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Colour guides · South-facing · White
In a south-facing room the sun does half the work: it warms everything it touches. A warm white turns yellow there; a cool white simply turns white — crisp, fresh, luminous from morning to night.
It is the one orientation where pure and grey whites are in their element. Here are ours.
Updated September 2026 · by the Mylands France colour team
The short answer
For a south-facing room, choose a pure or slightly grey white: Pure White No.1 for the brightest, Charterhouse No.4 and Cotton Street No.3 for the most versatile, Greenwich Time No.8 or Walpole No.42 for a faintly blue white. The warm light gives them the softness they lack facing north.
At a glance
10 colours
The absolute white
Our purest white — crisp, radiant, without undertone, filed for the south. That is where to see it: the sun gives it a warmth it lacks, and in return it keeps the room fresh and bright. A south-facing room entirely in Pure White has the clarity of a Greek house. Facing north, the same white would look blue.
Our tip — Walls, ceiling and woodwork all in Pure White: the absolute white doesn't mix.
The most versatile
An off-white faintly grey-green, barely softer than Pure White, filed for the south. It has enough grey never to dazzle at noon, and enough brightness to remain a white in the evening. It is the white we recommend for a whole south-facing house — walls, ceilings, woodwork — without it ever looking cold or yellow.
Our tip — A door or bookcase in Sorrel Green: the grey-green white reveals its green.
The cotton white
A soft, crisp white with no marked undertone, the colour of a cotton sheet — filed for the south. Between Pure White and Charterhouse, it is the white 'without a story': it leans neither grey nor yellow, it is simply white, and the southern sun makes it soft. The white of bright bedrooms and kitchens.
Our tip — Ceiling in Pure White, one step lighter, for height; woodwork in Cotton Street.
The soft blue-white
A very faintly blue-grey white, filed for the south — that is where its coolness becomes a quality. In sunlight the blue almost disappears; what remains is a white calmer and softer than Pure White, which keeps a warm room pleasant to the eye. The white of south-facing bedrooms and sunny bathrooms.
Our tip — With Bedford Square on a wall or headboard: the white's blue, revealed.
The sky white
The bluest of our whites: a white that has taken on the colour of the morning sky, filed for the south. In a warm room it does what no warm white can — it cools the air to the eye. A south-facing bedroom or conservatory in Walpole stays fresh even in August.
Our tip — Ceiling and woodwork in Pure White: three whites, one of them cool.
The pale green white
A white with a barely perceptible green undertone, filed for the south, named after the gardens at Syon. The green offsets the warmth of the light and the white stays fresh all day, with something botanical that suits rooms opening onto a garden. With pale timber and plants it is perfect.
Our tip — A door or interior shutters in Copper Green: the white's green, deeper.
The grey-green white
An off-white with a grey-green undertone, a touch stronger than Charterhouse, filed for the south. It has the restraint of an old woodwork white — the colour of the acanthus mouldings that give it its name — and it holds perfectly in the sun, where its hint of grey stops it blazing. The white of classical, sunny living rooms.
Our tip — Woodwork and cornices in Acanthus Leaf beneath Pure White walls: the relief of mouldings, without colour.
The grey white
A very pale grey white, filed for the south: just enough grey to absorb the excess warmth of the light, and stay a calm white at noon. It has the elegance of the stuccoed façades of the quarter it is named after. In a very bright south-facing room it is the white that rests.
Our tip — Woodwork in Pure White: a discreet contrast, but a contrast.
The grey-stone white
A pale grey white almost without undertone, the colour of old marble — hence the name. Facing south it is the most discreet white on this list: neither warm nor cold, simply light and settled. It makes a gallery ground for pictures and furniture, and it doesn't date.
Our tip — With Sloane Square woodwork, a barely stronger grey: white and grey without a break.
The green off-white
An off-white with a discreet green undertone, softer than Syon Park. It is filed for the north — a white that doesn't turn blue in cold light — but it holds just as well facing south, where its green stops it yellowing. The white for those who want the same white throughout the house, whatever the orientation.
Our tip — The whole-house white: walls and ceilings everywhere, woodwork in Pure White.
A white is 'cool' when it leans blue, green or grey, 'warm' when it leans yellow, pink or earth. In south light — golden, abundant — a warm undertone adds to that of the light: a cream such as Lots Road No.24 turns frankly yellow at noon. A cool undertone subtracts: Pure White No.1 or Walpole No.42 simply look white. It is the only place in the house where that is true.
For maximum brightness, Pure White No.1. For the whole house, Charterhouse No.4 or St Clement No.11, which hold facing north too. For a south-facing bedroom or bathroom, Greenwich Time No.8 or Walpole No.42, the coolest. For a classical living room, Acanthus Leaf No.12 or Belgravia No.6, the most restrained. For a room opening onto a garden, Syon Park No.13.
And remember that a cool white needs a warm partner in the room — timber, brass, linen, a deep colour on a piece of furniture — so as not to look austere. See also our warm whites for a dark room, which white for a ceiling, our colours for a south-facing living room and all our whites.
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