Young House Love

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Our Benjamin Moore Collection Of Favorite Paint Colors

Aw yeah, you know we love a good Britney reference. And you know we love painting (walls, paneling, brick, large ceramic roosters…). A big part of that is picking a paint color. Paint chips are kind of like potato chips to us (we can’t pop just one), and Benjamin Moore has been our snack of choice for a while now. Their color catalog is massive so it’s no wonder we’ve used their tones in nearly every room (Sesame in the kitchen, Moonshine in the living room and dining room, Proposal in Clara’s room, and Dragonfly on the back of our dining room built-ins). Then we used their Advance paint when it came to painting our office built-ins and kitchen cabinets since we’d heard so many good things about it (contractors and readers alike were always such enthusiastic Benjamin Moore fans). We even used their paint for a bunch of secret book projects (both on the walls and on a number of furniture pieces).

So, long story short, when Benjamin Moore invited us to curate a collection of our favorite colors… ummm, it was pretty much a dream of ours. I can’t even tell you how crazy it is for us to see our header on their site.

BenMoore Homepage

So after months of development, we’re crazy-excited to share our Benjamin Moore collection with you guys. Our job was essentially to sift through gobs of swatches (literally thousands of them) to pluck out 32 of our favorites in the hopes of helping anyone who is suffering from the dreaded paint paralysis. So yeah, picture us covering the entire sectional (poor Karl!) with paint swatches and creating different combos and switching things in and out until we landed on a collection to call our own. This partnership is just like any other side gig that helps pay the bills – like writing our magazine column or our book – except we got to play with paint chips for this one, so… score!

BenMoore Color Gallery

Some of the colors in our collection are tried and true choices of ours that we’ve already got on our own walls and some are colors that we’ve eyed forever (and haven’t used in our own house yet… but it’s probably only a matter of time). And some of them are colors that we used for our book – so we’ve seen them on the walls and on furniture, but the walls have since been painted over and the furniture has been hidden because that stuff has to stay secret until our book’s out this fall. So while many of them would be great on walls, we also split or collection into some suggested uses to help you out (like for trim/doors or as accents), so you can check that out here. We love the idea of using the bolder accent colors to wake up a room by:

  • painting a media cabinet, dresser, bed, desk, or chair
  • making some homemade art on a large canvas to fill an entire wall
  • painting a collection of frames to unify them and add drama
  • adding color to a lamp base, basket, or tabletop accessory
  • painting the back wall of a bookcase or built in for added interest

You can read a little intro to the collection here, check out all of our colors here, see them split by suggested application here, and read more thought behind the collection here (if you told us five years ago that we’d end up on the BM website, we’d have laughed at you for at least ten minutes). And you can pop over to view our collection whenever you’d like by following this little sidebar button.

BenMoore Out Button

Now can we just take a moment to talk about how INSANE it is to see our mugs right under Candice Olson’s? There might have been a series of ten to fifteen shrieks that scared a certain dog and delighted a certain toddler (who joined in on the last five to ten of them).

BenMoore Candice Olson Page

So that’s our latest secret project, which we couldn’t wait to share with you guys! I hope anyone out there who is overwhelmed by a giant wall full of swatches might find comfort in a smaller little collection of favorites to peruse and potentially use in their home. And since we’re on the subject of color, do you have an absolute favorite paint color? Is it the perfect neutral? A bold bright hue? Or a color that reminds you of a special place or time?

Comments

  1. Meredith says

    Love Benjamin Moore Knoxville Gray! It has these deep, dark gray/green/blue undertones. It looks different depending upon the light. Love it.

    Reply

  2. Christine says

    This is perfect timing! We just moved our two girls into the same room and we are going to convert the other bedroom into an office. I want to use a warm grey color and it looks like there is one on your list!

