Learn how to Style and Decorate your home with White. As white is more than just a neutral, white décor adds light and brightens up any room in your house.
Here I am on this lovely morning sitting on my patio listening to the birds and seeing how well my plants are doing after the overhaul I did a couple of weeks ago. There are beautiful clouds in the sky, big fluffy, and white contrasting the blue.
This beautiful composition got me thinking about color, decorating, styling and how to enhance a room and make it look brighter by using white and some off whites to decorate.
We can learn a lot about decorating–and color composition specifically–by looking around at nature. Take my potted plants for instance. The bright colors of the vessels or pots stand out against the patio furniture, but what really makes them seem bright and summery are the pops of white flowers sprinkled among the green leaves.
The lighter colors add sparkle and brightness to the garden and when you style and decorate with white you add the same sparkle to your home.
I see white walls as a blank canvas for any décor style. I believe when you decorate with white, it offers a beautiful backdrop to neutrals and colors alike. White isn’t neutral, boring, or a sign you lack creativity. For me, white has a place among all the all yummy colors out there.
It simply depends on how you use it and how white makes you feel.
I’ve been applying these lessons from nature to the way I decorate and style homes for years. Knowing how to decorate with white can be a little intimidating at first, but it’s worth the risk. Whites brighten and lighten any area; I find white décor showing up throughout my own house as I work on my living room, dining area, master bedrooms, and bathrooms. It is the perfect backdrop for my small space… and for spaces of all sizes.
White isn’t only a great choice for modern coastal décor, modern spaces and or timeless transitional spaces. It’s a great option that lends itself to any décor style, from traditional to modern and all styles in between.
Here’s what I’ve learned about why whites are great options in your color palate. If you’re wondering how to decorate with white (or worried that it’s impractical or boring) here are the reasons why you should reconsider using white in your décor to style your home.
You Can Complement Any Color Palette by Styling and Decorating with White
If you decorate with a lot of neutrals, dark colors, or even bright patterns, white always comes to the rescue. White adds lightness and brightness. White makes a small room appear larger. It makes lower ceilings appear higher. When you decorate with white you make any space look clean, crisp, elegant, and timeless.
My go-to shade for decorating ceilings and interior trim is almost always bright white.
Not only is white paint easy to find and match, but it works like magic to instantly expand, lighten, and brighten a room. However, I don’t limit myself to decorating and styling with just standard bright white. There have been plenty of times when an off white or tinted white shade has worked better to blend with the surrounding décor.
A few color examples of great shades of white are Bellet White by Benjamin Moore, Simply White, White Dove, and Chantilly Lace.
You can style or decorate with white in any shade from a silvery, icy blue-white, to a warm ecru, hint of eggshell, creamy yellow-white or white with the slightest touch of seafoam.
Back in my Arizona years, I used a lot of brown and earth tones in my décor for work and in the color schemes, I worked with, because most clients gravitated toward desert colors. For example, when you have a room that features a brown sofa, brown dining table, chairs, and tan accessories, it tends to get a bit… visually heavy. (in my humble opinion- boring)
Using a slightly creamy/ stone color undertone white shade (For example; Ballet White by Benjamin Moore on the walls and a bright white for the ceiling and trim instantly lifts the room and lightens up the entire space. (It’s like someone opened the windows). A few throw pillows with a white/off white well-chosen patterns and some pretty accessories in different textures (but in the same family of whites) add in an airy, fresh quality and instantly the “earth tones” don’t feel so drab.
If you don’t have much natural light, dark furniture and large decorative pieces often feel overwhelming and even suffocating.
This is also why you see so much white and light-colored furniture at IKEA—because modular furniture is designed for small spaces and apartment living and white always wins.
The same applies to modern spaces when you decorate with white. White helps make the space appear crisp and accentuates clean lines. Nowadays, in Parisian apartments white is often used to accentuate the beautiful, traditional architectural details such as tall ceilings or intricate trim work, offering a more current backdrop for today’s living. A pop of white on a pillow, a chair, lamp, or picture frame instantly opens up even a studio apartment and makes a tiny room feel much larger.
How to Use White and Off White in Your Decorating Scheme
Ready to lighten up a room? I hear the worry that white is hard to keep clean; it seems so stark or even boring. When used in the right way, this couldn’t be further from the truth. After all, white is literally the color of light. It can be quite warming and welcoming. It’s all about using the right textures and blending them to add depth and composition. Right now, for example, you see a lot of white walls with beautiful white oak wide plank wood floors and (for a daring but delightful look) black window trim. A few live plants in organic modern vessels and there you have an amazing inviting and inspiring space.
On a different note, personally, I love using white linens—towels, sheets, and blankets because they’re so much easier to keep clean! I can wash with scalding hot water, bleach them and they always look bright and beautiful. I am sure I have said it before, but what is better than white crisp linens?! If you want to add color to a bedroom or bathroom, use colors and patterns as accessories to complement your white, easy-to-clean linens.
White linens add a sense of luxury to any bedroom or bathroom.
Are you afraid to decorate with white because it seems cold or blah? To warm up white and downplay the sterile, stark factor, look for white accessories with great texture and in varying shades. Off white pillows and throws are a great addition. Add an ecru knitted poof, flowy linen or cotton drapes that may boast a subtle stripe, or a luxurious lambskin fur (or faux fur) rug for plenty of warm, cozy texture.
Decorating with white accents in softer, creamier shades will still create contrast and add brightness, but balance the room at the same time. Because white décor draws in the eye, it’s typically best to keep it evenly distributed throughout the room. This process also applies to adding touches or pops of an accent color.
