Alabaster is a popular wall color because it is neutral and soft, but there are several trim colors which will work well next to alabaster walls.
Many homeowners and designers use alabaster as a wall color, because it is so neutral and will work well within many different designs.
Trim color is also an important part of capturing a design aesthetic, and it can become a complicated process.
There are, however, a few different choices for trim colors, which will keep the bright color and provide different levels of contrast and warmth when placed next to an alabaster wall color.
These trim colors may also reflect differently in different lighting situations, but as long as the levels of contrast and undertones are correct, you will be able to accentuate almost any design style within your room.
Alabaster as a wall color
Rather than a stark white, alabaster is a very popular color choice for walls if you want a warm white.
Alabaster is a creamy color with yellow undertones, but it is very balanced and will not look too cold or too warm when painted on your walls.
Different alabaster colors have LRVs (luminous reflectance values) of between 82 and 87. 100 would be the brightest pure white, as this color would reflect the most light, so these LRVs mean that alabaster is a softer, warmer white.
This is often exactly what homeowners want, since a stark white is often too cold and can feel clinical, whereas the alabaster color is still bright, but gives a softer look when used on your walls.
The creamier appearance of the alabaster color is what makes it so alluring to homeowners and designers. This color is a good neutral and is understated, even when it is used all over your walls.
This means that it will brighten up your space but will not overshadow other design elements or make the room feel overwhelming.
Alabaster colored walls are often used in design styles, from rustic designs to farmhouse designs. This color particularly, is used to give the room a light and airy, yet welcoming look and feel.
In order to capture these – and many other design styles, there are several other elements that need to be incorporated.
Why is trim color important?
Trim and trim color is one of the most important considerations when you want to capture a specific design style within a room.
Traditionally, decorators and homeowners used mostly white and off-white colors for trim colors, but some designers have started to experiment with darker and bolder colors.
Adding a darker, contrasting trim color can be an effective way to bring out other unique design elements within a room.
This darker color will then act as a sort of frame around the perimeter of your design and help the eye to focus on details within the room.
You can also use a bright shade like a bright pink or blue to accentuate this color, if it is prominent in the rest of your design. However, going for a classic white trim color is a timeless and safe choice.
In order to find the exact right shade of white, which will compliment your room and design perfectly, it is always a good idea to test the white color in the room and with the wall color of the room to see how this color will reflect once actually in the room.
Seeing what your trim color looks like in different lighting conditions within the room is also important, as bright and low light might make the color appear differently and bring out undertones that you would not normally notice.
Whether you are using a dark, bold or white color trim in your room, a good rule of thumb to ensure that this trim color matches with the color of your walls is to choose colors with the same undertones.
Cool tones usually work best with cool undertones and warm undertones with warm undertones.
Trim colors to use with alabaster walls
When you have a slightly warm, but mostly neutral color like alabaster, this can be difficult to do, but there are several different colors that could work well when placed next to your alabaster walls.
Alabaster walls with alabaster trim
Picking a color for your trim to match with your walls does not have to be a complicated process at all.
Many designers are in agreement that it is a perfectly acceptable and simple choice to use the same color which you used to paint your walls, to also paint your trim.
Alabaster can look very close to white, but upon closer inspection and when placed next to a more cool-toned white, it is clear that alabaster has a distinct yellow hue to it.
It can be difficult to find a different color which has the same yellow hue but is not too close to the same color. Therefore, it is sometimes easier to just use the same color.
The advantage to this approach is that it saves you the mental effort of trying to find a paint color to match your walls, because it will all just be a continuation of the same color.
This is also a good way to remove harsh, contrasting lines, which can sometimes make a room feel smaller.
If you are worried about this look being too monochrome and losing some of the detail in your trim, there is a solution to still differentiating between the walls and the trim.
If you use different finishes on the wall and the trim, the different levels of sheen will give the eye enough contrast to see where the wall ends, and the trim begins.
In this case you could use alabaster in an eggshell or semi-gloss on the walls and then use alabaster in a semi-gloss or satin finish on the trim.
For a very polished and pulled together look, you can even continue this alabaster color on to the ceiling with a flat finish.
Alabaster walls with white trim
If the alabaster-on-alabaster look is too much for you, a white is always a classic choice when it comes to trim for any wall color.
Using a white trim color is a good way to create some contrast between the trim color and the wall color, but still keep the light and bright look that alabaster walls create.
1. White Dove by Benjamin Moore is a very popular white color. This color pairs nicely with alabaster, as it is also very well balanced between warm and cool and has the same gray-beige base to it that alabaster has.
This color is also a bit lighter than alabaster, which means that it will have just enough contrast to differentiate your trim from the wall color.
2. Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore is a very bright white. This color will give you crisp, clean lines when paired with alabaster walls and will help to make the room feel even brighter.
The starkness of this color will also contrast with the more yellow tones in your alabaster walls, which will make the walls look softer and the trim look even brighter.
3. Pure White by Sherwin Williams is another slightly cool-toned, pure white color. This color will also create some contrast with your alabaster walls, but just enough to make the trims stand out.
4. Greek Villa by Sherwin Williams is another great white color to pair with alabaster. This color has similar undertones to alabaster, but Greek Villa tends to lean more to beige and alabaster can look grayer when placed right next to it.
These white and off-white colors are excellent when paired with alabaster as they brighten up the room and provide just enough contrast to create some visual interest, while still blending into the background colors of the room.
How lighting affects alabaster
Whether you choose alabaster or a different white color for the trims in your house, it is important to consider the way that this color and your alabaster walls will look in different lighting before you make your final choice.
In a north-facing room, alabaster may reflect as a bit cooler and, therefore a cooler-toned trim will reflect stronger in this light.
South facing rooms usually have bright light throughout the day, and this can make the difference between two similar colors seeming more obvious.
Alabaster usually appears at its softest and most yellow in this south facing light. East and west-facing rooms will also bring out the warmer tones in alabaster, especially later in the day.
Therefore, it is important to choose a trim color which will work well next to alabaster in all of these different lighting conditions, to ensure that your room always looks stylish and bright.
Conclusion
Alabaster is a popular creamy white shade to use on walls, as it is soft enough to not make the room feel sterile. Finding a trim color to match this color can be tricky, and opinions on trim colors range from dark and bold to monotone.
When taking the neutral to warm undertones of alabaster into account, the most obvious choices for trim colors include alabaster itself for an uncomplicated and versatile design, and even some other off-white and white colors which would work well in different lighting situations.
