Decorating with White as the Primary Theme

By Rosemary Sadez Friedmann
Scripps Howard News Service

Decorating a house with white as the main theme can be quite beautiful if executed with care and great attention to detail. The secret is in the detail.

Let's explore the possibilities. A living room might start out with white marble floors, white painted walls, white shutters on windows and white upholstery on the sofa, love seat and chairs.

Looks too sterile, doesn't it? Well, it is at this point because the details haven't been added. Let's put in a cocktail table that is oversized. The top is glass and the base is thick wrought iron. The iron is black and slightly ornate. Under that cocktail table is a fluffy white area rug. On a big wall there is a wooden china cabinet that is painted a forest-green. See the drama in the contrast? Is the room coming alive?

Add a tree or two to the room. Put a large black bowl in the center of the cocktail table and fill it with green apples. Add crystal to inside the china cabinet. Finish off with pictures on the wall that might have black-gold frames with green matting.

White bedrooms are always attractive. Start with white carpet on the floor, white walls, white window treatments. The bed is four-poster with sideboards, and it is tan (or some off-white hue). The nightstands and dresser are also of the off-white variety. The bedspread is white, the dust ruffle is white with a lacy theme and there are several pillows on the bed that are also white and lacy. The chair in the corner is a rocker and it is white. Another lacy pillow is thrown on the chair.

There is a picture over the headboard that is framed in the same off-white hue as the bed, and the matting and subject matter are mainly white. A bouquet of white flowers in a white or clear vase is sitting pretty on the dresser. Lamps on the nightstands have off-white bases and white shades. There are several framed family pictures on the nightstands and, of course, the telephone is white (details, details).

A white theme can be very attractive, and with the fabric protectors available these days, white is not something to be too afraid of.

(Rosemary Sadez Friedmann, an interior designer in Naples, Fla., is author of Mystery of Color.)