How do you know if you’ve balanced your white décor evenly? Once you’ve pulled the room together, step back, survey the room, and assess. You may even want to take a photo of the room to give you a better idea of the overall feel (sometimes photos give you a better perspective).
Does one side of the room or area feel heavier?
It may be because you’ve featured more dark pieces (furniture or accessories) in that space. Balance out the color scheme of the room by moving pieces around or by adding additional white/off white accessories on the heavier looking side of the room. Create visual symmetry by sprinkling white or off-white accents throughout the room, therefore creating visual balance.
But remember, always wait a day or two and contemplate your accessories- white or not and edit. Fewer pieces in a larger scale may be better than more smaller ones. The shape, height and overall size also need to vary.
It’s perfectly fine to layer a few different shades of white in your decorating, just keep in mind the undertones of the shades of white you are selecting. A general rule of thumb that I use, is to limit myself to a maximum of three shades of white per room, making sure the undertones of the whites are compatible.
I believe if you incorporate too many different shades of white in your décor it will start to feel disjointed and less cohesive. I typically use the same rule for accent colors too, a little sprinkle of the accent color goes a long way. Still, have fun with different textures and shades of white, or your accent color décor as you add some life to your space!
An Example of How Decorating with White Could Lighten a Livingroom
In this room, we see a great example of how dark colors overwhelm a room. With tan walls, and a brown sofa (and brown floral pattern on the pillows), the room becomes quite dark and heavy.
Even the artwork on the walls (also framed in brown) is dark. The drapes are the same color as the walls, which can typically make a room look bigger, but in this case, simply adds to the drab scheme. The coffee table and lamp have yellow undertones, which are wrong for this color scheme.
Brown, beige, and tan feel safe and easy to work with, which is why so many people are drawn to using them in their color and finishes selection. Unfortunately, with a sofa this big and dark, the walls being a medium shade, the light is sucked out of the room. Although brown feels warmer than black, it has nearly the same effect as decorating with a black sofa and painting the walls dark gray.
BUT there are some pieces of this room that are working, and it’s mainly due to the inclusion of white or off white accents! White, off white, and lighter shades come to the rescue!
Look at the windows and the window frames—this is a great example of how decorating with white makes other colors and accessories pop. There’s a small amount of white in the decorative pillows on the sofa as well, which helps a bit in this example. But what if additional pillows were added in white or off white?
Imagine pillows in great textures like linen, fur, or chenille. The frames around the artwork could be lightened up with white as well in a similar shade to the matte board shade to add interest. (Depending if the walls stay that color or not). If the artwork you accessorize with is significant to you (and it should be), then don’t weigh it down with dark, heavy mattes.
In this room, I would even go as far as painting the coffee table white or off white. At the very least, I would paint the top white, or add a large white tray and accessories. A substantial sculptural piece, light accessories like candle holders or a white vessel would really brighten up the centerpiece.
Similarly, this room could be lightened up with a few white side tables or round tables. A chunky, white throw would add great texture and lighten up the sofa. The texture of the accessories should complement the overall look and season too.
On the wall to the right, I would consider adding a large piece of artwork with a substantial amount of white or off white, with a touch or pop of a complementing color. This would catch the eye and balance the light from the windows, making the room feel expansive, open, and inviting.
Using a few touches of white, off white and additional light, this room could go from blah brown to an exciting, dynamic space. A great aspect of decorating with white and off white is that it plays well with all other colors. Gray, green, purple and blue are all enhanced by white.
An Example of Decorating a Living Room with White and Off Whites
Now, here’s another example from House Beautiful, of how to decorate with white and off white. In this room, whites make for an expansive, airy feel. As you can see in this white room there are also dark sofas (this time in a deep navy). The designer has used off white throw pillows to prevent the sofas from feeling too heavy and dark. Notice how the chair (upholstered with a light off white) is balancing on the other side of the room to keep the space feeling symmetrical.
The silver-ish drapes add another layer and hung high, the drapes draw the eye up to accentuate the ceiling height (a designer trick to make the ceilings look taller or accentuate existing tall ceilings of the space). The white walls with a very slight tint of silver feel anything but stark. The bright white ceilings and white window frames really keep the bright and light feeling, together with the natural light coming in through the windows it creates a harmonious, balanced, and cohesive room.
The chair and the stool balance the room from the window side to the opposite side, shades of white sprinkled throughout the room continue the harmony. The clear glass coffee table with open base in the center keeps the space visually open and doesn’t hide the off white rug. A lamp with a white shade sits against the back of the sofa bringing the white to that side of the room, and light artwork in a thin gold frame keeps the room feeling light, bright and luxurious.
In any space, dark sofas and chairs could quickly overtake the room.
In this example, thanks to the addition of shades of white, the light-colored walls and commanding drapes, the space still feels quite expansive. The amethyst and soft pink flowers really stand out and compliment the purple shade of the velvet throw pillows. The room feels sophisticated, rich, and luxurious, without seeming fussy or uncomfortable. This is a beautiful example of an accent color that doesn’t take from the room at all and could easily be changed with the season or mood.
Decorating with white and off whites is simple as long as you incorporate plenty of texture and the right undertones. White compliments most color schemes and will help your room feel polished, bright, and grown-up. If you have a dark sofa or another large dark piece, lighten up the room by decorating with white, off whites and whites with an undertone, to create layers and harmony.
That is my 2 cents for today. Feel free to write in, send your pics and ask questions, always love to connect.
Go out and have fun while you style and decorate with white! Throw in a black wall for fun too and a chic look.
If you are afraid to paint a wall black, use peel and stick wallpaper, or amazing black grasscloth.