CURRENTS RE FLECTIONS


WHITE PAINT BY LAURA CRONK | ILLUSTRATION BY LAURA FRANKSTONE


everything, simplify everything. I wanted a warm white, creamy but not


104 CSD


I wanted the perfect shade of white paint. I was moving with my family into our first house. We were leaving behind the city we’d first lived in as a couple and then as parents, the city that had become our fam- ily’s hometown. Though we were eager for more space, the apartment we were leaving had character. It had stained glass, original moldings, crystal doorknobs, as well as a view of the communal trash bins and a very loud schizophrenic downstairs neighbor. We were starting fresh with a whole house to ourselves. I wanted it to feel as spacious and serene as possible. It isn’t a big house. It’s a 1930s cottage, cramped or cozy, depending on your point of view. Still, I knew that spaciousness was possible, with white paint.


What color should we paint the dining


room, my husband asked? White. The pow- der room? White. The kitchen, the hallway,


the living room, all of the upstairs? White. I didn’t want just any white paint, I want- ed the perfect white paint. Once I began to look at the variations, I felt my sanity slip- ping. I leapt down the rabbit hole anyway, hundreds of paint chips and sample pots flying past as I fell. I devoured the advice of every design expert I could find. Apparently, there are many, many ways that white paint can go wrong. It can be too cool and look harsh, breaking blue or green and draining the color from the complexions of everyone it surrounds. It can be too warm and look dingy, making your possessions look cheap. I realized it’s possible to choose the wrong white paint for the amount of natural light in a space, the wrong white for the geographical location, the wrong white for one’s temperament, aspirations, aura. But the right white paint can elevate


yellow. The slightest pink could work, like the undertones in a baby’s cheeks, or the cheeks of a grown woman who has paid for high-end dermatology. The translucence of a well-done chemical peel. I didn’t want yellow, but a hint of a golden glow would be nice, the glow that emanates from very charismatic people or certain celebrities. I wanted a glow, but not an oily forehead type of sheen; something matte, matte but with depth, maybe chalky. The white of the plaster on the walls of a 400-year- old Danish convent could be nice. Chalky but emanating its own energy, a hint of the luminescence of a deep-sea creature. Something like that would work. I painted scores of patches of samples on the walls. The coat of top shelf Donald Kaufman full-spectrum white didn’t reveal its full magic. I decided to go with Benjamin Moore and at various points was committed to Swiss Coffee, White Down, Ivory White, White Dove. And then, I found it. Seapearl. A friend, who is a design aficionado and white paint obsessive, asked what shade I had chosen. When I said “Seapearl” he couldn’t help but laugh. “Is there any other kind of pearl?” he asked. Well, Scottish river pearls were a big deal in medieval jewelry making, and the Mississippi Delta has pearls of its own. But in my mind, there is only one true pearl. You won’t find many bloggers extolling this shade. It is a bit of an unknown in the off-white world. But I’ve fallen in love. I wish all other seekers the same satisfaction.


Laura Cronk is the author of Having Been an Accomplice from Persea Books. She directs the Summer Writers Colony and other programs for writers at The New School in Manhattan.


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