We are just about to practical completion on a new house. Way back when we picked colours, we were given the Taubman's whites booklet to choose our shade from, and I asked our consultant which was the whitest white - I wanted quite a stark white, like a ceiling white. She recommended "Crisp White", which, from the booklet, certainly looked the whitest!

They painted last week, here's a few photos:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4EkBqqchYfI/T ... hoto+3.JPG

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/35/img8973k.jpg/

And against the "polar white" kitchen cabinets

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RI8-hIaG5z0/T ... hoto+4.JPG

Depending on the light in the room at the time, it looks anything from cream to yellow. Definitely not a stark white. I held the swatch from the same Taubman's "whites" booklet against the wall though and it definitely seems to match.

I'm feeling so torn. This is obviously the colour we asked for/agreed to, even if its not at all what I wanted. The advice we had from the consultant at colours was generally terrible and nearly everything she ordered or recommended has turned out badly (she has since been sacked) so it shouldn't be a surprise that this is just one more fail to the list

So my question is: has anyone used Taubman's Crisp White, and is it meant to look so yellow? I had intended putting some grey walls in later (we have dark grey tiles/carpet) but now I think this is going to look even sillier - is there any way this shade of white isn't going to look horrendous? Can I rectify it somehow, or should I try to go down the path of trying to convince the builder they should repaint...(don't fancy my chances, nor do I want the extra delay, but given the other problems we've had with her advice, it might be worth a shot).

I asked for a bright gloss white for the linen press doors in my bathroom to match the white shiny tiles. I was pointed to Taubmans vivid white gloss. Not vivid and not that glossy. Seriously, we painted the rest of our house interior in Dulux 5 years ago and love it. I just bought the exact same paint shade for the bedroom for wardrobe doors and touch up thinking it would be nothing like the original but it is sensational. Blended beautifully. Look out for the grey shades. I tried painting pale grey to go with my silver grey carpet years ago and everytime we tried a different paint, it looked blue when we walked into the room the next day. Six shades later, we gave up and painted the room white!

If you say it’s the colour you asked for, from looking at the photo I would ague on that, but I’m not there so I can’t see for myself properly. (Looks nothing like what I have in front of me.)

By the way, don’t blame your colour person, she was on the right track, something has happened along the way.

Is the door in the background the same colour as the walls?

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Our builder only offers Taubmans colours as standard and we asked for a stark white. We were told that the stark white would be an upgrade, so we just went with the whitest white available. Painting will happen in a few weeks so not sure how creamy it's going to look. I find it ridiculous that they don't include a stark white as standard - perhaps they bank on people paying for the upgrade.

obviously the builder has some sort of deal with taubmans....I cant see why you cant choose another manufacturers colour in the taubmans paint at no additional expense? but in saying that this can create problems....I once used A dulux colour in taubmans paint as it was requested and it was nothing like the correct colour it should have been. My advice to you would be to get a sample pot of the colour from the supplier of the builder and paint an offcut of plasterboard with two coats to give you a better idea. that way you would have a better understanding of firstly what it will look like..as the colour charts dont always represent the actual colour and that is one way that the paint manufacturers have as an escape clause to cover there own backs.

Sorry to hear about your nasty surprise with the colour. I just googled the colour out of curiosity and found the images do show it to be quite creamy. That's the trouble with small colour cards, it's so hard to imagine it on all the walls sometimes. I'm surprised you were recommended that colour when it really isn't stark white at all. Maybe it's worth paying extra, getting the walls redone as you'll be happier in the long term. Otherwise, maybe move in and just repaint the rooms that really matter to you when you have the time to do them (especially the ones you might want the grey walls).

I've been a bit disappointed at our colour choice too - we chose Dulux Buff It 1/2, but the walls are definitely more like 1/4 strength so some of the rooms look almost white, not what I wanted at all. Good luck to you.

Thanks for all of your replies everyone. This has been driving me insane and we have PCI tomorrow, so I went to a paint shop today and had a discussion with the sales rep. She showed me that Taubman's "Crisp White" is a pure white tinted with orchre (not sure on spelling, sorry if that's wrong) which is basically yellow. So it is meant to be quite creamy.

Given that we asked for that shade of white based on the advice of the builder's colour consultant I'm going to ask them to quote us to repaint and strongly suggest they quote us at cost - I have won this argument on one of her other stuff-ups so hopefully they'll at least consider it. But at the end of the day, I'm expecting I'll just have to live with it and as you suggested Pauline, repaint room by room over time Seeing our grey carpet against the yellow tinge this afternoon, we will DEFINITELY be repainting over the "crisp white" before we even consider any grey walls.

Not a pleasant way to end our build !!! But a big lesson for next time - the onus really was on us to verify that the advice the builder's consultant had given us was correct.

Thanks again for your replies

I wouldn't have second guessed her either thou. 'Stark White' certainly sounds like it would be a bright white. Good luck with your PCI.

Sorry, to hear about your troubles. We were the same - had to choose from Taubmans and wanted a "crisp" white. We went for Snowy White and were quite happy with the way it turned out. Had a slight bluish tinge.

All I can say is the Taubman’s colour brochure must be wrong!
On my brochure, I don’t see yellow in the Crisp White.

Another reason why I use Dulux.

Sorry it’s been a disappointing end for you……

ahhh crap, we were recommended crisp white.

If you are stuck with the taubmans colour pallet, what would be the closest to a white white? e.g. like Solver WA white

Hmmm my understanding was that Crisp White is the "whitest" white Taubmans does. If you have a look at the Taubmans website under the Whites section, there is no actual "white", all of them seem to have toning.

We have not long built and I chose taubman's crisp white and mine is very much a crisp white. I have no yellow or creamy tinge in it. I have natural white kitchen cupboards and the crisp white paint looks very white against them.[ img ][ img ][ img ]

Hi, maybe too late, but I used the same colour for ceilings, doors and architraves in my unit and it was a bright white. My bathroom had white tiles to the ceiling and door and it matched the door colour too.
maybe they got the mixing wrong in your case.

I asked for Taubmans Crisp White and the painter had it colour matched by Dulux. The Dulux formula for colour matching this colour is wrong! Don't ask for this colour if your painter is getting it matched.

The matched paint from Dulux was a yellowy colour. I showed the painter the large canvas I'd done with three coats of Taubmans Crisp White from a Taubmans sample pot. He agreed his paint didn't look right and rang Bristol (who do Taubmans) and Dulux to compare the tints they use. He said Taubmans Crisp White is a 'builders white' - the white base with a tiny bit of black in it. Dulux said they add umber and ochre to match it.

The painter has taken the badly matched paint back to Dulux and apparently it will be sent to their head office or science lab or whatever so they can look into why their formula is wrong.

I just feel so lucky to have a lovely painter who took my concerns seriously and glad I had a large sample of the right paint to show just how wrong the colour-matched paint was.

Just thought I'd share this in case anyone else is considering Taubmans Crisp White and experiences the same shockingly creamy yellow horror instead of crispy white goodness.

I have a friend who used to run the wattyl paint shop here.
He showed me all the different formulas they have for all the other paint companies.

There are many!!!!

Seriously, unless you can come up with the paint mix numbers like I do when I change paint colours,
I would not recommend swapping the paints around at all.

Pippi, thankyou so much for sharing that, will remember that info as I expect the painters will be going through soon