Color Trends 2011/2012 – 5 Ways To Make White Work

Gorgeous Candle Sticks from Jardins en Fleur - coming soon to MyHomeFaceLiftcom - image courtesy of Jardins en Fleur

I think it was Designer Sarah Richardson of Canadian HGTV fame, who once said ” I never met a white room I didn’t love”. Some people feel as though a white room simply demonstrates a lack of acumen or sophistication in application of color, but just the opposite is true. Just as it’s much easier to design a great room on a bigger budget, discipline and a good eye are imperative to designing a note worth white or overall light room.

If you love bright, light rooms you may want to stop by Veranda Magazine’s  House of Windsor: http://www.verandaunveils.com/ This is Veranda’s first-ever concept house extraordinaire. It’s too late to attend the opening, or buy the actual furnishings used to create this fantastic tribute to light and bright design, but not too late to get the look.

To create a truly signature white room, you need to pull out all the stops:

1) Adding a carefully chosen and placed accent color palette that defines the space yet preserves the goal of maintaining the effect of an overall light palette.

Windsor House Living Room Design by Windsor Smith - image copyright Veranda Magazine. The accent palette ranges from taupes to soft pinks, all the way back to hot tomato reds!

2) Layer in texture, and interest by way of architectural fixtures, such as the fireplace, and hardwood floors, and moldings in addition to fabrics and window treatments. Harmonizing shape into this already complex design equation requires some prodigious skill – and all of this around the locus of any room design – it must function as on par with its aesthetic!

Windsor House Kitchen - image copyright Veranda Magazine

3) Playing with scale like an instrument to define, harmonize and create interest. Again, go up to that first image of Verandas Windsor House – the oversize ottoman and large scale piece of art are communicating with the paprika chair cushions to triangulate a dialogue of focal balance in this distinctly light yet color infused space.

4) Light accents are to a room what foam is to latte – the relationship between the cup and the espresso make it accessible, and desirable – but without that bit of foam, it’s just a cup of coffee. To get the most out of white, use white accents that are easy to clean, provide tension between texture and high gloss surfaces, and lend shape and interest in scale to creating your light and airy space.

Here are some accents to help you get the white room vibe:

Alabaster Candlestick menagerie - coming soon to MyHomeFaceLift.com

These candlestick are fabulous and add je nais se quoi to any space, white or vividly colorful. A hint of the unexpected is formula that always works in any room – footed candlesticks are unexpected at its finest hour!

Alabaster Garden stools, also from Jardins en Fleur - image from their website

White ceramic stools add texture, shape, and interest all in an easy to clean high-gloss no worries accent that can double as extra seating in a limited space or on the deck or patio. You can also pair a couple of them, and go to your local natural stone source, and find a good-sized remnant of carrera marble, or white onyx to create a high-design coffee table, or bedside tables.

5) Whether a luxury bath, bedroom, or even a self-indulgent dressing space, metallic and white create the ultimate romance.

Windsor House Bath Design by Candice Barnes - image copyright Veranda Magazine

Get that metallic and white magic by using a metallic accented cow hide in that space begging for a dash of glam.

A silver metallic accented natural hide from MyHomeFaceLift.com

metallic hide detail

Windsor House Livingroom - image copyright Veranda Magazine website

If you love that hot tomato and paprika velvet shades from Windsor House’s living room, you will love this high-back ding chair, perfect to accent that white or linen themed dining room…

Daniel Dining Chair, from MyHomeFacelift.com

The Windsor House’s Master Suite takes the cake, designed by Tara Shaw with her line of one of a kind antiques, and accented with a gorgeous soft peach velvet pillow, that whispers romance in this airy setting.

You can get the look with this sumptuous pleated silk pillow, in that same beckoning whisper of soft peach.

The SIW Tahi Silk Pillow, from MyHomeFaceLift.com

Veranda's House of Windsor - Tara Shaw's Room with her peachy velvet accent pillow

Try a white room to create one peace-filled spot in your space!

Related articles

• Showhouses: First Look Inside Veranda’s First-Ever Concept House (curbed.com)
• If I could create my dream home… (whimsicalinspiration.wordpress.com)
• Color Trends 2011 / 2012 – Color Me Purple! (redoitdesign.wordpress.com)