Friends, I know I will get laughed off the island. Yet before we dive into color, I'd like to focus one quick, teensy post on perhaps my favorite color for rooms: white. Yes, it's the absence of color if you're talking about pigment, but nothing plays off color like a white or ivory room. So please indulge me just this once, as I take a trip down memory lane to some of my favorite white children's rooms from Apartment Therapy's archives.
Contrary to popular belief, a white room doesn't have to be boring. It is a clean slate, and we love the Scandinavian style peace that a white room with pops of color brings. From barnyard chic to the thoroughly modern, a white space works with almost any style. Click through for a few favorites:
1. Indigo's Hyggelig Nook - "Hyggelig" is a Danish word that means "welcoming." Every detail of this room is imbedded with history and a great sense of love, not to mention, color.
2. Jasper's Joyous Jungle - Jasper's family upholstered an old chair in a brilliant cobalt fabric, echoed in a charming vintage poster.
3. Ruby's Gem of a Room White encourages a stylistic tension between modern furniture and a doily style rug and crocheted poof. The combined effect is a warm, sweetly contemporary space.
4. Sophia's White, Bright, Magically Modern Nursery Sophia's room redefines the term "pop of color." From oversize artwork to a happy friendly rug, even the child's own painting plays off the white walls.
5. Violet's Bright and Airy Space Our own Lauren Hufnagl utilized a cool, feminine color palette in peaches, greys, and greenish yellows against her ivory walls. The end result is so soothing, adults wish they could sleep here too.
6. Oscar & Boots' 150 Square Foot Bedroom An Alexander Girard rug, a wall full of art, and a fuchsia Fatboy. Need we say more?
7. Olivia Ellen's Copenhagen Charmer Charmer, indeed. Olivia Ellen's room utilizes accessories and accent colors to their best advantage. A handmade pink tapestry contrasts an orange plastic Vitra chair, which plays off an aqua curio cabinet. The whole effect is just brilliant.
8. Meg's Room for Three One thing that's for sure about white is that it's malleable enough for multiple genders and ages. Check out how Meg pulled this room together for her three kids, and don't miss colorful details like the paint hidden on the drawer sides.
9. Rowan's Place in the World Rowan's space is an enticingly gender-neutral space that encourages travel and curiosity about the world. Be sure to check this one out if you're not finding out the sex of your baby before you decorate.
10. Leif's Modern Victorian These parents turned a closet into a red telephone booth, and pulled the whole room together with a simple graphic black and white rug to create a space the whole family wants to play in. Well done!
MORE WHITE ROOMS ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
• The Most Colorful & Inspiring White Children's Rooms
• Embracing Plain Walls: Lessons from Inspiring White Rooms
• Modern Kids: Black & White Rooms
(Images credited in original posts)
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I love the idea of white for a child's room. It allows the furniture and accessories to grow and change with them as they age, discover new favorite colors, etc.
These rooms are lovely. Thanks for sharing!
I used to joke that I went to art school just so that I could play with colours all day; I was only half joking. So it sound a little strange to me to say this, but I love white for kid's rooms.
I think that our homes can be over-saturated with colour, often poorly chosen colour, a view that I have adopted after having lived in Europe for almost 5 years. In many parts of Europe, people rarely paint their walls anything but shades of white. White leaves the space for personality and quirks and beautiful objects to shine. It's like the mat of a picture frame...
I hope we stop avoiding white walls.
I love white walls. I see it a lot more in scandinavian/european designed homes than I do in the states. Maybe because spec houses (new homes with little architectural details) look bland in white? I didn't paint my kid's walls white, but I did paint them a light grey. Its very neutral which I like.
Every wall in my house is painted white with the exception of one wall in my oldest child's room. It's way easier to work with white as a backdrop and then change your accessories and furniture. These kids rooms are amazing! They look fresh and clean and ironically, colourful - that is you notice the colours in the room more vs looking at the walls. I love them all!
Our entire home is white and so are our comforters and window sheers. But it is full of color. White is serene to me.
Bejeweled: Same here.
I love white/shades of white. So tired of seeing grey walls (plus grey makes me, and some others, look faintly ill).
Hi MCross, I know what you mean. Grey makes me feel sad.
That last room is awesome. There are so many overstayed kids' rooms featured here on AT. Some of them are downright gloomy. Leif must have fun parents.
I love white walls in kids rooms, this is one of my favorites too: http://nameisgrace.blogspot.com/2011/05/harpers-bedroom-details.html
White walls forever!