| Shades of white provide the perfect backdrop for a variety of colours, but use them carefully |
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White works well because it reflects a great deal of light, so the other colours you use with it will really stand out. Try imagining a white bedroom; it will not seem as welcoming as it could be. Now, imagine infusing the room with just one colour-a terrific painting over the bed in blues and a blue striped duvet cover. Or a spread patterned in bright yellow and white, and the door painted bright yellow. You can see how starting with an all-white room can free the decorator to choose and play with colour.
Our world is saturated with colour. From the bright yellow of fresh daffodils to the dark rusty red of an exposed brick wall, colour can change the whole look of a room. The designer has available an infinite range of hues, both natural and man-made. Every-where we turn, there they are-the deep indigo blue of a favourite old sweater, the glossy green of rhododendron leaves in a rainstorm, the rich brown of the soil as you begin to plant your spring flowers... When considering colours for home decor, there is not only a rainbow from which to choose-theres a whole palette of shades to consider, shades that hover between the colours of the rainbow, a panoply of tones and hues with which to play. When painting, you can combine colours to form other colours in an endless array of shades. And then you must also consider the artwork that will hang in the rooms you design. Yet, sometimes the most helpful-and even the most exciting-exercise is to go back to the basics of interior design, stripping out all colour in order to start with a clean slate; sometimes the most interesting and surprising thing you can do is to go back to good old white.
As many interior decorators know, white isnt just one shade; theres off-white, eggshell, ice white, snow white and bright white-and thats just for starters. This is the first caution in using white, whether its choosing wall paint, a carpet, or fabric for a sofa: not all whites are the same, so you have to be just as careful in matching white to white or to another colour as you would matching mauve, sky blue, or emerald. The second caution is perhaps more obvious: white shows blemishes and scars more readily than any other colour, so of course you want to hold off if you have young kids, a lot of pets, or visitors who like to put their muddy feet up on the sofa. But when the kids go off to college, redecorating the living the room in white can be a wonderfully liberating way of celebrating.
However, you dont have to ask white to take over the whole room. Sometimes just a bit of white here or there is all thats needed to add an energetic, elegant splash to a room design. In small doses, white can help brighten up any dark corner of a room. Think of a spot where youd like to add a window or skylight, and before you call the contractor, first try hanging a photo done in white, and held in a white frame, on the wall. Under this, place a small white table with a white pitcher, and see if that doesnt change the whole mood of the interior.
Whether its white tulips in a silver vase, a bunch of white glass grapes, a white cup and saucer, or a small white slipper chair, white can add a bit of uplift to any room.
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