    I would love to do a yellow and grey theme, but the hubster hates yellow. Poor me!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh man, maybe you can sneak yellow in some accessories (yellow pillows, yellow lamp bases, a yellow throw, some art with some yellow in it, etc). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  3. Caitlin @ Desert Domicile says

    Congratulations you guys! This is coming at the perfect time too since I have Paint Paralysis and can never seem to choose the “perfect” color which means I never end up painting anything haha

    Also, what are your tips on choosing the perfect gray? I’ve tried 3 different ones and one was too blue, one was too pale and the last one wasn’t dark and moody enough.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I love bringing home a ton of swatches, taping them up, looking at them at all times of day, and comparing them to each other. Doing that will probably help you cull it down from around 20 options to around three to five. Then you can just get test pots and paint small squares (also to study at all times of day) to see which one you like best!

      xo,
      s

  4. Erin says

    I have been a Benjamin Moore paint fain for years. However I am terrible at picking colors. Every time I pick a color I think I love I get it on the wall and hate it. Then I claim it looks nothing like the paint swatch only to hold them up next to one another and have it be an exact match. Needles to say I am hugely impressed with anyone who can pick colors from a swatch. My new secret to picking colors i know I will love…hire a color consultant. Our local paint store also has a design center where you can hire a consultant to come to your house. Best $ I ever spent. All the colors in our home are cohesive and I have never again regretted a paint color:)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s a great tip! I’m also a fan of buying a tiny test pot to try a few on for size (it’s how we found the right gray for a bunch of rooms in our house). Gotta love cracking the color code!

      xo,
      s

  5. Kate says

    This is very exciting, but I am confused — don’t you two usually just use the Benjamin Moore colors and have them matched in a cheaper, low-VOC paint at your local Home Depot or Lowes? Are you endorsing Benjamin Moore now even though you rarely actually use their paint?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We used Benjamin Moore’s paint to paint our office cabinets and our kitchen cabinets and now we’d never go back! We did use cheaper Olympic stuff before that, but the coverage is better with Ben Moore and now that we’ve used it we know what we were missing. We also recently used it for a ton of secret book projects – it’s really great to work with. I definitely don’t think Olympic is bad, but we’ve learned that we were getting what we paid for!

      xo,
      s

  6. Caroline says

    I totally noticed this over the weekend–when I was picking paint colors! Congrats, guys. I was so impressed to see you on Ben Moore’s site.

    Reply

  7. S @ keepitneat says

    Wow – big congrats! Love Benjamin Moore colors – can’t wait to check out your collection. I am WAY too indecisive when it comes to paint colors. I think I’ve had swatches taped up to a cabinet in our dining room that I’d like to paint for 3+ years. Not a joke.

    Reply

  8. Kelley says

    I think your blog as officially crashed the Benjamin Moore site!! What better compliment? :) can’t wait to see the choices… Once the site is up and loading!

    Reply

  10. nancyo says

    hahah .. I know you love house crashing but I think it’s funny when you crash other sites too. The Benjamin Moore site is currently down.

    Reply

    • nancyo says

      no worries. I think it’s kind of cool that a blog can crash a major retailer’s website. I think it shows the power of your blog and readership has on retailer’s marketing efforts. So .. way to go! I’ll check back into BM website later.

  11. Sangeeta says

    Congratulations!

    Every time you folks do something, I keep bragging about it to my husband, as if I know you personally, and taking pride in your achievements.

    Thanks for the collection, for a person who loves reading about design but not painted a single wall yet, these are a real great help.

    Reply

  12. marney says

    Ha, I’m pretty sure you guys crashed the BM site, since I haven’t been able to get on to check out your picks! ;)

    Reply

  13. Michelle H says

    I think we broke the BM website.. I’m getting an Internal Server Error! Will check back later to see your colors. Too exciting.

    Reply

  15. emily says

    My neighbor/dog walker gave us an old table that she had intended on sanding down and repainting. I still have those same intentions, and since seeing your color choices, I’ve decided that baby fern would be the absolute perfect color.

    Congratulations on this amazing feature, and I’ll be sure to send you pictures of the table if and when I tackle it!

    Reply

  16. Natalie says

    This is so awesome! We just moved into a new house and picking out paint chips can be pretty daunting. I’ve already found a lot of inspiration from you guys, and this collection of colors are awesome! I might have to pick up some more paint chips to hang up before I take the plunge and start painting :)

    Reply

  17. Monika says

    Congratulations are in order! And I love your colors. I used the Moonshine in our kitchen and painted the cabinets Simply White. Love BM!

