Chantilly Lace Benjamin Moore Paint Color Review
Chantilly Lace is one of Benjamin Moore’s most popular shades of white. But is it the right shade of white paint for you?
Do you find yourself staring glassy-eyed at those tiny bits of colored paper wondering how on Earth you’re supposed to figure out how it will look on a whole wall? Or a whole house?
If you struggle to decide on paint colors in your home, you are not alone! Picking the best shade of paint is difficult! And one reason is that there are just SO. MANY. CHOICES.
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Too many choices, right?
This is the first of what will be a series about specific, popular paint colors. It’s my hope that this series will help you pick that perfect paint shade, and more easily visualize how a color may look on your own walls. So let’s get to it!
How Does Benjamin Moore describe Chantilly Lace?
Ever go to a fancy restaurant and hear people talking about their wine selection? “This one is very oaky and earthy.” “I taste hints of charcoal.” “This one has complex chewy tannins.” Do you sometimes wonder if these people know what the he$% they are talking about? I sure do!
Paint chips side by side for some of Benjamin Moore’s other more popular white paint colors including Simply White, Decorators White, White, Atrium White and Chantilly Lace
It’s a lot like that with paint, too. People seem to see ALL kinds of things in a gallon of paint. And they very well MAY be seeing all these different things. So before we muddy the waters…or paint. Let’s hear it right from the horse’s mouth first.
I took these pictures in NATURAL light, no light fixtures on. And in order to keep the paint chip looking as natural as possible, these images weren’t edited (except for adding the arrows).
Here’s what Benjamin Moore says about Chantilly Lace:
“As delicate and refined as the lace it was named after, this crisp, clean white evokes images of pure silk, soft linen and simpler times.”
What are the Chantilly Lace undertones?
(And btw, what’s an undertone?)
Let’s take these questions one at a time. First up:
a.) What is an undertone?
Do you know what is meant when people talk about a paint’s “undertones?” If you already know, then just skip on past. But if you hear that word and start to retract a bit because you just DON’T get it, I got your back.
First of all, have you heard the term, “mass tone?” That’s a fancy way of describing the main color you see when a paint swatch is thrown in front of you. So, green, blue, yellow, red…those are mass tones. But there are a gazillion shades of red, right? Yep. And that’s where undertones come into the painted picture.
Benajmin Moore Chantilly Lace pictured on hardwood floor next to similar colors from other paint brands.
Paint colors, and color, in general, is complex. Just like a wine connoisseur can pick up that bottle of Pinot Noir and taste hints of apricot, a trained eye can detect a little bit of yellow or a tiny bit of blue in a shade of white paint.
If may seem like witchcraft at first. But after you’ve stared at enough paint swatches, your eyes will begin to see the most subtle of differences between one shade of paint and another.
In short, an “undertone” is your eyeball’s way of detecting the slight differences in a paint recipe.
Let me explain it this way: A baker makes (2) batches of cake batter. In the first batch, she uses 1 cup of sugar. In the second batch, she uses 1.5 cups of sugar. When the cake is baked, and you try a bite, you’ll describe cake #1 as being “sweeter” than cake #2.
THAT is exactly how it works with paint undertones. The formula for paint shade #1 has more yellow in it than shade #2. This means that shade #1 will have “yellow undertones.”
Same colors as pictured above on the hardwood floors pictured here on gray bathroom tile in a room with more natural light. Again, the images are unedited except for the addition of the labels.
What makes the situation trickier is that paint will play off of elements in your home…the color of your trim, your countertops, furniture, carpet, the natural light from outside, the kind of lightbulbs you have and make a color look much different to the eye as these conditions vary. And that is why it’s imperative to sample paint on your wall…in a couple of spots before you shell out $$$ for 5 gallons of it.
b.) What are Chantilly Lace’s undertones?
Chantilly Lace is usually described as a bright white having cool and blue and/or gray undertones. See if you can see that in the swatch below where Chantilly Lace is positioned next to another popular Ben Moore white paint, “Simply White.”
