:
After narrowing it down to three white paints from Benjamin Moore, we finally decided on a white that I think is going to be exactly what the room needs: Chantilly Lace.
I’m excited to show you before-and-after shots, as well as to walk you through the process. In the meantime, just know that white is not always pure crisp white. It can have all sorts of undertones to it, and thus requires careful study in the space itself. (And no, not every room looks great with white paint!)
Now, to conclude, allow me briefly to go off on a spiritual tangent: Since we’re on the topic of white, and we are about to go into Yom Kippur, I’ll just remind you that when it comes to our Jewish soul, no matter what undertones some of the lower levels of our soul (nefesh, ruach, neshama, and chaya) manage to exhibit from wear-and-tear (and any shmutz picked up along the way), the inner-most, highest level of our soul, our yechida, always remains a pristine white that can’t be replicated by the best fan deck :-) (To read more in depth about these concepts, go to my post here.)
May you tap into the ultimate, whitest part of your soul this Yom Kippur, regaining perspective as to who you really are; and may this inspiration propel you forward to continue revealing the innermost dimension of everything in the world.
Wishing you a Gmar Chatima Tova!
Yael
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