    Reply

  18. Stephanie says

    That was the first thing I thought: that you guys were on the same page as Candice Olson!! Congratulations! I still think ya’ll need a show helping your fellow Richmond neighbors decorate!

    Reply

  19. Lindsay says

    That’s so exciting! The colors are fantastic! I could look at color swatches for days. Congrats!

    I’ve been wondering though, where is Clara’s 22 month photo?

    Reply

  20. Heather says

    Whoa. That. Is. Awesome.

    My go to colors are what I call “stand mixer blue” (i.e. KitchenAid’s shade of cobalt) and bold, bright green. I’m basing the colors in our home off of my stand mixer and our bedding and have ended up with these gorgeous colors I just want to use everywhere!!!

    http://www.bakecreatelove.com/2011/12/im-in-love.html (The blue is Olympics “Indigo”)

    http://www.bakecreatelove.com/2011/03/tick-tock.html (I can’t remember the name of this green, but it is also by Olympic and matches our bedding PERFECTLY.)

    I have some of both colors leftover, so I’ve used them on other projects in the house:
    cheap art: http://www.bakecreatelove.com/2011/11/438-piece-of-art.html
    DIY Cat condo: http://www.bakecreatelove.com/2012/01/buddys-super-cool-cat-condo.html

    And We’re going to paint our new front door that shade of blue.

    Reply

  22. Missy G. says

    Oh my GOSH, this is super cool!!!! I think I’m more excited for y’all for this opportunity more than I was about the book (bc honestly it seems like every other blogger these days is publishing a book) (not that that should lessen your book successes) (okay, Missy, stop typing now). Congrats!! Off to check it out now…

    Reply

  23. Kristen says

    Congratulations!! What an awesome gig! I can’t wait to check out all the colors you so carefully picked out! Every wall in our house is a different shade of tan and I like that but I’d love to add in a few more pops of color!

    Reply

  24. Stephanie says

    So cool! Congrats.

    I’m in the process of buying my first home (a townhouse) so this is going to be fun to peruse and gain some inspiration from. :)

    Reply

    • Stephanie says

      Thank you! :) It’s driving me crazy waiting for close to happen so being able to play with stuff like this (and read blogs like it’s my job) is the only thing keeping me sane.

  25. Kristi says

    Love the colors. I picked 3 I’m going to sample in a few weeks. But I cant get on the website, did you guys crash it already???? Love it,

    Reply

  28. Jordan says

    Wow, this is amazing! So happy for you guys. And I’m off to bookmark the page- I’ll have to start tagging colors for my someday-house!

    p.s. I love how humble you guys are- such inspiration for a hopefully-someday-full-time-blogger like me!

    Reply

  29. Rebecca says

    As soon as I saw the Color Gallery screen shot, I immediately thought of Sue The Napkin! Congrats, $herdog and J-Boom.

    Reply

  30. Linda says

    Congratulations!!! I’ve always loved Benjamin Moore paint – and the folks at their stores are just the best as far as knowledge and helpfulness. I think your being on their site is a match made in heaven.

    For me, Benjamin Moore may cost a bit more, but it’s worth every single penny.

    Reply

  31. Jennifer says

    SO EXCITING!!
    I am usually the one found frozen and staring at the paint swatch section of Home Depot with a scared look on my face.
    I am soooo going to use this – I love your style and totally trust these choices!

    THANKS SO MUCH!!

    Reply

  33. Ellen says

    My husband, who used to own his own interior/faux painting business, will only use Benjamin Moore paints (well, if he uses others he grumbles about it the whole time…) so this is cool that you get to work with them!

    Off to check out your color choices!

    Reply

  34. Gena says

    Awesome timing! I just painted my kitchen Moonshine this weekend. Now I’m going to use your inspiration for some accent colors. I see some painted stools in my future!

    Reply

  36. Cissyrene says

    I’m so excited for you guys! YAY! And congrats!

    And I totally get the Candice thing. I decided long ago that if I ever won the lottery that I would pay her any amount of money if she would decorate my whole house. Haha.

