While we talk alot about colour here at AT, we like neutral spaces as well. What we don't like is a boring space. While most people think an all white space is boring, we disagree. But there are some tricks to getting white right...
How To...Get White Just Right
- All whites are not created equal. A warm white, as seen in the opening image, with a touch of yellow or pink, is open and inviting. White with a touch of blue in it is cooler, a great choice for a bedroom in our desert climate.
- White expands. Make a small space feel instantly bigger, brighter and airier with a fresh coat of white paint. See how the light bounces around.
- White is flexible. With an otherwise all white backdrop, changing your space with the seasons can be as simple as bringing in a bowl of lemons and a few big bunches of daisies. If you love knick knacks, white can be the perfect foil for displaying an ever changing parade of collections.
- Keep it clean. With an all white interior, the trade-off for flexibility and simplicity is daily cleaning.
[image from Living, etc.]
Comments (9)
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Hi! I agree! My NYC apartment is failry small (no surprise!) and gets limited light (again, no surprise) but using several shades of white, I was able to create a much larger space because it feels open and airy. It's The mulitple white shades, including some flat and some high gloss, gave me a great base! I added color through accessories - vases, stainless steel appliances, artwork, warmer wood furniture pieces, and some metal pieces (i.e. coffee table). It works! (if I can figure out how to submit photos of my space, I will because I could use some ideas for some 'fixing' I need to so and I know AT folks will help me!!). Thanks!
view daleysdose's profile
Hi! I love the sofa in the picture. Where is it from?
view nebula786's profile
Oh man..."alot" = a lot. First grade?
view estydesign's profile
Oh man... "rusholme" = that guy congratulating himself after smugly correcting other guests' grammer at a dinner party. Sentence fragment?
view annessa's profile
When I bought my tiny dark apartment in Spain a year ago I opted for cream walls with warm dark-red accent walls (mainly because the colours went well with the furniture I had). Now I'd like to go for white as I looove it, but worry that it could look gloomy in my place which has little natural light. Do other readers agree? And if I did go for white, do you know if warm or cool shades are best for dark spaces?
Thanks
view nadyamadrid's profile
Oh man... "grammer" = grammar. Isn't this boring?
view amt230's profile
i'm starting from scratch with my bedroom and i think i'm gonna go for the warm whites. this post is right on time. i just pulled up the carpet and thanks to a sloppy painter i have to sand and refinish the floors. i was thinking of staining the floors in a dark (ebony) tone. does anyone know if this will make the room look smaller?
btw..the error that you assume is grammatical could be due to missing the space bar while typing. i'm always quite annoyed by people who comment on errors in grammar rather than the posts themselves. what's the point?
view STYLeyes's profile
nadyamadrid - I have always found that all white furnishings tend to look great in rooms with big windows and lots of light. Those same rooms look a bit dingy at night with the room illuminated in pools of light from lamps and ceiling spots. The effect is lost. Basically, the tone on tone all white effect is best served by a large wash of light, whether from windows or a large bank of overhead lighting (ala Kubrick's 2001...). This is not to say you shouldn't give it a shot...
view RichardinLA's profile
Thanks for the advice RichardinLA, I think you're probably right :-) Oh to have bigger windows and more light!
view nadyamadrid's profile