Let’s talk about how much I loathe white walls. They're so institutional and blah, reminding me of rental homes where they paint the trim the same color as the wall so they don’t need to put any effort or money into paint. Why do they do this in rental homes anyway? Seems to me that white shows the most dirt and scuff marks, so they should paint the homes beige or black (I kid). To me, white walls are a cop-out. It says, “I couldn’t find a color that I like, so this will work.” Don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and a place for white- trim, cabinets, ceilings, prisons...
Now that I’ve officially offended 85% of Americans, let’s talk about the good aspects of white paint. In graphic design, there’s an area called negative space (or white space *wink*). It’s essentially the blank area of the page/website/whatever that doesn’t contain graphics or information. This can be a powerful tool to designers when they want to make a statement in their creation. They can use the white space as part of their design, sometimes making a bigger impact with more white than less. Ah ha!
I’m using white on my walls as a graphic designer would. As a statement. I want to accent the other furnishings in the space and highlight the colors in the other rooms. The area that I’m painting white is my entryway. When you look at a pass-through in a home, you need to make sure the color of the wall of the room you’re in complements the adjacent room’s wall color. Are you still with me? From the entry, you can see my kitchen, family room and hallway. Since I love color so much and plan on having a lot of it in the other rooms (the kitchen cabinets will be painted blue someday), I thought white would be a really great alternative to assaulting your eyeballs with a rainbow as soon as you walk through my door. Oh, but don’t worry, I have something up my sleeve…
Color on the ceiling! Since my realization that I can’t have everything in my house turquoise, I looked for another option to paint my ceiling. I eventually settled on coral and when I picked up a Valspar color inspiration booklet, it solidified my love for this color scheme. Check out this site for a visual. The color I settled on is Dark Mango, but seeing this post from The Smith Nest, I think I need to look for an alternative. Still, here is the color in Dark Mango (photo belongs to The Smith Nest) and the rest of my inspiration for the room:
I Love this plank wall by Shanty 2 Chic. Though mine will be a bit less “shabby chic”, I like the idea of having something rustic and something to break up the white. (I think it could easily be done with a box of vinyl flooring).
And these birds!! They tie in the geometric design from the light fixture (see below).
Adorable sign from Hobby Lobby that I MUST have. You’ll be able to see it as soon as you walk through the door. How happy is that?
Finally...the star of the show! This gorgeous geometric light from Urban Outfitters. When the light turns on, it casts super fun shadows on the wall. The color on the ceiling will draw your eyes up to this little beauty and you might just stand there in the entry admiring it for the rest of your visit. Maybe I should put a chair in there.
There you have it. And now I have white walls (photos of the finished entry yet to come). Tell me...what have you done to your home that you never thought you would?
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