The Color Digest · Compare
Settled, side by side
Wimborne White
Farrow & Ball · No. 239
The white that English houses are painted
Extra White
Sherwin-Williams · SW 7006
Gallery white
In real rooms
Every room, each colorThe difference
Read from the numbersWimborne White is the lighter of the two at LRV 89, 3 points above Extra White at LRV 86. Wimborne White leans warm where Extra White reads cool. Both belong to the whites family. For a whole room, Wimborne White is the safer, more forgiving choice thanks to its higher LRV, while Extra White is the bolder pick.
How they read
In their own wordsWimborne White is Farrow & Ball's everyday warm white — named for the Dorset town where the company was founded — with just enough yellow to keep it soft and none of the chalkiness of a true white. At LRV 89 it is bright and clean, and it is the white most often used for ceilings, trim and whole rooms in English houses.
Extra White is a bright, slightly cool white — the closest Sherwin-Williams gets to a gallery wall. At LRV 86 it is crisp and reflective, with a faint blue-grey lean that keeps it clean rather than creamy. It is the white for architecture: plaster reliefs, coffered ceilings, a bank of steel windows.