Muddy Stilettos


<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="806" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/chalk-white-dulux-heriage-copy-2.jpg" alt="elegant white living room with teak table and fireplace dulux heritage " class="wp-image-105359" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/chalk-white-dulux-heriage-copy-2.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/chalk-white-dulux-heriage-copy-2-600x322.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/chalk-white-dulux-heriage-copy-2-1000x537.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



<p>Remember when white was white? When there was only one to choose from when you were thinking wall paints, and it was the quickest, safest antidote to your mum&#8217;s dreaded magnolia. These days, as I know from poring over <a href="https://www.duluxheritage.co.uk/en?utm_source=muddy&amp;utm_medium=other_followers&amp;utm_campaign=Heritage&amp;utm_content=imagemuddy-editorial" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dulux Heritage</a> colours for my renovation project <a href="https://muddystilettos.co.uk/the-house-muddy-built/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The House That Muddy Built</a>, virginal &#8216;white&#8217; has got a bit jiggy, and had <em>many</em> Heritage babies &#8211; 25 to be exact, not counting a couple of taupe-ish outliers. Lucky you if you have room enough to try them all! </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1626" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Dulux-Heritage-wheel-of-white-colours-.png" alt="dulux heritage colour chart for white paints " class="wp-image-105362" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Dulux-Heritage-wheel-of-white-colours-.png 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Dulux-Heritage-wheel-of-white-colours--554x600.png 554w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Dulux-Heritage-wheel-of-white-colours--923x1000.png 923w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Dulux-Heritage-wheel-of-white-colours--1417x1536.png 1417w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



<p>So now, in addition to True White (which does what it says on the tin), there are endless colour nuances &#8211; do you want Mallow White (hints of pink) or Fennel White (hints of green)? Roman White (hints of yellow), or the grey tones of Indian White? Unless you&#8217;re super confident with your vision for a house, these kind of endless options can feel bamboozling, particularly when you add variables like room position and lighting. If we can&#8217;t decide on a white paint, what hope do we have when it comes to choosing a kitchen or bathroom tile?! </p>



<p>If you&#8217;re going round in circles like I&#8217;ve been, the good news is that I&#8217;ve been talking to Marianne Shillingford, the creative director at Dulux Heritage who has given me some brilliant, practical advice, which I&#8217;m now passing on to anyone else thinking of revamping a wall, room or &#8211; for the brave souls amongst us &#8211; a whole house. Good luck, fellow paint brush wielders, and I hope it helps!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-marianne-s-tips-for-choosing-the-best-white-paint"><strong>Marianne&#8217;s tips for choosing the best white paint</strong></h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="917" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Marianne-Shillingford--917x1000.png" alt="" class="wp-image-95893" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Marianne-Shillingford--917x1000.png 917w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Marianne-Shillingford--550x600.png 550w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Marianne-Shillingford--1408x1536.png 1408w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Marianne-Shillingford-.png 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 917px) 100vw, 917px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Marianne Shillingford, creative director at Dulux Heritage </figcaption></figure>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-don-t-be-scared-of-colour-tinted-whites"><strong>Don&#8217;t be scared of</strong> <strong>colour-tinted whites </strong></h4>



<p>When you do a tester against a white piece of paper or a white wall, your tester white can suddenly look much more pink, green, yellow or blue than you think you want it to be. However, the truth is that once you&#8217;ve painted a whole wall and not just a small section, the eye won&#8217;t pick up the colour &#8211; it will look white, but it will have subtle undertones that give your rooms depth. So if you&#8217;ve chosen a Linen White, for example, the pink undertones will gently warm up a north facing room. A south facing garden room with a cool green like Wishbone will feel fresh and reflect the nature outside.  </p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-to-use-a-pure-white">When to use a pure white</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1061" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ROMNEY-WOOL-AND-PURE-White-dulux-heritage-copy.jpg" alt="grey bedin white room with blue curtains dulux heritage romney wool " class="wp-image-105363" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ROMNEY-WOOL-AND-PURE-White-dulux-heritage-copy.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ROMNEY-WOOL-AND-PURE-White-dulux-heritage-copy-600x424.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ROMNEY-WOOL-AND-PURE-White-dulux-heritage-copy-1000x707.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">True White used on door, radiator and shutters with Forest Grey on the ceiling and Romney Wool as the primary white </figcaption></figure>