    Reply

  38. Jennifer B says

    seriously……thank you! This makes my heart smile for ya’ll! You are totally awesome and I think it is spectacular that you are getting the recognition you deserve. You give us the comfort and support we need to get any job done! You are realistic, fun and inspiring. Thanks again for all you do to inspire me and the rest of us out there in cyber world.

    Reply

  39. Sarah says

    I had my entire house painted LAST WEEK, PEOPLE. Sigh. I did consider going with some of the colors you used but then I scrapped it all and just used BM’s Affinity line which is all supposed to technically coordinate. Oh well, congrats anyway to you guys.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, we love their Affinity line! Many of our picks (Dragonfly, Proposal, etc) are from there – and those are some of the first colors we picked for our house!

      xo,
      s

  40. Ashley says

    Ahhh, this is like my dream job! I am OBSESSED with Benjamin Moore paints and colors. So excited for you both and your collection! So awesome!

    Reply

  41. Melissa says

    I just can’t help but think this goes against your no swag policy. At the very least, should this have been included only on your sponsor “shout out days?” This is different than your book or magazine articles, because now you are aligning yourself with a specific company. An actual product you didn’t use until recently. I feel for Olympic paints, whose product that you used for years, and has now been relegated to “you get what you pay for” status. It doesn’t bother me that you get paid, good for you. You just might want to play down the “no perks policy” in the future.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Sorry you feel that way! In 2010 we decided not to post about things in exchange for free swag (ex: a company sends us a mirror in exchange for a post about how much we love it). So we line up weekly giveaways for our readers instead! To us there’s a difference between allowing a company to comp our kitchen makeover and putting time/work into side jobs that allow us to blog for a living & support our family. All sponsors & side gigs are clearly indicated and we align ourselves with Do It Yourself magazine and our publisher by writing for them and with Joss & Main when we curate sales with them, so aligning ourselves with a favorite brand of paint is no different.

      We used to use Olympic but after a few contractors recommended BM for our cabinets we gave it a try and it was amazing! We also used it for book projects and loved the coverage/quality. Olympic is good stuff too, we’ve just always used BM colors and then fell in love with their paint. So we thought it was a perfect partnership. I have an old tattered BM deck from 5 years ago that I use weekly, so it really is amazing to work with a brand that I’ve looked up to for such a long time. Hope that makes sense!

      xo,
      s

  42. Gena says

    A quick question about the color Moonshine: I just noticed Benjamin Moore has it listed on their website as #2140-60 and also #OC-56. Are they different?

    Reply

  43. Alanna says

    My favorite paint color is Behr’s Toasted Cashew. We used it throughout our living room, dining room and kitchen (it’s sort of all open space) and it’s my favorite color of all the paint colors I’ve had to pick for our house.

    Reply

  45. Lisa says

    This is really, really, really cool for y’all!! I adore BM paints! Can’t wait to go check out your colors!!

    Reply

  46. Rachel says

    CONGRATULATIONS! That’s really exciting! It’s always so fun to see where you guys will pop up next!! You guys make the blogging world (or at least me, ha ha) proud! :)

    Reply

  47. Lisha says

    Our living room and kitchen walls are gray horse and all our trim is snowfall white – I feel so validated! :)

    Reply

  48. Katie says

    Congratulations! Still renting so no painting anything yet. But I’m always amazed by the way colors get distorted on computer monitors/in photos. The sesame color on the BM website doesn’t look at all like what it photographs in your Kitchen, which is I’m sure different from what it looks like in person! (I would have guessed your kitchen walls were more hibiscus – more green – less sandy. Must be my computer!)

    Just goes to show you – painting a swatch is REALLY important I guess!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Isn’t that funny! It always looks sandy (even in a swatch in person) but on the walls it’s sort of a soft avocado color! But there’s definitely lots of gold in it!

      xo,
      s

  50. Lara says

    So happy that I don’t have to pick colors for my new house, I can just rely on using these since they’re so perfect! Thank you for taking a lot of the anxiety out of paint selection :-) Now, if you want to come on up to PA and select the countertop, light fixtures, etc., that would be fantabulous!

    Reply

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