All the Lovely Shades of White

I find myself having a growing love affair with the color white. It has been a reluctant fondness. I have never been shy about color. Indeed, I love red, and wear it often. I even have a red mixer and a red arm chair. But all the lovely shades of white are enveloping my life like a clean fresh breeze, blowing in off the ocean on a sunny day. White feels so clean and simple, fresh and uncluttered. The more white I have the more I love it.

It started with my dishes. A couple years ago I decided all white restaurant ware dishes were the way to go. They go with everything and they look nice stacked in the cupboard.

Then I decided to use all white sheets. Again, they match everything, you can bleach them, and they look fresh and clean.

After that it was a logical leap to go with white towels. All white linens, really. Evey time I change a color scheme it seems silly to have to buy new towels. Plus, a guest bath with big fluffy, white towels feels so spa inspired. I do like to impress my guests.

I even began to only get my toes done with a french manicure. The white looks so clean and, again, goes with everything.

When I think about it there are lots more examples of whites I love. Take my daughters' dresses for instance. I LOVE a cute white sundress. My four year old has four of them. . .

And the largest section in my color-coordinated closet is the white section (and yet I am even now waiting for two different white shirts to go on sale at Banana Republic so I can buy them). . .

And when I buy or cut fresh flowers for my house, nine times out of ten they are . . .you guessed it--WHITE!

My dog is even white--I guess if I must have a dog he should not clash with the decor!

So, when I moved into a house with a paint color palette that looked like this--(Plus a few colors!)

It was not a huge leap for me to gasp in horror and start painting every wall in sight. It was not my intent to paint all my walls white--the paint sample, against the white trim sample, seemed very UNwhite. See. . .

And living in the Northwest where the sun is a stranger for the better part (by better I decidedly don't mean BETTER, but rather biggest) of the year, it seemed smart to go light on the paint in a house that faced north and seemed dark--particularly with the dark colors I started with. So, I painted the entry white (the green had to go) and then continued down the hall, and around the family room, and into the guest room. It looked so pretty. . .

I had to keep going. And now, 90 % of my house is white--well, actually it's called whispering wind, and against the white trim it just looks fresh and clean and lovely--and not at all stark or unpainted or boring.

So now that I am working on my kitchen remodel, can you guess what color my kitchen is going? Yeah, it's going to be. . .lovely.

What color can you not get enough of?