I don’t know about you, but when I see a bright, white room on Pinterest, a blog, in a magazine or in a home decorating book, I start to question all of the color in my house and am ready to paint everything in site in Decorator White or Moonlight White or Dove White and slipcover everything in white linen, preferably vintage French.
A few pictures to make my point…
Yes, I love looking at white rooms.
But then I see an amazing fabric like the one on my French chairs in my family room or a great paint color like the one on the Empire dresser next to it…
…or the wall paper that’s in my office…
…or the curtains in my living room…
…and I know I can never go all white. I can do a lot of white or mostly white. I love white. But when it comes to color vs. white…color wins for me. How about you?
182 Responses
I love white, but I love a splash of color!
Me too! Love white but with some added color!
OH my word, I do the same thing! I love bright. My last home was brights downstairs (yellow living room, red powder room, apple green kitchen) and upstairs was all calm (Rainwashed by SW).
When I moved to my second home, friends offered to pain downstairs and I had 2 hours to pick paint colors. Worst mistake ever. I caved to the gray trend so my downstairs is a too-light gray I don’t love.
As for the white, I do the same thing on Pinterest! I like color mixed with clean and calm but I like so much it is hard to land.
Craziness.
I love using white as a neutral base for switching out pillows, curtains and accessories because I get bored with my surroundings pretty quickly. Not a fan of all white. I NEED color 🙂
I have been painting my walls white for over 30 years in all our homes. I never get tired of that neutral background. But I love pops of color too, especially red, so I use color in other ways. It’s really the best of both worlds, in my opinion. With white as the backdrop, you can use and change colors to your heart’s content with furniture, linens, and accessories.
Color! I love mixing bright colors with neutrals (I just posted my “winter” mantel, which has a bright orange lily painting on it!). I love the wallpaper in your office!
Me too. I’ve lived in all white rooms before it was cool. They look great in a photo but not so much when living in it day after day.
I love your design and home. I think you have what a “white” room gives you without being ALL white! The open, fresh, clean, look and feel without being sterile. (Not that the pics you shared were sterile–very beautiful indeed!) I find that when I look at a room I have a vision for it. Our downstairs family room came to be that vision. Our living room, as nice as it may look, is the “vision” from our last home. I would love to redo that room and see my vision come to life for this home–lighter colors, white, natural, and a little color!
Your mix of white and color is just right!
I feel the same way as you! I love both! I’m torn. Your style is great.
Debbie
I love all white rooms as a back drop for adding color and that’s how I roll (as they say). It makes it easy to change out the accent colors on whim or the season.
Take care,
Janet
I LOVE the all white rooms… for other people. As a family of all men (except myself obviously!) I need the color for practical purposes! I have a orange sunroom that people just love when they come to my home. The color keeps me energized. My dining room wallpaper is basically black. I just love the coziness the color wraps me in!
White wins for me every time! I don’t have enough in my house to suit me yet – but I’m working on it! I love color too, don’t get me wrong, but I just like to mix it in with accessories when I want it. Then it’s easily changed out. I totally love your style though – it suits you so well and for you I wouldn’t change a thing!
I love WHITE, I love COLOR so my home has both. Each room is different color and different style. In a couple of the rooms the walls are white and it makes me feel relax.
The kitchen walls are RED, food, passion, happy, that is where we spend most of the day.
In the dining room the walls are old world yellow/brown (hard to describe) and it reminds me of home/Italy. I love it all. Ciao Rita
I’ve always liked a neutral background, walls, maybe bedspreads, all white with a lot of of pops of color. We live in an old house and our woodwork is painted in what I call neutral colors, but not beige. Pale blues, aquas, greens, they act as a neutral for other brighter colors to pop, but yet has the clean look still going. I could not live in a pure white room.
I love white walls when I see images like the ones you have, but I can’t stand them in my own home. Love color, especially blues and greens!
I love your living room. Lots of neutrals with a pop of color in the curtains. Absolutely stunning!
I love the white in magazines – but God gave us color to enjoy and create with!
I love color! I am very uncomfortable in all white rooms. I am a mess waiting to happen! It goes for my clothes. I only own one white blouse! As far as neutrals..? I remember my mother walking into a carpet store and asking for something the color of dirt.
Love white rooms and am having everything painted white today but I am painting all the ceilings a blue grey. Keeping the color on top so the white walls can show off my paintings and antiques better.
I have the same exact inner conflict. At the end of the day though with two little ones I’ve sort decided all white is a “nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.” Pops of color just add so much warmth to a home. For now though I have gone the white route in just the master that way I can still have what I crave in at least one room. Maybe one day when I’m an old granny I’ll have my all white, slipped home.
I talked to a decorator recently about all-white rooms recently who made an excellent point: White looks fabulous in rooms with high ceilings, lots of windows and great architectural lines, like your inspiration photos. For more typical boxy rooms in typical houses an all-white room will look more like a white box or a builder’s beige box.
While I’ve always studied the light in a room before painting it or picking colors, I never thought to take into account the size and architecture of the room.
Love whites. Love color. A place for both!
P.S. Just bought your book. Enjoying it!
This is great info Marsha – I always wondered why I didn’t like “builders white” in new houses, but adored all the country living white rooms they profile. Now I know – it’s all about the architecture. 🙂 It also explains why I’m fine with our white walls and 12- ft, wood clad ceilings in our current house’s great room, but couldn’t wait to put a yummy color on our previous small, boxy bungalow living room!
Well, that and the fact that I’ve never wanted to paint the 12-ft peaks in the new place. 🙂
I’m a color girl, all the way! An all white room makes me twitchy (just like a perfectly neat room does)
I’ve definitely fallen into the white trap, I just love it! Reading all the Swedish/Finnish/Norwegian blogs doesn’t help either, they do white so well. I do love lavender and other shades of purple so I have that incorporated as far as accessories.
