White is good for the spirit.

Gosh, I've done a lot of decorating, and if you go with white, then you've got to make up for it with colorizing all the other items in the rooms. I've seen it done, and it seems to work best with a contemporary style. Personally, I don't like it though, as - 1. it's much harder to give "personality" to each room 2. while white can be pristine or stately, and clean, it is also "vanilla" and plain. There's nothing interesting or different from room to room if every surface is white. 3. Colors affect us physiologically. Darker tones quiet us and relax us, and colors have been found to produce emotional responses which are desirable from room to room. 4. Stark white can have a utilitarian look if not done well. It can look like a hospital, too sanitary, and difficult to keep clean. 5. They do make whites with just a hint of color in them. One line I recall was called "california whites" and they were very subtle, but not stark white at least. Hope this helps a little bit... ;-)

White is SOOOOOOO hard to decorate. It tends to make a room feel cold and uninviting... like that snooty aunt's house, where all the furniture was wrapped in plastic, you know?

White is easy to maintain (white paint is sold in every store, no need to worry about the right shade for a touch-up) White will go with any style, you feel free to get any picture, any curtains, any cushions you like, without depending on a total color scheme of a room. You can use tulle curtains to give your room any shade you like and easilly change it in any season with no need to repaint it when you change your mind. Simply place baby blueish or greenish tulle to add cooler feeling to a room. Or yellow, pink, vanilla to make it look sunnier. So, your boyfriend picked a color of a compromize. Because it's the way more difficult to agree about a color suitable for both of you for each room, white gives you opportunity to style any room any way you like and meet in the middle.

I am totally with you on that one. I don't like all white in a house. I think you need a little color to warm it up. Maybe you can compromise on cream or tan for the walls. It would still be light but would be much more inviting, then after you move in you might be able to talk him into more color.

While I never, EVER decorate my house according to what is in, you have one thing working for you in that paint is super easy to change. Is there any way you guys can compromise and choose different rooms to decide colors for? Maybe he picks the living room colors, and you pick the kitchen, etc.? If you can't get him to budge on this one, see if you can decorate with it, and if not, he may eventually realize that he doesn't care for the same color everywhere. However, it may also simply be that you two have radically different tastes in decor. White can be great for very modern rooms, or Mediterranean-inspired decor. Check out the following link and scroll down to the Mediterranean section. Maybe it will help you decorate. http://www.behr.com/behrx/inspiration/practical_8.jsp This one is about different shades of white -- maybe you can at least choose the white you guys will use in order to help you decorate around it. http://www.homeenvy.com/db/1/201.html Although I'm with you in that I would never want an entire house to be one color, you should recognize that white gives you options as well. Dark colors are not your only options for dramatic statements.

White to me seems unfinished, boring, no personality, safe, uncommitted, afraid of color, stark, unemotional, cold. True the use of white can be wonderful, but in a whole house, plain white walls don't make an impact other than plain. Any simple cottage can have white walls and be a far cry from fancy. And bungalow can be painted in loud colors and be just loud. It's the way the colors are used and the things in the rooms, the architecture of the rooms.