Going White

THE WHITE DILEMMA

I have a problem.  I'm usually ahead of my time when it comes to trends.  While I do follow those really irresistible  trends, I try really hard to fight trends.  My usual M.O.  lots is to find things I love, and start decorating/collecting/wearing them.  A couple of years later, my sister, daughter, friends will say 'wow' I wish I listened to you back then.  I used to be a fashion buyer for years, so my eye had been trained on picking interesting new options.

I've fought the WHITE trend.  So as I've watched the 'white/pastel' trend budding, blooming and now beginning to wilt in the United States.  I liked it, but didn't bite.  I resisted, but not only to fight the trend, there have been a couple of reasons I haven't jumped on that band wagon.

REASONS WHY I DIDNT GO WHITE:

Reason 1:  I love Cath Kidston too much!

My kitchen is lovely pale green…

Can you see how light a green it is?  Its just enough to be green (greener in reality), not just a green-y white.  Gives enough colour to  make all my Cath Kidston 'pop'.  I just love Cath!  Have for years, and that is the problem…

While white will also make colours pop, unless I went with the more pastel hues, the Cath colours are often too vibrant.  Hence the light green.  Just enough colour to make it really shine.

More Cath on my curtains, table cloth…

And lots and lots of Cath in the cupboards, which I rotate, as not all the prints work well together.  I guess I'm attracted to the larger florals, which due to scale and colour similarities but not cohesion, don't really work.  I'm just not too into her dots (I do have some, and use them to break up the florals) or her checks (can't waste valuable Cath money on checks!).

Anyway, do to my Cath K collection, I have avoided going all white.

Reason 2:  I grew up with 'builders beige'.  Well, growing up in the 70's it was 'builders White'  kind of off white, creamy, non descript white.

So, I like subtle colours.  My halls are the beautiful Farrow and Ball colour, 'Pale Powder'.  Its magical.  It works with so many different styles of furniture, gold and silver tones.  Its a pretty silvery blue green.

Reason 3:   Three kids under 12.  Colour hides dirt a bit more. 

Exhibit 1:   The Dirt Squad:  They can spill, smudge, smear and destroy any area in 60 seconds flat!  They don't even need capes!

Now my kids are older.  A little less messy.  A little…

Anyway, I've been influenced by all this WHITE on blogland.  I kind of love it now.  So I decided to try a room.  My living room was kinda white.  It looked like a nice parchment colour on the colour chip, but as soon as it was on my walls, it looked…'blah'.  I hate blah!  So last week I bought two gallons of white paint (but, as I found out it wasn't white enough) and attacked 3/4 of the room.  I had to do one wall at a time and shove everything off the wall, fill holes, paint, paint some more, dry, shove furniture back.  I have one corner left to do.

Here is a 'before' colour:

See that wishy washy, not white, not beige colour?  Hmmm… pretty boring.

Here is a new corner….ready for the new colour?  Here it comes…the crazy white….

Nice?  Just wait till I get the rest of the junk in there!  Here's a 'filtered' photo of my 'Crazy lady lives here' corner:

I can hardly wait to finish the room and move all my stuff back in.  Perhaps in a more orderly, organized fashion than the last time…Wish me luck!