How to successfully decorate your home with white
January 14, 2020
Think white interiors are plain, bland and boring? Then you’re doing it wrong. Here’s what you need to know when creating a neutral, white-based decorating scheme.
Image: Sofa.com
Airy, calming and light – it’s no surprise so many of us love to use white in our home’s interiors. However, in the Instagram-obsessed interiors world of today, simple white schemes get a bit of flack for being, well, boring.
However, if you love the look and feel of white-decorated rooms, you don’t have to give in to peer pressure and change to a colourful scheme – there are plenty of ways to create a stylish, subtle and sophisticated scheme using an all-white base that still have the wow-factor.
Choose an off white
Image: Farrow & Ball
When choosing a wall paint, always opt for an off-white hue, rather than Brilliant White. The latter can make a space feel stark, and won’t give your space any character.
Whether you opt for a warm tint or a cold hue is up to you, but you can let your room decide. North-facing rooms get a colder, greyer light, so opt for a warmer off-white in these spaces, while south-facing rooms can handle colder shades to balance the natural warmth of the light this room receives.
Go all out with white
Image: Next
If you’re looking to make an impact with your white scheme, lean into the light side and create a design that’s all white. There’s strength in this conviction that creates a much more dynamic scheme than throwing in one pop of colour in, and it allows your focus to move to texture and pattern without it having to compete with a statement contrast.
A message from the editor:
Let us help you create the home of your dreams! Get ideas & inspiration from Good Homes every month, delivered direct to your door. Visit goodhomesmagazine.com/newsletter to sign up for the weekly Good Homes newsletter. Meet the Good Homes team at Ideal Home Show and be inspired by our on-trend roomsets.
~ Karen Walker, Editor, Good Homes
Layer textures and finishes
Image: deVOL
Without texture, a white room can feel cold, clinincal and, sometimes, like you’re living in an art gallery. Take this deVOL kitchen as a great example of layering textures – the cabinetry may be a flat, matt white, but a honed, veined marble adds a different dimension and subtly variegated wall tiles offer so much nore depth than a plain white metro tile.
Style with rustic elements
Image: Annie Sloan
One way to bring warmth and homeliness to a white room is in accessorising it. Rough, tactile elements help to ground a white scheme, where sleek, glossy textures would make a space feel too ultra-modern. Linen, jute and wood are perfect for helping add a rustic edge.
Add a subtle contrast
Image: Loom & Last
When introducing a new colour into a majority white decorating scheme, going overboard on contrast can make a room feel a little unsophisticated and crude. Build up a tonal palette to soften colour changes for a stylish way to bridge out from pure white.
Swear by an all white decorating scheme? Let us know on social! Tweet us @goodhomesmag or post a comment on our Facebook page, or post a picture of your white interiors on Instagram using the hashtag #ThisGoodHome for your chance to be featured on our feed.
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A message from the editor:
Let us help you create the home of your dreams! Get ideas & inspiration from Good Homes every month, delivered direct to your door. Visit goodhomesmagazine.com/newsletter to sign up for the weekly Good Homes newsletter. Meet the Good Homes team at Ideal Home Show and be inspired by our on-trend roomsets.
~ Karen Walker, Editor, Good Homes