Ask any of our clients and I'm pretty sure they'll tell you one of my favorite things to do is paint their walls white. I've found this soft, luminous paint that is the perfect bright, airy base to build up rich color with furnishings and accents. But, paint color can be a great design tool, too. Take a look at some of the ways we've used it in recent projects so you can learn the tricks, too :)

One of my favorite techniques is to use a relatively pale shade on a single wall (or ceiling) to draw attention to the feature and subtly bathe the room in color.

I wanted everyone who walked into our client's guest bedroom to notice the beautiful barrel-vaulted ceiling, so we used a blush paint called Faded Light from Dunn Edwards. It's just enough color to draw your eye and adds warmth and dimension to the room.

We did something similar to another client's bathroom but for a very different reason. The low ceiling made it easy to hit your head. Painting one wall in Windswept from Dunn Edwards played up the architectural feature for safety and made this unassuming little space feel special.

In one of our client's home office, we wanted to add a touch of sophistication to the space and who doesn't love a good stripe? So, we played up the base moulding by adding six inches of black paint above it. (Another cool paint feature in this room? We used dry erase paint from IdeaPaint on the back wall for our client's brainstorming sessions.)

And, of course, paint, particularly in dark colors, is a powerful way to make a small, shallow space feel deeper and hold it's own with the rest of the room. A client needed a homework nook for her sons and the best space for it was underneath a staircase. The surrounding space is white, but creating a sense of depth and a little drama with Dunn Edwards Blue Earth went a long way to make this space feel like a little room all it's own.

OK, I won't keep you in suspense any longer...the white you've seen in each of our photos is Cool December by, you guessed it, Dunn Edwards. Alternatively, called Muggy July when Kenley and I have been in the office too long. If Dunn Edwards isn't available in your area, Benjamin Moore's Super White is a great stand-in.