I love the look of all white rooms. When we moved into our house 20 years ago, all the rooms were a builder white. I lived with it for a while until my daughter (7 years old at the time) said she felt like she was living in a white box. My family needs color! I love tuscan colors and the warmth and coziness it provides in my rooms. I do add many pops of white to keep it fresh and from feeling too heavy. Right now, I am starting to switch things up a bit and changing to a blue/gray/white/beige color schemes. The first room I did is a pale gray and it is so hard to get used to.
I think alot of us struggle with that… i see such yummy colors and want to use them, but i’ve found from experience that i’m usually happier in the long run with the big pieces being white and an overall neutral palette … I think your living room reads more white,, and your touches of blue and green and natural wood are the perfect combination!
Cindy
I lived for far too many years in white-walled apartments to ever want to have them in my home. However, I do love white woodwork, and I’m painting all of our dark ’70s baseboards and door trim around here a lovely, crisp white.
I also plan on painting the upper cabinets in the kitchen white, but I’m going to paint the lower ones a color. Just don’t know what color yet. I figured out that the colorful kitchen of the 1940s makes me happy, so that’s what I”m going for, regardless of what’s “in.”
No gray for me either: BLECH!
Love the touches of blue in your home.
Totally agree! I love all those pictures of mostly white rooms on Pinterest BUT I love color too! I definitely think I couldn’t let color go!
I adore white and love looking at all white rooms, but I’m with you — I need color! (And a little white or ivory, too!)
Don’t get me wrong – white is really pretty, especially when it has fun pops of color woven throughout but I have a 2.5 year old boy. White is totally impractical. (Maybe when I retire in 100 years…)
Me though, I like color. Even when I decided to repaint my kitchen cabinets, I went with a lovely green instead of white even though 80% of my friends said white. You know what? The green is 100 times better than the white would have ever been.
I drool over the pretty cleanliness of the white rooms on Pinterest & in magazines but I don’t think it will be happening anytime soon 😉
I’m with you…it will never be solid white for me. Too many beautiful colors and fabrics to choose from.
Have you ever told us where you got your amazing m?
Me too! I have to have color!
Not so sure if I could do a mostly white space, maybe after our big kids leave the nest, then we’d have just one not so lil girl left . I do really love the look and always have! However, at the same time I’ve been a huge color lover all my life, that’s my creative side coming through. The older I get, the more a fan of mixing/matching neutrals & textures I’ve become. For our main living spaces (family/living room, dining room, kitchen, main bath & master) netural/texture mixes is the direction I’ve been headed. We have brighter colors in hall leading to & in our kids bedrooms (turquoise & emerald, bright green & grey, orange & yellow w greys, black/white w red, pearly pink & lilac). Still contemplating which way to go with our WC. We have a future addition in the works, so I’m leaning towards a neutral shell with bold touches of color for both new spaces (mudroom & studio/big kid hangout).
I love white and color too and I think there is a happy medium in both.
Have you announced the Decor Steals winner yet? I’d just really like to win that bucket and the suspense is killing me 🙂
Our new home, deep in the Virginia woods, has rustic dark wood floors, mill-work and cabinets, as well as huge expanses of glass windows and brick walls. White just doesn’t play well with this house and that’s ok with me. It’s a refreshing to get back to a life with color 😉
First I want to say your home is beautiful! LOVE those pops of color!
For me I am in love with white.I have wanted a white house for many many years.But I was afraid to take the plunge.Thinking it would be too hard to pull off and too boring.But the fun thing for me with white is that you can add any color you want.And you can have wood in the mix too! It is the perfect background for me.I feel that white does add warmth.Although some people think it is cold.I add different tones of white some warmer than others.And I think that helps.But you have to enjoy what you like.If color makes you happy that go for it.My home was full of color for years.I was even in a pink stage….. my poor husband 😉 .
xx
Anne
I love white, too, but I like it the way you do it: reads white although it has color. I do moon over those all white rooms as well. I don’t want one though.
I have two very busy pre-teen boys, a rambunctious 4 year old little girl in pig-tails and a black labradoodle that goes for a romp outside every now and then….white???? No way!!!! I would never have a moment’s rest wiping, cleaning, sanitizing, obsessing, worrying. Don’t get me wrong, I love a clean house but I don’t love perfection and white seems to demand that. Nah, it might be okay for decorators but moms with a busy family? I don’t get it.
“A perfectly kept house is the sign of a life misspent.”
White seems scary to me. Miss Mustard Seed, you are quite brave with your white/cream slipcovers. I am having a couch reupholstered and love every single look you’ve created for your home. Can you give some advice to a mom of three messy, smelly boys who so desperately wants a lovely family room with pretty colorful pillows and an off white colored sofa? I don’t know if I am brave enough to give it a try. Does anyone else have any words of encouragement? I do not want a boring brown, patterned couch because I am afraid of the mess that the kids will make….and I am terrible about enforcing the “no food in the family room” rule – which I often break myself :o)
In my head, I want all white, but in my heart, I know I will always need a little color to go along with the whites and neutrals.
I love love love your color combos. I found some old drapery panels at an estate sale that remind me of your curtain fabric- hopefully they will become pillows in the near future for my great room that is in the process of a little blue and white makeover.
Rhonda
Dear MMS, I love white too and had an all white home years ago. So I love color too much now to live with all white again – and I love the contrast of white and black. Your home, as always, is gorgeous! Hugs, Anne
I don’t really “do” white. I love white, but I’ve got 3 boys and a man-child, plus a big dirty dog. So white isn’t really in my vocabulary!
I do love a nice light misty grey though. Light neutrals are much more me than a bright white is. I’m all about the color baby! It sometimes makes my husband’s eye twitch. He’s all about khaki, tan, and navy blue, with a dark dusty green thrown in once in a while.
Oh my – I do the same thing – I love all the white but I can never get there completely. I’m a color girl – always have been always will be. But I must say for all those who can do the “all white” thing – I love it and I’m inspired by it. I guess it just takes all kinds of us to make the world go ’round.
Your home is perfect by the way – a great mix of both white and color!
This is my constant struggle! It’s nice to know I am not alone:) Right now, color is winning out in my house, which is probably best with a 2, 5, and 7 year old!