<p>Our pure white is called True White. It&#8217;s really lovely and absolutely has its place but there&#8217;s no doubt that this kind of &#8216;art gallery&#8217; shade can be too bright for some people. A great way to use True White is to use it as an accent to more nuanced whites or colours &#8211; create a contrast by painting it on the ceiling, skirtings or the woodwork for example to bring out the nuance in the primary white paint you&#8217;ve chosen. It also works incredibly well for the inside of windows, reflecting the light into the room.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-make-sure-your-whites-complement-stronger-room-colours">Make sure your whites complement stronger room colours</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1061" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/sage-green-dulux-heritage-1780108-living-room-copy.jpg" alt="living room with wooden floor, rug and green walls with gold pendant lighitng and green sofa, dulux heritage paint " class="wp-image-105365" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/sage-green-dulux-heritage-1780108-living-room-copy.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/sage-green-dulux-heritage-1780108-living-room-copy-600x424.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/sage-green-dulux-heritage-1780108-living-room-copy-1000x707.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sage Green used on walls, door and skirting</figcaption></figure>



<p>It&#8217;s the rare person who paints a whole house in white these days and everything from statement walls to colour drenching have become incredibly popular over recent years as customers become more confident to go with what they love. </p>



<p>When you&#8217;re using white as an accent or in harmony with other colours, it&#8217;s still important to think about those underlying white colour tones. With the Dulux Heritage range we&#8217;ve tried to make things easier for customers to choose colours that work well together by <a href="https://www.duluxheritage.co.uk/en/colours" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">grouping our paints tonally in colour walls as well as colour groups</a>, from white to pales, mediums and into the deeper shades. Nothing is set in stone of course and whatever you love is absolutely what you should do, but it&#8217;s a good starting point to see where your eye is leading you &#8211; to elegant cool greens, blues and greys, or into the warmer yellows, pinks and reds. </p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shortlist-your-white-paints-by-using-the-dulux-heritage-lighting-tool">Shortlist your white paints by using the Dulux Heritage Lighting Tool </h4>



<p>Our brand new lighting tool, launched last month, can really help you narrow down your options and help you understand the elements at play when choosing colour before heading to the tester pots. It allows you to see how your favourite shades will look from sunrise to sunset, both in natural light or with light bulbs &#8211; the difference on wall colour using downlighters versus hanging lights is extraordinary! You can see an example below using the same paint, but different variables.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1124" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-day-time-north-Dulux-Heritage-kitchen-1.jpeg" alt="dulux heritage visualiser romney wool colour day time " class="wp-image-105369" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-day-time-north-Dulux-Heritage-kitchen-1.jpeg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-day-time-north-Dulux-Heritage-kitchen-1-600x450.jpeg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-day-time-north-Dulux-Heritage-kitchen-1-1000x749.jpeg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Romney Wool used throughout </figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1123" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-sunset-south-Dulux-Heritage-1-1.jpeg" alt="dulux heritage visualiser romney wool colour sunset" class="wp-image-105370" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-sunset-south-Dulux-Heritage-1-1.jpeg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-sunset-south-Dulux-Heritage-1-1-600x449.jpeg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-sunset-south-Dulux-Heritage-1-1-1000x749.jpeg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1122" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-night-time-spotlights-Dulux-Heritage-1-1.jpeg" alt="dulux heritage visualiser romney wool colour spot lights cool " class="wp-image-105531" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-night-time-spotlights-Dulux-Heritage-1-1.jpeg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-night-time-spotlights-Dulux-Heritage-1-1-600x449.jpeg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Visualiser-Romney-Wool-night-time-spotlights-Dulux-Heritage-1-1-1000x748.jpeg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



