It's no secret that I like white, actually I love white! I've painted more than a few spaces in white – top to bottom. I find white is a great backdrop and lets the art, rug and furniture shine. Here are a couple of small vignettes with white, showing how nice it can work to show case the items in the space.
Images above (3) from Domino Magazine, top image from Deb Nelson Design
I’ve always liked textured walls, these days “shiplap” walls are turning up every where. Really they are rooms with wooden boards on the wall that run vertically or horizontally, of course I love them painted white. I have white vertical boards in the room on my third floor, like you see above. These are original to the house and the boards range in size but most are around 5 - 6” wide. There are also boards on the ceiling so it really completes the look.
Here are a few spaces that I find very inspiring - showing the white painted horizontal shiplap!
I have a cool ship lap DIY idea coming soon!
At DND, we always love a good Before & After. There is something magical about seeing the possibility of what a room could be. When I bought my old 1844 house, there were many rooms that felt a little tired and dated. When I saw this space I wanted to lighten and brighten it up.
BEFORE
AFTER
Hereʼs what happened:
– All new walls and ceilings, although it doesn't show up in the before picture, all of the old plaster in this room was cracked and heaving on the walls and in the ceiling. New drywall and paint really changed the look.
– White paint! One of my favourites, I painted the walls, ceiling, floors and trim in white. This truly transforms a room!
– One way to instantly brighten up a space is to expose more of the windows. Removing the sheers and full length drapery panels and going to custom made linen roman shades in the windows allowed more natural light to flow in.
– Room layout: the furniture placement in the 'after' picture is very different. The bed is placed in front of the window instead of on the wall on the right. Creative space planning had to happen in this room to fit that large antique cabinet you can see in the first picture.
There are terrific water views out both these windows! Iʼm going to be switching around the furniture in this room to see if I can capture more of the view! I'll be sure to share those results on the blog later this summer.
Wow – what a busy spring it's been! I was on CBC TV in March talking East Coast Design – tons of fun if you like that coastal/nautical vibe in your decor as much as I do. Thank you S & C for having me, as usual I had so much fun and can't wait to be back next season! Here's the link to the episode on CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/stevenandchris/episodes/season-8/season-8-episode-117
All I can say is too bad it wasn't sunny on the days we were filming in beautiful Chester, NS. The room looks better in the sunshine, like you can see from the picture above!
I love the look of white moulding in a room. It adds so much character and architectural detail. Even in a very plain room this can be a way to bring it to life. Here are a few of my personal favourite pictures of this classic style.