I love all white rooms with wonderful old warm pine furnishings and lots of linen. They are so serene and relaxing, however; I live in a wonderfully color filled house with an apple green kitchen, ocean blue den and hall and shockingly bright pink dining room and a bathroom that is getting painted pomegranate this weekend. I just cannot resist color in all its forms and hues.
One day i would love to have a guest house and do it in all white for an escape.
I know what you mean – clean lines, clean look, etc. But let us all not forget that we are finally emerging from a white-out (or should I say a greige-out?) in all the great interior design magazines…. For what seemed like years, I would excitedly open my newest issue of Traditional Home or House & Garden or AD and find page after page of colorless rooms. I think that’s what eventually turned me on to blog-reading, to be honest. Now, FINALLY, the magazines are putting color back on their pages, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if blogging didn’t have a lot to do with that.
I can appreciate white, but in my home it isn’t very practical. With two labradors who should be bald with all the hair they shed…I shudder at the thought. Our home is mostly the colors of fall with some warm ivory white thrown in.
I always find myself pinning photos of white rooms because I love how bright and sunny they can look. However, I’ve noticed in real life that white needs texture to avoid feeling institutional or boring. I LOVE bead board; it’s my favorite way to introduce texture. Really I like all types of wainscot. Then I can have white on the bottom and all of the trim, and still have a pretty color on the top of the wall. I also find that white isn’t cozy without natural elements in the room like wicker baskets and greenery. Red is my favorite color so almost all of my accents have red in them, and I love how it pops against neutrals.
I love color, when I see all white rooms I think the same, clean, and fresh but then i see my home and I sigh and I know I could never go all white. i use tons of white during the summer on my beds and around but not totally white.
I am also loving all the white I am seeing! (and I used to hate it!) But it is so serene…and with the pops of color, it is just gorgeous.
I have considered painting my family room and study an off white/neutral pale gray just recently but since I just painted the entire downstairs of our home with new colors in April…..not gonna happen anytime soon. Well maybe. 😉
Just for the record, I love the wallpaper in your office and your curtains in the LR!
Have a great day!!
Nancy
MMM you make color look beautiful! I love an all white bed, but I have to have color somewhere in the room.
Your color is beautiful, bu still too white for me. 😛
I think anyone who was tortured by living in an apartment or dorm that they couldn’t paint gets twitchy in an all-white (or the infamous Antique White) room! It’s all COLOR for me! I guess that’s why I immediately painted my kitchen Cheddar Cheese Yellow! 🙂 Keep movin’ those mountains!
I am with you. I keep a neutral background and neutral sofas but I love color and I add it everywhere. It makes a happy house.
I agree 100%. I LOVE looking at all the white rooms. I study them, thinking about how I could do that in my home. But then I look at my beautiful, painted walls, my wallpaper, and I know I love color and simply couldn’t live with all white rooms. But I still love looking at them.
I think it’s interesting to see what you consider “color”. I’ve always considered your rooms to be on the “white” side with great accents of color. I LOVE your rooms! When my husband and I bought our house I painted the walls with color–living room and kitchen were Dijon gold, the dining room was Opera House, a red cranberry color, master bedroom was a sage green. I guess my colors are considered bold. Then almost a year ago we renovated, busted out all the walls and made one open space. We went from four rooms and a small entry to one big open space. I love it! I had finally gotten the bold color thing out of my system and had the walls painted “aged parchment”. To me it’s so calm compared to our previous colors. But I got the “color” thing out of my system. Don’t get me wrong, I still have lots of color in my room, red, gold, green with a touch of teal in our area rug. We have two espresso leather sofas and two red leather recliners. Kind of a Pottery Barn look but not as great as they do. Love! We are so happy with our new space.
Yes, I used to have really deep colored walls, but I’ve grown to love lighter colors on the wall and colorful fabrics.
Can I ask you what color of white you painted your living room? I have a house that was build in 1907 and it has all of the original wood trim, paneling and columns that has never been painted. I love painted trim BUT the patina on the trim is amazing. The room itself receives very little light. I need a color to brighten it up!
I totally love white rooms too, so I decided to paint my kitchen white. I am in the process right now and I am really nervous. I am hoping I can get it to look as good as all the white rooms I see all over the blogs
I am totally the same way. Everytime I see one of those white rooms I swoon,but I’m such a sucker for a great fabric so I guess I’m a neutral background with color accents kind of girl as well.
Wish me luck because I am scared. With three boys I am beginning to realize how dirty white walls can get. Also, the space can feel really cold, so I need to find a way to warm it up.
I fell in love with all white rooms and I am slowly changing my house over. I have added colour by leaving some things in their natural stain and by adding suttle touches of colour, with plants and pillows a nick nacks.
My hubby thinks I am nuts with a dog and 7 grandchildren to have white furniture. But I love the look and slip covers can we washed.
And my all white bedroom looks so clean and bright and welcoming.
Sorry I have to go for white
hugs
Tobey
I’m all about color! But I do love to admire the all white rooms, it’s just not my style!
Ps- my sweet sister surprised me with your book last week. Even more amazing than I expected! I laughed, I cried, I prayed, then I got up and cleaned my living room and rearranged my furniture! What an inspiring read:)
GOOD 4 YOU!
Nicole, how did you get your picture on your post?
I grew up with a military dad which meant lots of moves, base housing and rentals. That all equaled white walls. I think that is why I crave color in my home. No white walls for me!
Oh I am struggling with this dilemma right now. I am redecorating my bedroom and was going to paint it blue, bought matching silk curtains and some accessories, including a quilt but now I want white, white, white. I couldn’t live with an all white house though. In fact, I like every room to look completely different.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fabric on your french chairs.
I love white and am moving in that direction, but it is a lot of work to go colorless. I wouldn’t do it throughout my entire house but I’ve been collecting white ironstone and lots of white accessories so that someday I may be able to pull off the “white look. We remodeled our powder room from the studs out and did it all in white and it looks great! I sure am drawn to the photos of the white rooms!