<p>You can choose whether your room is North, South, West or East facing also so you get an excellent overview of whether a colour could work for you. Just head to the <a href="https://www.duluxheritage.co.uk/en/colours" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a>, choose a colour and you&#8217;ll see a tab that says &#8216;See Different Light Sources&#8217;.  </p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-don-t-skimp-on-the-tester-pots">Don&#8217;t skimp on the tester pots</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1125" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Heros-house-tester-pots-on-wall-1-1.jpg" alt="dulux heritage tester pots on pink wall with painting of ava gardner on it " class="wp-image-105374" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Heros-house-tester-pots-on-wall-1-1.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Heros-house-tester-pots-on-wall-1-1-600x450.jpg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Heros-house-tester-pots-on-wall-1-1-1000x750.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">My current living room wall &#8211; tester pot craziness </figcaption></figure>



<p>Once you&#8217;ve shortlisted your colours with the lighting tool,, it&#8217;s test pot time. My advice on this is always the same &#8211; be generous with them! If you only test on a small patch of wall, you&#8217;ll never get a true picture of how a colour will look in your space. Window position, strength of sunlight, the position of the room and even furniture placement and soft furnishings will all impact how a colour plays out, so you need to colour test different areas of your wall and also check on how it looks at different times of the day. What looks elegantly pared back at sunrise might be too bright by early afternoon. </p>



<p>A good tip for when you&#8217;re doing a paint test is to make sure you create a large area of around 1m squared of True White to put your tester against because if you&#8217;re adding a tester straight to a coloured wall, your eye will play tricks on you and you won&#8217;t be able to see the true colour that you&#8217;ve painted. Also, always do two coats of tester colour so that you can see exactly what you&#8217;re getting and give it enough time to dry fully &#8211; the colour can change significantly.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-the-biggest-mistake-people-make-with-their-white-paint-choices">What&#8217;s the biggest mistake people make with their white paint choices?</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="2250" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pexels-woman-on-sofa-with-baby-and-white-painted-walls-.jpeg" alt="young mother with toddler in white living room playing on floor - pexels" class="wp-image-105373" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pexels-woman-on-sofa-with-baby-and-white-painted-walls-.jpeg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pexels-woman-on-sofa-with-baby-and-white-painted-walls--400x600.jpeg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pexels-woman-on-sofa-with-baby-and-white-painted-walls--667x1000.jpeg 667w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pexels-woman-on-sofa-with-baby-and-white-painted-walls--1024x1536.jpeg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pexels-woman-on-sofa-with-baby-and-white-painted-walls--1365x2048.jpeg 1365w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



<p>We are confronted with so much choice in every facet of our lives these days but the truth is that you can&#8217;t really go wrong whichever white you choose. If there is a &#8216;mistake&#8217; it&#8217;s actually when people do loads of tester pots but don&#8217;t write down what they are! That&#8217;s a waste of time as you then have to rummage through your old testers or even put on an extra coat of paint to double check it&#8217;s the one you actually want or, even worse, that you buy the wrong paint. Whichever paint you choose, the most important thing always is to use your instinct as to which underlying shade is making your room feel elegant or calm or cosy or whatever environment you want to evoke. Go with that feeling and you&#8217;ll choose the colour that&#8217;s right for you.</p>



<p><em><a href="https://www.duluxheritage.co.uk/en/colours">See the full range of Dulux Heritage colours</a> here. </em></p>



<p><em>Follow the progress of my build on my IG <a href="https://www.instagram.com/herobrown_muddy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">herobrown_muddy</a>, including the wall colours I eventually go for</em>!</p>



<p><em>Words: Editor-in-Chief Hero Brown</em></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="119" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Selina-AD-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-101692" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Selina-AD-2.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Selina-AD-2-600x71.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>


Blinded by light? How to choose the right white paint

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