For this year, I've been really intrigued by the concept of white: a clean slate. While I realize that this isn't exactly practical for all lifestyles (right, moms?) I'd love to introduce more of it in 2013. Check out these all-white rooms that are inspiring me.
1. I love this room. It's so fresh and clean, plus the added minimalist touch of a blank canvas behind the bed. Perfect for reading in bed all day. Photo by homeedit.com via Nifty Thrify Decorator.
2. Not as starkly white as the first photo, this living room from Residence, via Today You Inspired Me, mixes birch and gold into a softly white environment. I love the moldings!
3. A white subway-tiled kitchen. Be still my heart. Modern, clean perfection: this one makes me want to redo my entire kitchen. Photo by Alexandra Rowley for Southern Living via My Home Ideas.
4. From Hue Amour, and one of our own Monochromatic Color Roundups, comes this beautiful living space which adopts elements of gray, dark brown, white and beige neutrals. This is my dream room. Enough said.
5. Another subtle mixure of whites, grays and browns, this space by Mark Williams Design via Decorpad is less cozy but still just as sharp. Patterned elements like the throw pillows and area rug offset the white to create a complex and texturized space.
Will you be adding any new additions of white to your living space?
(Images: as linked above)
Using Luxury Rooms to Keep Teens Home
Juan's Garage Turned Modern Guest House
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
Yuck: A Fourth Grader Reveals What School Lunches Really Look Like
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
Cmon, enough with the white already. Most people can't live like that. Most people have pets, children, drunk friends, etc that would ruin a white room. Not to mention I never had a set of white bedsheets that lasted more than a year (being alternated with a spare set every week or so) without turning yelow/grungy. We're filthy humans. White makes a space look/feel unlivable, and few people can afford the constant cleaning/replacements that come with a white room.
Who would want to live in an all-white house? Those looks like shots of someone's version of what heaven looks like, and if heaven really were to look like that, I don't think I could spend all of eternity there.
How do people keep an all-white room or apartment clean? I can see that a kitchen or bath would be somewhat easy but a living room or bedroom would be difficult. I would love to have an all-white apartment, it seems so spa-like and peaceful, but I couldn't do it without live-in help which I don't have.
Not sure why I would want to make my home look like every apartment I lived in before I got my own place. Besides here in Seattle all that white would mostly be gray without any actual natural light to reflect off it. Painting my living room and dining room bittersweet orange did almost as much to cure my SAD as taking vitamin D supplements.
I love white! I have white sheets and manage to keep them clean. DO NOT bleach them - that will turn them yellow. I also respect my house and my things. Yes, they do get dirty - but then you clean it. It's not impossible. Besides, it actually shows the dirt rather than hiding it - which I think is grosser.
I couldn't see myself living comfortably in an all-white setting like these, it would seem overly clinical and restrictive at some point I imagine.
Nevertheless, you do make a good point about "fresh starts" in the New Year - and about clearing space and de-cluttering the home, as well, both of which are I believe great practices to undertake.
Thank you for posting your all-white inspirations! I have been fixating on white for a few weeks now. I just love how whatever bits of colour you add to a white room just POP and add some fun. White with natural wood? Come to mama.
I couldn't have a room of all white but I like white a lot as a complement to other, more colorful and stain hiding, things. With the exception of the first photo, none of the others are totally white. Walls are painted, floors are different colors, etc. So embracing white isn't really about going totally white on white but incorporating it in small doses so you don't have to worry about when you have kids, pets, or drunk friends (though, honestly, who would want those?)
After we bought our house, we lived in an all white living room until furnishings arrived. Floors, ceiling, walls, all white. The room has no windows, so it turns into a cave in the winter. All we knew in the fall, was we needed color in that room. Just adding a colorful rug helped us mentally so much. Colorful photos on the walls helped as well.
Colored lamp bases also helped in the dark of winter.
Love white balanced with natural linen and warm (not uber-dark) wood and texture galore. Then either splashes of brights judiciously sprinkled around seasonally or the muddy-moody hues that speak to me--grayed blues and greens, silvery plum and aubergine, greige, heathered mustards. Colors that are hard to describe, with a shot of black here and there to set it all off. I like most of these photos but would consider them a base for a little more layering to relieve a sense of starkness.
I love it! And some people can live like this. And even if you can't isn't inspiration fun? Ignore all the naysayers, I think its beautiful, especially the first one.
I love a lot of white with wood and organic textures, and really great art. Miami development white and beige dream houses where no one can wear shoes and the owners only have white poodles - hate those. And those twee Scandi-white-everything house tours where all the photos are overexposed and there are girly details all over -- kinda tired of that look after so many years.
I do always have white sheets and don't have a problem with yellowing. It could be your water -- try adding Borax to your laundry instead of bleach. I also have a couch with a white denim slipcover that I swear is a great choice for messy houses with pets and kids. Mine gets bleached all the time and it's still going strong after many years.
I think all the rooms are very, very pretty but not for me. I love color in my life..all the way around.
Suggestion to those who cannot (including myself) imagine living in an all white home: Take this as a monochromatic inspiration. Pick a neutral you love, grey, taupe, beige, and imagine it in place of the white in the above photos. Also, think about the colorful things you own and love, as gold focal points in your new neutral (not white) space.
The idea is to quiet the visual noise in a space by giving it one bold stroke of neutral, it need not necessarily be white.
I love that kitchen. Sigh.
We don't have all white room but do have lots of white stuff including white walls, kitchen cabinets, white area rugs and white sofa. We have two small children and we regularly throw parties. No problems at all. Children are now 12 and 8 and they grew up in all this. Sofa has a removable cover, rugs are shaggy so they hide a lot and cabinets are easy to clean. The only white that is not easy to clean is our bathroom which we still need to remodel. It has white tiles on the floor and that is a major pain. It shows every hair and dust bunny. Love white! It is easy to add color with pillows, art and accessories.
I put all my white paperbacks into one bookcase in my guest room. it does look more restful than the previous jumble. I think white areas, like black, give the eye a place to rest.
Love white houses . . .
Yessss.... white is bliss.
Just when I thought I had decided on a wall color I'm seeing these lovely white rooms. I love a certain white look, minimal furniture, pale woods, natural textures, linen, a mosquito net, bare bleached wood floors. Windows of course with lots of light. Looking out on the sea would be nice too. In winter some cozy throws in a natural wool, a flokati rug, a fireplace or wood burning stove.
IMO no one does white quite as well as Benita at Chez Larsson. All of her rooms have that bright crispness without being stark.
For me, can't go wrong with black when picking clothes and white when picking decor.
Looking out the windows here where the world is white snow and black trees, I think I need more color. People living where it doesn't snow can pull this off so much more easily. Here, it just makes the house feel as cold as the outdoors.
Yes, all white rooms aren't exactly practical, but I do love to look at them. Washable slip-covers make things a little more manageable, I imagine. I love my all white kitchen. Sure I have to wipe down the cabinets a little more often, but it is so cheerful and light that I think it is totally worth it.