I'm a bit nervous about doing this. I really want to make our new house a home. I know that white seems cold, but I'm going for that whole cottage/shabby chic look. I have a dark green sofa that I like but the cat has done a real number on it, I've found a woman who is a retired semstress and will slip cover my sofa and chair for a fraction of what it would cost if I had a retailer do it.

I want to slip cover the sofa in white demin so I can throw it in the wash and bleach it if necessary, paint the walls in the entire house white and the kitchen cabinetary. Colours will come accessories, throw pillows, artwork, flowers, furniture etc. My main accent colour will be blue for that whole nautical feel. The house will have a comfortable beachy feel, even though we live no where near the beach. I guess I'm a little home sick and miss being near the ocean.

It's a hard concept for me to wrap my head around right now as I look out at the swirling snow. One of the reasons for doing this is that it will be fairly inexpensive, it's just paint after all.

What colour is your house? Do you live in colour with each room a different colour? I'm just curious.

By Vicki on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 01:26 pm:

Me personally, no. At least not at this time in my life. My house is a variety of colors that all go together. I am amazed at how much my home "warmed up" when I started painting darker colors. I have had so many people tell me it is warm and inviting and feels like home. I just don't think I would feel that warm feeling in all white. To stark and clean or something.... I don't know....LOL

By Emily7 on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 01:57 pm:

I would never have all white in my house. If done right is can be quite pretty, but I have lived in so many rentals that I have come to hate white walls.

By Debbie on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 02:03 pm:

Personally, I wouldn't paint my house all white. My house is painted a buff color, with some walls a little darker tan. It wouldn't be my first choice if I was going to paint, but it goes well with the house and my decorating/furniture. Our last house had lots of color, the kitchen walls were red, the family room taupe, the dinning room/living room green, the master bedroom was green, the playroom was bright blue. It really looked great, and all went together. It was painted when we moved in.

Now, if you are going for a cottage feel. I saw a house that had white cabinets in the kitchen, and the walls were a light/slate blue. It looked really pretty. It was decorated beautifully with shades of blue, and had a cottage feel.

By Kate on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 02:04 pm:

I do think as a beach house it would be awesome. But if you live where it snows I'm just not so sure...

My house is all white or off white, except for pink bedrooms. I don't like a LOT of color, but I have to admit my friend keeps painting her house. Her family room is an amber color, her dining room is cranberry, her other family room is RED, her kitchen is celery, the hallway is burnt orange....now SHE can pull it off. She has decorating talent and the right furniture AND the right 'house' in terms of layout and openness. Another friend has an amber living room, cranberry kitchen and dining room and the brightest royal blue family room I've ever seen. It looks reallllly bad. She doesn't have the decorating sense my other friend has, her rooms are all boxy and closed in due to the way the house was designed, her furnishings are all wrong for it, etc.

SO! With the right style house and furniture, you can pull just about anything off! I love the look you're going for, I just think you might get tired of it quickly. As I said, I have found that color CAN work nicely IF you have everything else 'right'. Vicki is right about colored walls really 'warming up' a house. White is safe and white is attractive...but color can be amazing.

By Bellajoe on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 02:07 pm:

I would never do all white colors again. The house we just moved out of was pretty much white all over and I got so sick of it, but i knew we were movin soon so i never painted it.

My house now is very colorful and I love it.

One thing to think about is that having white walls, those walls will get dirty. They will get skuffed and marked no matter how much you try to be careful. darker colors tend to hide those skuffs a bit better.

I think the all white with colorful accents would look pretty at first but then would get a little boring.
JMHO

By Dandjmom on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 02:13 pm:

Like Emily7,I tll have lived in a lot of rentals. I'm still in an apartment and everythign is all white, ut what is odd is that before i moved into my current apartmetn my apartment was painted in a type of pink not bright or dark but pink, and when i got to my current place I loved the fact that the walls where white my furniture always matched in the room. but I have a tiem of it with a 3 year old even my 11 year old she touches the walls on accident and I'm always wiping. But to each his own, the way you describe with the the accesories bringign in the color I think it would look nice, you can then do wach room in a different color. And also Debbie's idea of the white cabinets adn light/slate blue , i think that can be down throughout the downstairs if ntothe whole house and it would have that beachy look. BUt good look with what ever you decide.