We are looking at redecorating our home and I am certain that I want to paint most of it white. Maybe some color as a bit of accent. I probably will use color in the furnishings at least in some of the rooms. The biggest concern now is how to put it all together and what color of white to use. I’m not sure if I want the trim the same white as the walls or another shade of white. What I absolutely do not like is stark white. Who knew there were so many choices of white!
i love looking at all the white but i’ve got to have my color.
MM, I`m in total agreement, I “love looking” at all the different shade`s of white pics, especially the one`s in the Jeanne d`arc magazine, but I think that color adds contrast to an all white room and being an “Artist” like yourself you would be bored with all those pale color`s!” <3
I love both! But I lean more toward color. I get bored easily so maybe that’s why.
3 kids + 2 large dogs + 1 husband = limited use of white (especially on furniture!) 🙂 We live with warmer neutrals. I do love looking at white rustic rooms in magazines but know its not right for my family (or my sanity) just yet. Thanks for posting all of the beautiful pictures! I’m always looking for more inspiration.
I look at all white rooms in magazines and on blogs and love them, but I don’t have even one room in my house painted white. I can’t do it, it’s just not me. I do have beige and variations of sage green, grey and pale blue, but I can’t imagine not having some colour on my walls no matter how much I love it on other peoples walls.
All white is beautiful, but everytime a see a white sofa or rug with a lot of white, I cringe thinking about black dog hair, potential wine spills and filthy shoes/paws that would drive this OCD girl insane. Maybe I could pull it off when I’m about 70 years old and life has calmed down. And color is sooooo much more fun and inviting! Your house is beautiful!
I just painted a room blue. It was called Enchanted from Home depot. It was scary, REAL SCARY, while I was doing it but when I finished it, trimmed it in Behr Bright white, I LOVE it. It’s nice and crisp and a really saturated color. And it’s surprisingly neutral. I am now brave enough to try another room. Did I tell you that finding this blue was a 10 pot color. Meaning I had painted so many blue patches on one wall that if I had tried a couple more colors I could have left it and called it my patchwork blue wall. All white room are beautiful, no doubt, but I am so messy and wiping off dog nose prints on a daily basis just doesn’t appeal to me. I love it when it’s in someone else’s house though.
Love the white, but it is a bit to scary for me. Can you share your wall paper source. I love it! Thanks!
I love white but hubby finds it too stark so we have ‘natural calico’ cream paint through out the house which means that …. I can bring in lots of colour anytime & I can change my mind as often as I like which is a bonus.
I LOVE your patterned chair – it is stunning!
I have a very white downstairs right now as we just redid part of the drywalls and some still need redoing so there’s no point painting right now! I got so used to live in white that I like it. Now when I see colours on blog (like yours), I have the urge to add colour, but when it comes to choosing the actual colour, I remember how much I love white! I’m writing about “blue” on my blog lately in order to get used to colours!
Sometimes it’s the natural lighting in the house that dictates if white is the correct choice. We all seem to love what we don”t live with. For most of us it’s budget that gears our choices . Few are lucky enough to say I want to change my house to all white and than be able to do it. That’s why your site inspires so many of us. You show how a small change cn make us happy.
So funny, I was just telling my friend this morning about white and color. I do very much love the
white with a vintage farmhouse beachy European style. So saying that, I love color and textures too. One of my favorite things is picking out fabric, I could spend hours in the store. I have a combination of both in my home as I’m slowly repurposing by petite little house. So if you can have your cake and eat it too, than maybe I will go for both. Intergrating will be the fun part.
I too, just ordered your book, I can’t wait to get it and snuggle up with a cup of coffee and read!
Maybe have a soft banket over me, yes, can’t wait!
The new way when painting white is to use white for walls and ceilings – this creates a seamless backdrop from wall to ceiling. You also have to do less fiddly cutting in where two colors meet. For woodwork like doors and trim use gloss paint for a traditional sheen. Then bring in show – off chandeliers, fresh colorful flowers, crockery and distressed furniture. Maybe a feature piece in warm wood and pops of color with your drapes, scatters, etc.
I love your use of color~~your spaces are beautiful! 🙂
Life’s too short to go without colour! I love it!
I have been enjoying your blog for months and just finished reading your book in one day. Your insight and inspirations are easily enjoyed and help amateur decorators find our ways to enjoy our homes. This is my first time to post a comment on a blog and yours is always my favorite to visit and learn from. Thanks so much!
I’m the same way! I love all shades of white and French Provencal style. Then I see colors like in lily Pulitzer and I go crazy for those preppy pinks & greens! I feel sometimes like I am two different style people in 1 body…LOL!
White is pretty, but I prefer more color. My rooms are all white and x or white and 2 other colors. I like white, cream, taupe lookinf rooms but they just aren’t “me”
I love looking at white rooms but i Could never live in it. It would do my head in as I LOVE colour, but I have four little ones and who wants to stress about them putting little hands all over everything! We do lots of craft in our house and even when it’s supposed to stay at the craft table, it always manages to wind it’s way around the house!
My original intent when we moved to this house was to have all white. I have ended up with many neutrals, off white, taupe, kitchen and diningroom, a pale, but warm yellow that is the color of rich cream in the livingroom, (still don’t have a good name for it) as well as a Pink and white library, a soft blue bedroom. I can’t stay away from color, but I have reserved one guestroom that will be paris shabby chic, whites, white french provincial furniture. One guest bedroom will be named, “into the woods” with browns, golds, greens and red, rustic. I think I will have covered the color palette when I’m done. lol And yes, I name all the guest bedrooms, Down Meadow Lane is another, in creams, browns and rust. It’s fun and gives them an identity.
Then we would have all white MMS paints – I love your colors–I’m keeping mine – –
This is the very reason why I have been holding off on painting our family room for 6 months! It’s driving my husband crazy but I cannot decide. We have a color picked out that is called Graham Cracker Crust which is a kind of orange/rust color and I love it, but I’m so nervous about all that color on the wall! Eeek! I feel like the rest of my decorating will be limited because of the wall color. I think it should be more neutral, but my husband wants color!