You may be able to tell that Simply White has yellow undertones while Chantilly Lace does not.
Below I’ve put Chantilly Lace next to Benjamin Moore’s “Super White,” which they describe as, “A brilliant, almost sparkling white.” You can see that the two are quite similar.
Now if you’re looking at your computer screen thinking, “gosh, those look way off-white to me…almost beige or taupe,” you’re not incorrect. That’s why you have to TRY these paint colors on your actual, real-life wall.
The computer will distort the color just as things like a really cool, daylight lightbulb or soft-white lightbulb will!
I need examples. Can you show me rooms painted in Chantilly Lace?
Yes, I can! I’ve scoured the www looking for all kinds of spaces where Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace has been used so that you can get a better idea of how it looks in different spaces! Remember though that no home is the same. All homes have different amounts of natural light, colors of flooring and other items that will offset the paint and make it look different.
Even the way your home faces can affect the paint!
- north-facing rooms usually have cooler, bluer/grayer darker perhaps even a smidge gloomy light making them harder to paint whereas…
- south-facing spaces are the ones where the light will pour in and are much easier to paint.
The following examples are from creators on Instagram! Like their content? Hit their follow button!
1.) Chantilly Lace in Kitchens:
Chantilly Lace is frequently used as a kitchen cabinet color! In the images below, see it used on both cabinets, as well as kitchen walls.
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2.) Chantilly Lace in Bathrooms:
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In the bathroom below, to my eye the paint appears warmer than in other shots, likely because it’s playing off the golds and pinks in the room.
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2.) Chantilly Lace on Exteriors:
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4.) Chantilly Lace in other living spaces:
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I think the Chantilly Lace reads a bit warmer in this particular space below, as well. Likely from maybe early morning or late afternoon sun coming into the room.
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The photo below is a great one to look at because it shows the paint in a situation that none of the others do. Night time, with the light fixtures turned on!
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And that’s a wrap! I really hope that this paint review has made it easier for you to decide whether Chantilly Lace will be a good paint choice for your home! It is a beautiful white that looks beautiful in so many spaces. If you’re looking for a “neutral” white without heavy warm or cool undertones, I think it’s a great paint to test on your walls!
Need a little paint sheen power talk?
Not sure about which paint sheen to use? We have a post alllll about choosing the right paint sheen, so check it out now!
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beth says
May 22, 2019 at 8:50 pmThank you for this informative post. I am leaning towards painting my kitchen cabinets chantilly lace or super white. I would love to have very light walls as well but would like some contrast . Do you have any suggestions? My countertops are white with a light gray veining quartz.
Thank you
Heather says
May 23, 2019 at 1:31 pmHey Beth, Did you see the examples where the cabinets and the wall color were both Chantilly Lace? It’s a look I don’t usually go for either, as I love a bit of contrast, but I really adored the look of both being Chantilly Lace. One option is to paint your cabs STRAIGHT out of the can, NO TINT. I do this a lot for molding, and I did the same with my own kitchen cabinets. I used Behr, straight…no mixing in any tint whatsoever. The undertone straight out of the can is slightly cool/blue, so it would look nice with the Chantilly Lace walls in my opinion 🙂 Hope that helps!
SINDI STACK says
April 10, 2019 at 11:31 pmChoosing paint is no big deal. Since I am a Spring these are the colors I live in from furnishings to walls,
I usually can see in my minds eye exactly the shade I am looking for. I then take several chips of the color and similar ones and tape them to my wall and see how it looks under different lighting at different times of the day.
I do this for several days until I can make the decision on which way to go.
I did my home like this 9 years ago and have never tired of the colors I chose.
Heather says
April 11, 2019 at 5:57 amThat’s a great system for choosing paint, Sindi! Sounds very close to what I do, as well. Keeping the chips up for a couple days to see how it looks under different light situations is key. I still hear people who say they chose the color at Home Depot or whatever and it makes me shudder 😂 because it’s amazing how different paint can look under different lights. Thanks for sharing you process!! It’s helpful for people to see it!