By Dandjmom on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 02:13 pm:

Like Emily7,I tll have lived in a lot of rentals. I'm still in an apartment and everythign is all white, ut what is odd is that before i moved into my current apartmetn my apartment was painted in a type of pink not bright or dark but pink, and when i got to my current place I loved the fact that the walls where white my furniture always matched in the room. but I have a tiem of it with a 3 year old even my 11 year old she touches the walls on accident and I'm always wiping. But to each his own, the way you describe with the the accesories bringign in the color I think it would look nice, you can then do wach room in a different color. And also Debbie's idea of the white cabinets adn light/slate blue , i think that can be down throughout the downstairs if ntothe whole house and it would have that beachy look. BUt good look with what ever you decide.

By Cat on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 02:40 pm:

I've never done it, but all the houses we've lived in over the years have been off-white or "builder" white. We've never really painted because living in military housing you have to paint it back before you can move. I think if you use the right accessories all white can be very interesting and pretty. Yes, it does have a very "clean" look. I'd actually like to paint my laundry room white because it's so small. White will make rooms look bigger and make them brighter because the light will reflect more. If it's what you really want, go for it! You're right--it's only paint.

By Claire on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 02:44 pm:

There are all sorts of cool pastel colors that would go with a Shabby chic look - And I would go with color over plain white any day.

Good luck!

By Kateg on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 02:56 pm:

When I was growing up, I always had to have white or barely their colors. I grew up longing for color. Since then I have had rooms red, tropical bright green, brilliant blue, you name it. Now we have a taupe shade & our kids rooms are grey & pink to match their themes in their rooms. We just finished our kids game room - painting each wall a different color - bright blue, tropical green, orange and purple. It's a sight to see, but it looks so cool in there. I'm getting ready to paint my bedroom red - I miss having red walls. So, I wouldn't do all white, but I would have colored walls mixed in there too. But, you know, it is paint. Once you get it all done & live with it for a while, you may find that a blue in another room will be what you want. So, enjoy!

By Sandysmom on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 03:20 pm:

I haven't read the other posts, but I think that all white is too contemporary for a shabby chic look. You could do white with a light tint of a wedgewood blue just to warm it up a bit and that would be more fitted to shabby chic. BTW, LOVE the shabby chic look! Good luck and post pics whatever you do!

By Sandysmom on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 03:36 pm:

Also, my kitchen walls are a sage green and my living room walls were just painted a humble gold. My bedroom is a light blue but I want to paint it soon and Little dd's room is white and lavender. DD's room is like a dark aqua blue with a black ceiling (her choice) and our bathroom is white. I did live in a rental house years ago where we were not allowed to paint the walls or even hang pictures or a border or anything so when we bought this home, I was determined not to have white walls everywhere. BTW, I found some links for you to get ideas from many different shabby chic web sites.

shabby sites

shabby beachy

By Kaye on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 03:40 pm:

I just couldn't go with white on white. If you were going for a beach feel though, you could still use the white couch and go with a nice light tan (think sand) and pull it off very nicely. I would also consider a very very pale green/blue, think ocean. Just a hint of very neutral color. Then you could with very sheer white drapes, white couch and whatever else you wanted to add.

By Heaventree on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 03:59 pm:

You guys are great! Thanks for all of the ideas.

I'm going back and forth between Sand and a very soft light blue and just plain white. If you click on the Shabby Beachy (thanks Sandy!) link you will see exactly the look I am going for. White on white. My concern is that I have a vaulted ceiling in the living/dining room and I'm afaird the room might look too floaty, however I do have a carpert I could put over my existing wall to wall that might ground the room.

I will probably go will all sand or all white throughout the house as it's just cheaper (buying paint by the 5 gallon pail) and easier and faster for the painters. I'm a bit worried about a sand colour looking too much like "Builder's Beige" so we'll see. We have decided as well that we will replace the counter top in the kitchen with something black or dark grey to help ground the space and get rid of the back splash and replace it with something else.

The two bathrooms upstairs will be a soft blue, not sure what to do with the powder room on the main floor - they wallpapered it!

Matthew's winter bedding stuff I already have, a bright red duvet cover with a demin bedskirt. I bought some Nautica pillows the other day and a nice quilt for the summer. The bedding in Cameron's room will be blues and aquas, Matthew's old colour scheme. Our bedroom will be white on white.