I’m with you! I often admire that clean white look but a girl just needs some color in her life!
I love all your ideas and I love white, but with 4 boys. . . not much white. Our couches are brown leather. ha ha. I do have a long bench I just had covered in that same fabric as your chair. Love it. I am one of your fans of the blue curtains too. : )
I love the white, but when I see the beautiful colors like in your home, I know I can never go with an all white room either! Thanks so much for all the hard work you put into all that you do to keep us so inspired!
Color for me! I think urban folks and/or those folks who have a lot of stress or rush rush rush in their lives, favor or need white. They need the calm, peace and respite. I’ve got that every time I look out the window and live, mostly, without television, radio and other noise, so that pollution is not troublesome to me either. I also live alone (since my husband died) and it’s rather quiet at my house. Daily, all I hear are dogs, cats, birds, horses, sheep, cattle, fire crackling in the woodstove, water burbling in the pipes and the wind blowing. I want the stimulation and comfort of color and my walls are painted rich, deep, vibrant jewel colors…forest green, deep red, rich brown, Tuscany sienna. There are some rooms with softer colors; the sun room and one bedroom have a beige pink color, another bedroom is light blue and, to my eye, they aren’t nearly as beautiful.
My rooms are also 20×20 feet so they can take big color.
To me, white rooms are sterile, cold and uncomfortable. I walk into one and can’t wait to leave…hmmm, p’raps that’s the intended goal…?
smile
Im definitely a color girl.
I just recently bought a 1920`s bungalow, totally renovated, but I want to paint my cherry stained kitchen cabinets,(there`s alot) my hubby says not, but I love painted cupboards, what do you all think?
I love white as well, but I am like you…I love color. Thank you for the wonderful blog and all that you do to show us what beautiful color can do. You truly are a diamond and I love your site. I always get so excited when I see that you have posted.
Thanks
Some of you mentioned some nice neutral off-white/beige colored paints such as natural calico and parchment… What brand?
MMM I love your cream/beige color you used in your living room in the photo above. Can you tell me what brand and color it is and if you have any other neutral (but not white) colors that you like?
Your home is gorgeous and is inspiring me to try some new things in my home!
I found there seemed to be more evidence of dirt and smudges. Went back to light colors and even one dark.. the white is refreshing if it can stay white. In my world we still have wood stoves. So it is less work for my mind and my body.:)
white rooms are beautiful…but it’s not a room i’d want to live in..it’s the same as seeing a room decorated modern/contemporary…i like some of them…but wouldn’t want to live in it…
Pure white, off-white, nether white, lonely white, elephant white……white walls on top of white walls for over 30 years. Then we moved into our little cottage and we painted the living room deep red with the adjacent dining room deep green. We have loved these bold, Christmas colors for the past 10 years. But, I have been building up for a change. I have been considering color cards, paint samples and magazine suggestions for the past 6 weeks in bright light, afternoon light and evening light. I reached a final decision 2 days ago.
The big change? Freshen up the deep red walls and do a glaze to add further depth and interest.. Lighten the green one shade in the dining room. Perhaps, test a blue-toned glaze on it depending how successful the living-room glaze works out.
Guess I am not ready to go back to all white everywhere just yet . However, the gloss white bathroom and gloss white kitchen remains……. The best of all worlds!
When I first moved into my home I painted every wall a different bright color! Now I am going back to neutrals and whites! But I love how you mix in pops of color!
I chose a color I found on a blog this yr. I forgot the name but it starts with a d. and it is a white with a hint of beige. I really like it. I used it in our formal lv. rm, dn. rm. and hallway. We have a 1100 sq. ft one bath rambler 50 yrs. old . We are updating. I did the bathrm in beautiful buff. It is a hard color to describe. When my daughter sold her home, she had it staged. the designer chose that color for the downstairs part of the home. It looks nice in our tiny bathrm. I tried some extra paint on the dnrm and we did not like what it looked like. We have a South and North light in our home. Light does make a difference in color. Our kitchen is a creamy yelow-gold with maple cognac colored cabinets. Looks so fresh and airy. Our bedrms. are colored oatmeal. a darker shade of beige but not in the deep brown tones. And our antique bed and dresser I painted cream in your coffee color. so for me I like white, I have most of the new doors put in are white with white trim. Some of the older doors and closets are still the darker wood color. Sherwin willliams has the color I used but it was higher in cost. So Lowes made the paint for me. I use a satin finish on my walls. What I have the hardest time with is the wall decor; pictures mirrors. Some of my walls are bare due to that I can not find what I think would look nice. Thank you for your post on white. If I had my second choice and my hubby would second the motion I would do more white than what I have.
White with beautiful and sometimes bold color accents does it for me! MM your house is perfect. The touches you give different spaces of natural wood is just amazing. And an ever source of inspiration.
I felt the same way looking at Country Living’s White Issue. So beautiful, but I think I love blue too much to go all white….
Your house is beautiful but I have started painting all my rooms neutral and my comforters all white. (This is definitely easier to keep clean when your kids are grown and gone). I like the fact that I can change the whole look with a few new pillows and accessories. Hoping it doesn’t get old too soon!
I think I’m in the minority but I love color. That being said I have started neutralizing the more expensive upholstered pieces of furniture. Everything else is paintable and can be updated at any time. I think it comes from living in too many military houses where the walls were always white and our move turnarounds too quick to change them up much. Many of the white rooms are lovely but with 3 kids and 3 pets I can’t imagine keeping it looking nice for long!
i am with you Marion – all white is so boring to me – love the pops of colour. Makes the white look even better. By the way, love your book – it was a wonderful Christmas present.
Muted color on the walls and pops of cheerful color are what make a home so “homey!” Paint is so easy to change…in fact I painted my mudroom door a beautiful teal today! Oh, I love it!!
Funny you posted that! I think that same thing! Although I know darn good and well that my three little piggy’s would ruin the crap out of an all white house. But hey, a girl can admire from afar. I wrote a little tidbit about this on my own blog last week, admiring an all white room I was looking at! Love your blog!
