You all know how much I love color…especially on walls. I don’t have any white walls in my home but that doesn’t mean I hate white – I just hate it when white walls fail…because then the room fails. The room fails because most people either put a cacophony of color in the room to make up for the lack of color on the walls…or they don’t use any color or textures or patterns to make the room live and breathe. Or…they don’t choose the right white for their room. White can be tricky. Click here to read my first post on choosing white.
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Everything in the above room, designed by Margaret Bosbyshell and Clary Bosbyshell Froeba, was done beautifully. Every element in the room conspires together to make white the star of the show. The textural, geometric trellised walls and ceiling, the unique architecture and moldings, the black bar and the other black accents, the white marble floors, the mirrors, the chandelier – all foster the color choice of this space.
A totally white room can be deathly sterile in the wrong hands. And there are a lot of “wrong hands” out there. So, if you really want white walls and nothing else will do…here is what you need to know about white and what you have to have to go with your white walls.
So – what’s the real problem with white? White is really a whole panoply of colors. Black is the absence of color and white reflects all colors. Depending on how white is used – how much or little light in a room…what type of sun exposure…and what is placed near the white wall (flooring, furniture etc), white can exhibit different effects. An oak floor near a sunny window will reflect a warm honey tone on the wall. A white wall in a northern exposure can look a bit purplish in the late afternoon. In addition, cool whites can have purple, gray, blue or green undertones. Warmer whites will have yellow, beige or peach undertones. I always recommend to my readers that they roll on their chosen paints on a large sample board – and tack them up vertically on the wall and see how they look in the morning, afternoon and nighttime.
Once you have chosen the right white for your room, don’t forget these other elements to make your room memorable instead of forgettable.
Add Texture
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When you add textures, whether on the wall or in your accessories, your white room will start to come together. In the above room in photographer Amy Neunsinger’s home, workers were chipping away at old tiles and revealed an old concrete wall. It looked perfect – so it stayed. It made the room so much more interesting.
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Don’t have a beautiful textured wall? Think about adding nubby, tactile throws, linens, wools, seagrass, antiqued furniture – these items will stand out and give depth to an all white room.
Add Color
Add Moldings and Millwork
Beamed or coffered ceilings, built-ins, decorative crown and base moldings, columns, wainscoting, clapboard paneling, substantial mantels – these architectural features in a white room will really make the room spectacular. Above, designer Myra Hoefer, used Benjamin Moore’s Winter White on the beams, columns and moldings to give a sculptural effect to the rooms. Otherwise the architecture would have been too busy and it would have downplayed the serene quality of the rooms.
If your room is large and tall – but you still want to use whites and off whites in your room, consider adding a coffered ceiling and painting it. It helps to bring down the size of the room – making it a cozier space. In the above photo, notice how the walls etc are off white but the limestone mantel is white. Just that subtle difference allows this feature to stand out.
Add Art
Since white will pop anything placed against it, make sure your art is worth that pop! The mistake people make is placing unremarkable artwork on the walls. Make it count! The above photos of the dining room/library of Christine d’Ornano, who oversees the British operations of her family’s cosmetics firm, Sisley, displays the use of art beautifully. The art informs the color scheme for the room – mostly blue and yellow. Those blue upholstered doors are to die for, aren’t they? But they also serve as a hint as to what’s behind them.
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Don’t go for “basic” or neutral art pieces – go for the wow factor. Let the colors in the art inspire you to bring in a few other colors (not too many…just two, three…maybe four max).
Let me know how you have decorated with white. Share with others in the comments below!