I remember when I lived in a rental apartment I used to beg my landlady to let me paint the walls as they were all white but when I think back to that place I remember how peace and serene it felt. I'll let you all know how it goes and post some photos in a few months when we are done.

By Sandysmom on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 04:38 pm:

How about Sand with just a hint of golden sunlight in it. That way it wouldn't look like a builder's beige. Go to the link below and hit Launch Color Visualizer and play around a little bit. They have a great color called Morning Sun you may want to check out. Let me know what you find.

sherwin williams

By Jjb on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 04:44 pm:

My step SIL just bought an amazing house. It was recently completely remodeled with a huge addition. They spared no expense. The builder used a sand/cream color with white trim in the entire house. I normally prefer different colors in each room myself, but I was amazed at how incredible it looked. It was just enough color to draw attention to the white molding and hide dirt and scuff marks, but not enough to interfere with different colored furniture. It had a look similar to what the beach picture had. I loved it. To get the perfect color you can try to get a decorator at a paint store (Sherwin Williams and Benj. Moore stores often have them for free) and they can help pick a perfect color for your entire house. Just a thought. Good luck and keep us posted!

By Vicki on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 04:57 pm:

Take some before pics too!! Have fun!!

By Cocoabutter on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 05:26 pm:

I did my whole house white, and I loved it, but now I am ready for a change.

When we first moved in, our house was BROWN. The walls were beige, the curtains were brown, the carpet was brown/orange shag, and the kitchen was old brown paneling.

I walked into Sears and said, "Give me the whitest white you've got!"

But after about 13 years, I am ready for some more color. Wouldn't you know, we bought brand new reclining chairs about 3 years ago, and they are brown (one is tan, the other dark brown leather.) But rather than go brown or beige again, I was thinking more along the lines of a deep rust color, but just on one wall. I would like to also paint a stencil in the rust color on the opposite white wall to compliment it.

I wouldn't change your white idea, but maybe choose one wall and paint it a different color.

Good luck!

By Breann on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 07:29 pm:

We have all white now, and it makes it look large/open/airy/bright. It doesn't really bother me. The bigger the better

We are in the process of building a home, and we are going to do a light tan/neutral wall color with white trim, just for something different that what we've had in the past. The kids rooms will each be painted different as well.

So yeah, I wouldn't see a problem using white if that's what you like

We have been to a lot of home shows/model homes while trying to decide on floorplans and decor for our new home. We have seen some really pretty houses done in all white.

One of my favorite was white walls, hardwood floors in a medium tone, light blue furniture with pale yellow accents. It looked like it belonged on a beach.

Paint is fairly inexpensive, so the good thing about it is you can easily change it if you don't like it

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 08:02 pm:

I would not have an all white house. I know several people that have the shappy chic look in their house....and beach themes. I love the sand color paint with the crisp white. The slate blue looks nice too.
Do what YOU want. If you have your heart set on white, go for it!
Paint is the cheapest-quickest-easiest update you can do to your home. The best part is-- if you do not like it, simply repaint it. I cannot even tell you how many colors my living-room has been before we found "the" color that we love. My hubby jokes that should another hurricane hit us, the walls will stay standing because they have so many coats of paint holding them together.

By Nicki on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 08:03 pm:

Heaventree, the Shabby Beachy is very, very appealing to me, as well. We have antique white throughout our house except dd's room. She asked for sky blue walls.:-) I like the feel and look of painted walls when I visit other homes. But, I myself long for the light and open feeling of soft white walls. I am very sensitive to light, or rather lack of, so white has always been my choice. We live in an older home with the original, redone wood floors. The wood is beautiful and I love how the white walls bring the attention to the floors. I also love the contrast of light and dark, so of course this is easy to achieve with white. If I crave more color, I accomplish it with accessories. It makes changing color and or theme pretty easy and fun.
I hope you will be able to share photos. Have fun. I love this time of year, as I am always in the mood for change in the house and it can be so up lifting.

By Karen~admin on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 08:24 pm:

Love the shabby beachy look, and I love the idea of a light to medium neutral color, but I would never go with all white.

By Reds9298 on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 09:52 pm:

I'd never go with all white personally. I simply don't like it. Love the shabby beach thing totally, but not white walls for me.

If you hate it, it won't be a big deal just more time. Yvonne - I've painted my kitchen so many times that DH says it's getting smaller!LOL