I love to look at white rooms, but I’m pretty much accident prone (Mom always said I looked good in what I ate!) so I think I’ll stick with colors and patterns. Love your blog!
I LOVE color! Now my kids are the same way…if they go into a house with all white walls they come home and tell me they are so glad we have color on the walls. My favorite is Synergy by Frazee paint. My kitchen and a accent wall in my livingroom is done in this color…it is a keeper.
Some of my favorite blogs are French Country & I too, love looking at them and find myself questioning my use of color. In the end, color wins for me too though. Maybe it is because I have three dogs and a husband who spills his diet soda on a regular basis. Maybe it is just because of an emotional attachment I have to certain colors. It will be interesting to see what your readers think. Hugs to you, Patti
I am a white fanatic! I love the look of the clean crisp fresh white slipcovers and walls…People
know me by this style!! BUT your style has opened up a new way to look at white! The way
you blend your furniture is amazing! I’m trying to put more natural wood (vs painted)
furniture into my house and I love the mix! I have a long way to go! but what fun to try! Thanks
MMS!!
I am currently struggling with this. I truly do love the white look but I feel like I have always dressed myself in neutral shades and also decorated with them. So, I am embracing color and putting it on the furniture.
White wins for me. To me it’s ethereal, peaceful, soothing, bright, dreamy, wintery, snowy, and just flat out makes me happy. I love vintage Swedish and French decor and I also love winter and snow…so that could be why too!
I could probably go white with color accent pieces, but to go all white seems too sterile for me
I grew up with white walls, plainer-than-plain silverware, and next to eucalyptus trees. As an adult with my own home, I have color in every room, gaudy silverware, and nobody’s heard of a eucalyptus tree around here! 🙂 My vote is for color!
I could never go all white. With 2 boys & 2 dogs, I can’t imagine what the walls would look like. I painted my den a (muted) lime green earlier this year & put up multi-colored floral curtains, and one of my sons said, “Wow, Mom. It looks like a rainbow in our house!” The bright colors definitely suit my family’s lifestyle!
I see the photos, and like a fickle woman, I lust after what I see, imagining a torrid affair with an all white Swedish looking decor. I wish I could remember how many books I have on the subject.
However, my house is a riot of color because that is what makes me happy.
I would love to be able to have another house that could be all white — that would be the ideal.
But I live in reality, not Utopia, and the reality is, color feeds my soul, and so, that’s the way it is.
ETS
I love color too much to go all white. Our home for the past 10 years is mountain cabin style – pine walls and ceilings with a large floor to ceiling stone fireplace and beams. Visitors always comments on how much they like the warm feeling of the wood. I could never bring myself to paint it all (and it would look ridiculous). I don’t even think white accents look good with the wood. Any non-pine walls in the house I painted a creamy yellow to continue the sense of warmth. My accents are usually black (wrought iron), mirrors to reflect light and fabrics are reds, browns, yellows and greens. Blue is my favorite color, but it has to be the right kind with the wood.
I do like the way the all white looks, but I love color. That’s one thing I love so much about the chalk paint movement. To paint a great piece in a wonderful color is amazing!!
yes I love looking at white rooms but when it balls down to it I could never do an all white room, because color makes me happy!!!!
I love the beautiful pictures too, but I can’t live in it. My previous home had alot of white walls, and I just need the warmth and coziness that colors can bring. It was nice in our home now because it was all white when we bought it, nice clean slate, and now it’s in color. And they always say how they can just pull those slip covers off and wash them, we’ll I can hardly get the sofa vacuumed … I’m just saying
I’m so fickle! I love all white or off-white and think how nice it would be if my home was that calm and peaceful. Then, in the next breath I see something colorful, like your blue and white or a bedroom that is red and white and I think “oh no!! gotta have color, color, color!”
Kinda like my dishes, they are white and I love them. I can add a blue and white salad bowl if I like, or I can put bright red placemats under the white or I can do a white table cloth with all white dishes…whatever the mood that strikes me.
Maybe it’s good to be fickle with color…???
I loved your post because that is exactly how I feel. I look at a room that is white with maybe a little soft blue and I love it. I then go to do something and everything I look at has color. Go figure, at least we aren,t alone.
I was thinking about paint for a couple of weeks. I do see lots of white at my home but I do see that I have started to add soft , muted colors to make home cozy and warm. It is always fun to see how it has transformed from time to time.
I love an all white room and could live in it with no problems. I especially like to see lots of mixed whites, warm and cool, mixed and heavy textural differences. I don’t think it’s boring at all!
I love the white photos and I have slip cover furniture as well. I also have big mirrors, cream colored frames and cream colored decorative iron pieces that I love. I have found that I like these accessories to “pop” on a taupe colored wall. I also have a cheetah rug under my slip covered living room furniture. I do like a pop of color and I suppose it could be done with drapes and pillows. I could really have everything in my home be cream and taupe and would be very happy I think! Decorating is so much fun and I love it!
White is beautiful but with two big dogs and kids it wouldn’t stay that way for long!
PLEASE share the name of the fabric on your French chair! Love LOVE it!
Marian: I think most of us who are into our homes go through the same thing, I am a color consultant and go through it MYSELF for my own house, too. I love color, but also (slightly) shabby Chic and all white rooms….but,,,show me an “Americana” theme room with lots of red or a darker primitive style with lots of black and I am also hooked. I started with “builders” white and gradually slid into medium neutrals. What was a “shocking medium taupe” 5 years ago now seems too pale and I am looking at the colors usually at the bottom of the fan deck pages. So it doesn’t look like I will be switching to “whites” again, at least on the walls. AI think adding “pops” of color as you have is so much easier and cheaper. Keep up your good work! Joy
Ditto, Marian!
For years i had lots of white,then progressed to color? Slowly transitioning back to whites and creams. Speaking of Cream, I am obsessed with your painting or picture of the Cream Colored Cow. Where can I find one? I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. If you decide to part with it, I call first dibs!
