Described as one of the most refreshing and serene colours on the spectrum, white evokes relaxation and purity. With more people opting for all-white bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms, the trend is growing even more popular as its potential is recognised. White is one of those trends that many home owners often dream of following but often have reservations about.
Before shying away from using white in your home consider the fact that it’s often a great starting point, a base that can easily be added to or scaled right back on. Whether you’re looking to bring a space to life with pops of colour or incorporate that Scandinavian warmer feeling in your home, white can be extremely versatile through both the summer and winter months.
BLANK CANVAS
With more than 200 shades, white is never boring and has plenty of range that makes for an adaptable first step in any interior scheme. Whether you prefer a modern minimalist look or more of a boho or vintage theme, white can be paired with almost any colour. Look at white as a fresh start, a way to make a space completely your own and let inspiration strike.
People are often nervous about white feeling too cold or unwelcoming in their home but it’s a colour that makes other hues stand out. White allows you to adjust your taste in interiors without having to make any major alterations to your home.
White interiors can easily be switched up to make your interiors versatile all year round. A white room can easily be warmed up with lighting, deeper feature walls, natural materials alongside beautiful wood burners, and accent furs or sheepskins rugs creating cosiness in the winter months. Alternatively swap out these heavier winter fabrics, cushions and rugs as well as strategically placed fire logs and welcome the summer months by adding pops of colour to your white space.
Colorful additions really help make a space feel more dramatic and modern. From burnt oranges, reds and browns in the Autumn, to yellows, greens and pastels in Spring and fresh all-white interiors for the Summer months, white is a cost effective and easy way to acclimatise your home throughout the year at a moment’s notice.
For summer whites, opt for lighter, neutral pieces from the Ligne Roset Collection such as the Ligne Roset Odea Mauro Lipparni range or the Ligne Roset Togo Lounge settee in white or powder blue available online and instore at Cookes Furniture.
WHITE FURNITURE
There’s no better way to create a calm and relaxing atmosphere than to choose white upholstery for areas such as the living room or bedrooms where you tend to spend a lot of time chilling out. We all love white in luxury hotel suites and spas so why not consider it for your home?
Never feel intimidated by white you should in fact feel the opposite. White is a safe interior choice for larger more expensive items of furniture. Buying sofas or bedrooms sets in colour can go out of style as fashions change, however, white is timeless and adaptable. Adding cushions, throws, covers or by draping blankets over a white sofa easily switches up the look of a room for those keeping up with the latest interior trends.
One of the reservations people tend to have with white is the clean factor. Worrying that white shows dirt quickly, and is harder to keep clean often springs to mind when associating this colour with family homes. Don’t shy away from white upholstery, there are ways around making white furniture easy to care for.
Focus more on the material than the colour itself, for example always consider washable fabrics like leather or linen-covered sofas and pillows with removable slip covers that can easily be popped in the washing machine or replaced.
Consider the Cookes Collection white Barbados dining table set, the white Geneva Dining Table set or the white Rom Pacific Corner Sofa to incorporate white furniture in your home.
SHOWCASE
White often helps declutter a room and can be one of the best ways to inject personality without having to compete with bold designs or colour on the walls. White leaves no room for distraction making it a great technique to draw one’s eyes to a particular area of the space, piece of furniture or statement artwork without even having to try and draw that attention.
With white everything remains simplistic, it can serve as a frame for a centrepiece in a room. If you have a large painting, picture, piece of art or sculpture you’d like to showcase in your home then consider a white room to prevent deflection from the masterpiece.
Every choice is crucial in a white room, allowing for those carefully curated pieces to be centre stage. For items that dominate a room consider the Red Ligne Roset Ploum range against a white backdrop.
WHITE PAIRED
The beauty of white is that it can be paired with unusual fabrics and shapes, interesting pieces of furniture and incorporate budding new trends without too much cost or alteration to your home.
Some of the latest interior trends for this year are concentrated around pairing neutral colours like white with classic metals. Brass, copper and gold are all trending in home interiors and white is perfect for bringing this warm look to life.
Whether you add chrome lampshades or lighting fixtures to your kitchen, scatter gold or silver cushions on white linens or add gold side tables to your living or bedroom, metals will always look luxurious, work well against a crisp white backdrop and are another way white acts as a versatile starting point when redecorating in the light of new trends and fashions.
Consider items such as the Cookes sunflower gold mirror or the set of rose gold Ligne Rose side tables to incorporate elements of the chrome trend to your white canvas.
Interesting pieces of furniture like the Ligne Roset Togo collection or fashion designer Matthew Williamson’s bespoke furniture range available in the Cookes showroom work well as both practical furniture and unusual pieces of art that help bring interest to a white living room.
BATHROOMS
Most bathrooms feature a simplistic white pallet because white helps create space. As the smallest room in the house, and also the room that needs the most cleaning and upkeep, white not only helps create the illusion of a bigger room, reflecting light but also suggests a bright and clean space too. Many flats and smaller apartments have also adopted this technique.
White also acts as a gallery in a bathroom showcasing any flowers, books or art you have on display. For those lucky enough to have larger washrooms, remember that colour pops against white. Include a bright armchair, painting or sculpture in a white room making it your own. For smaller spaces, colourful magazines, a bright bathroom matt or a colourful vase really stand out against larger white baths and basins.
Mosaic tiles or a feature wall as a backdrop to a white tub always adds that hint of luxury as seen in the new Ripples bathroom showroom in Cookes furniture and in reverse a bright bath tub in a white room immediately makes a usually dull space interesting.
Through periods of minimalist living, bold feature prints, tech free spaces and nautical themes, the classic white trend seems to be here for the long run.
10th August 2017