I love your Creative ideas. Thanks for sharing.
I definitely have to have the color…but i think the whiteis beautiful
While white rooms can be warm and inviting, I think I would tire do this look within a short time. I also think this trend will fade in a relative hurry. Nuetrals are also being overdone. We Need some color to lift our spirits on those gray days.
I love the fresh green and blue fabric on the french chair in your family room.
Can you tell me the name of the fabric? Thanks:)
I am for color. The white looks dreamy, yes, white in my house would be a dream. One dog w/black hair that sheds, does not mix well with all white, nor would my grandson. The gray of winter needs a little color, so for me it will be color.
Marian … love your bright colors.
Hugs,
Audrey Z.
I’m also drawn to rooms that are mostly white with pops of color, but with 5 kids and 3 cats I’d be crazy to go with all white. I tried to do our master bedroom with mostly white, and wouldn’t you know it the white comforter is the one place the cats decide to mess up with a hairball. Contrary to what others say, just throwing a comforter into the wash and bleaching it isn’t as easy as it sounds. You really do need a commercial sized washer and dryer to take care of a king sized comforter.
I have an idea book on Houzz entitled “I Love White!”.. It’s just so relaxing, shades of white, muted grays, tans, accented with live greenery, flowers, and picture windows with natural views of water ,sky, mountains, forests, gardens. For me, it’s all about the light reflection and the blank white canvas, and shadow play. But, at the risk of sounding fickle, I also love the contrast of dark wood, metals, and natural textures.
I love seeing all the whites, but I love pops of color.I think I would get bored really fast
with all whites.
I love looking at white rooms but with 3 dogs, a cat and a teenager with lots of friends, color is necessary!
Color, color, color!!! White is too pristine for me and can be a little boring. I like color and then splash a white accent. I was in the south of France and there was color everywhere. It is inviting, warm and cheery. One of the bedrooms in the chateau we stayed in was done in whites, cremes and greys with splashes of black. It was good for sleeping and carried a calm feeling about it. So, to me, it depends on what you will use the room for and the feeling you want to evoke.
I always think it looks really beautiful in magazines when everything is all white, but when it actually comes down to it, the prettiness is all in the lighting and how spare everything is, for really living, white rooms don’t read as well, and get dirty fast. I like pale parchment colors on walls over white because they are still neutral, but not cold, and then I think every room needs some pops of green and indigo blue, because green is alive feeling, and indigo blue adds such depth!
I so love color!!!…I love the all-white rooms…like so many farmhouses have, but then I gravitate back to color…it makes me happy….and I so love your new header Marian….I also must say that I am really loving your wax…I used it to wax the wainscoting in my hubby’s “man cave”…the wainscot is combination of stain and black paint…the black was looking a bit dull and your wax just gave it new life!!
Love the white, but love, love, love color. About to paint my ding room……suggestions please? Would love a vintage red, similar to tricycle with a dark wax over….but need latex paint. Help in Tennessee!
Oops dining room …..
Color because everything looks better against it….But I too admire and love the gorgeous white rooms!! Totally agree, but you have a great mix that reflects that same fresh look. Try one room if you have it, and master the look. I often say I’m going to and I could, would, should. Love your home.
I enjoy looking at beautiful white rooms, but I love color too much to ever do it myself. And, since we live on a farm with all the dirt that comes with farming and cattle, it wouldn’t be pracatical. Sure, you can wash slipcovers, but mine would be in the washer all the time! To me, colors add a warmth that all white rooms never have.
I love all white too, but I am drawn to color. I always question my choice of using color iwhen I decorate as I see such beautiful rooms out there that are simply white with maybe a few pops of color. But then I always go back to the fact that I am drawn to color because it is everywhere in nature. I love your color pallete in your home and think that you have done a beautiful job with it!
I am just starting to introduce a faded French blue in my bedroom. i am an all whites, creams, blacks, neutrals kinda gal!
While we’re on the topic of white…I was thinking of painting our kitchen cabinets BM Dover White. It’s a bit off white, but not too much. It reads more of a purer white, I think. We already have subway tile that is a bit off white so I have to stay kinda close to that white or they look dirty!
Anyways, we’re getting ready to paint the trim in the house too. Right now it is bright white and I love how it looks so fresh and clean and makes some of my colors (yes, I love my colored walls!) pop. MMM or anyone, what do you think about having the cabinets be Dover White and the trim staying the purer white? Or should I have them be identical? What color are your white kitchen cabinets,MMM? Can anyone out there recommend a white for cabinets? Thx! 🙂
For me….bring on the color! I become absolutely depressed if I spend too much time in a place that lacks deep, warm, inviting color. White is for brides and little girls taking first communion, not for me!
I agree with you Marian! I have white envy too! I think it so calm and soothing to the eyes. I’m in the process of redoing my bedroom and can’t decide to go white with warm linen. Our master bedroom is the basement and it would look beautiful. I’ma color girl and can’t decide. I did score some brocade soft yellow french chairs for the bedroom. What do you think would white and taupe linen look okay with the soft yellow?
Color wins it for me! My living room is a sunny yellow and is a great pick me up during thw winter months in Ohio. 🙂 I do love white and have it in a few rooms.
Color all the way for me! I’ll tell you a little story Marian. I have 4 children and lived in a big 2 1/2 story turn of the century home and when the last child left we moved into a brand spanking new home we built only to leave it 18 months later and move into a mid century one bedroom bungalow. Yes I know, that was a long sentence. But as soon as we moved into this all “white” walls little house, it was too quiet. So, I painted my living room turquoise blue and my little dining room bright yellow. Shocking as it was to most, it was to me… my children… my LIFE. I couldn’t have the bus-y-ness of my children and I needed it, so I used COLOUR to bring the life back into my life. That was 13 years ago. The colours have changed to soft linens and brown greys on the walls but I still have colour in my BLUE china cabinet and GREEN velvet couches. The 5 grandchildren have replaced the turquoise and yellow, but when they leave, the hits of colour all around me will be the bus-y-ness I miss.
Definitely love color! I think white rooms photograph really well, but I know I wouldn’t be happy living in one. 🙂
me too!! but then reality sets in – six cats, two teenagers still at home, a house in the ‘country’ w/mud and no sidewalks or driveways… but, one can always dream! Maybe one day…
I do have to say a great big THANK YOU Marian! I first heard of you while searching how to make a set of slipcovers for my outdated wing backs on YouTube. I watched and re-watched each video in your series and voila! I, too, had amazing slipcovers =)
I definitely see the beauty in a totally white room, however, I would miss my touches of natural linen, and many shades of blue……as in ticking fabric, and deep blue prints. No, I guess I can’t give up the BLUE! Stick to your color scheme….it’s perfectly lovely!
I know exactly what you are talking about. We are in the process of finishing our basement and I have found me wanting way more white than I ever would have. I am painting alot of my old furniture pieces white. Working on an old desk tomorrow. Still, I have to have a pop of color. Decided that I am going to paint the sliding barn doors in my craft room mustard. I love the looks of all white, but don’t know that I could live with it. Although I found myself drooling over the all white pics and then drooling again over the color in your home. What’s a gal to do? lol!
hugs,
Jann
I like lots of white and naturals with colour too. blues are my favourites and I am inspired by your lovely mix of blues and greens to add some fresh greens too.
I have to say, I live on a farm, so “farm house white” to me is a real oxymoron! Ever see how much dirt and grime is generated on a farm? I love the whites though. So clean and fresh and , well, dreamy. But so not practical for my farm house. I vote like you – for some color ( especially my slip covers!)
I have so enjoyed following your blog for the last year or so. I love your home and your design, and I also love that you are part of what seems like a wonderful Christian family. I live on the West Coast and I am a stay-at-home mom of four that LOVES to decorate. Anyway…This is my first time leaving a comment because I am DYING to know where you got the wall paper in your office! I love it! Please respond if at all possible. Thank you!
I would have to agree that I too am soo drawn to all those beautiful whites, however my heart seems to swoon over color every time!
I have loved the look of all white, or very nearly all white rooms for many years.loved a white shabbychiclooksince before rachael ashwell made it popular. But. Somerhing i have noticed over the years, the great looking allwhite rooms in magazines and pinterest allhave wonderful architecture for texture and interest. Even if it is just wood floors and nice windows, but many have so much more,like beams on the ceiling, arched doorways. French doors etc. My home with carpet and builder plain windows needs some color and pattern, i feel.
I love white because of how fresh it looks. I am always drawn in by a touch of color added to a an all white room.
I love, love the whites. But I need little bits of warmth, like wood floors and some wood or painted, distressed furniture. And I do love my ticking. Otherwise, white!
Color was one of the things that attracted me to your style. I love it. I especially love to see your use of blue as I use blue a lot in my home. I do love seeing the all-white look too. For a change I filled my blue pie safe with all white objects: plates, pitchers, vases, candle sticks, window frame, etc. Thanks for all of your ideas. Love your book . . .
I feel the same you do…when I see white rooms I think wouldn’t it be great to have clean crisp white rooms, then I see rooms decorated with color, like your rooms and I think Wow I love colors…so colors always win for me
I couldn’t have expressed the same sentiment better… I use or strive to use , and I buy, white as far as I can, but when it comes down to white vs something, lively, beautiful, alive n with dimension, guess what does the trick…
Classic and Vintage Furniture looks Amazing 🙂 *Thumbs UP*
I’m done with white or distressed white or Gustavian white. I live in France where in all the decor magazines and modest decor stores – white with griege is the ONLY look. Totally boring by now. – it’s been YEARS of it with no signs of abaiting. The thing that saves the gorgeous white room on your digital ‘calling card’ are the punchy blue and white curtains. ABSOLUTELY forbidden in France – not monochromatic enough! That’s all you’re seeing over here.
I love this saying: “Nothing is so dated than the immediate past”.
All white for me of course (my blog is about white decorating) ! I do love colour but I prefer to live in peaceful white…
Best,
Trudy xx
I looooove white, everything white, of course all different shades, but when summer comes I crave color, preferably blues and greens, as soon as Halloween approaches I like browns and oranges and for Christmas I keep saying I’m gonna go red, because I love traditional. Usual it ends up being whites with burlap and light green….I have to say I am a little afraid of color and I get tired of it really fast, for me white and all shades of white seem to give me peace…for now the only color I have that provides a little punch is turquoise, only accessories though, they can be removed. But when I see your gorgeous Milk paint colors I know that one of these days I have to paint some of my furniture!! Thank you for your inspirations and for sharing your beautiful home!
I agree – I love the idea of a restoration hardware home, but then I remember how much I am inspired by spanish colors and textures…I couldn’t have a room without orange and red or dark wood with some colorful accent pieces.
The white lifestyle is gorgeous…but the colored covers up my 2 year old a lot easier. lol 😉
I love the fabric on your chairs and have been looking for it for my daughters curtains in her livingroom, is exactly what we are looking for. What is the pattern? Thanks,
Years ago I was a fashion buyer for Belk stores.. we would constantly ask the sales reps,,,where is your color?
…It took awhile to get them to understand, turquoise , red, royal, ect were colors that southern women gravitated too. Even if they bought the white or black item, the color made the customers want to look.. I think color will always win over just white. Except for wedding dresses and ceilings
Thank you for posting this! I’m aware that it was awhile ago, but I have been struggling since I love all the white pictures. But I have seven children, so to keep that clean would be unrealistic. Also, I’m so drawn to color and love so many beautiful patterns. It wouldn’t reflect me if I didn’t decorate with it. Thank you for helping me be happy with decorating the way I feel I want to! 😉
Color! It makes my home look warm and inviting and covers a multitude of sins! I have two little grandsons, and two big standard poodles and neither ‘set’ would allow the luxury of an all white room.I do love the ethereal feel of a white room- but there wouldn’t be much serenity in my house if I was always stressing out on when the next spot would happen.:-) Maybe in my next life? 🙂