Living with Simply White

Did you hear?  Benjamin Moore has announced their color of 2016 and I couldn’t be happier with their selection because I already have it in our home!

The color of the year is Simply White.

If you’re on the search for a true white that doesn’t look yellow or pink this is the perfect color for you.  It is the color of the walls in our Sunroom. One of my favorite rooms in the WHOLE house.

Every new year.  I think about my goals and like the snow that is falling out our window.

I’m drawn to white.

White is simple but sophisticated. White is understated and regal.  White is relaxed and crisp.  White fits with any and all decor.  It can be modern, coastal, shabby chic, country, primitive and minimal.  Coat walls in white and the room will look brighter, coat a piece of furniture in white and it is as if angels are singing.  I realize many people believe white to be boring, or the absence of color, but white is so much more than it may appear.

Just pull a few samples and you’ll see how many shades of white there are. Too many to count or name in one post.

I promise your home will sing dressed in white.

White has a way of making a room pop.

Somehow painted furniture and dark wood trim equally look lovely with a white back drop.

Here’s our sunroom when we first finished it:

The room looked like this before, the walls were white but more a dingy dirty white.  The floor, well, yes, we did a lot of work on the floor. You can read about the driftwood floors here.

It truly is my favorite room.  It isn’t very large but it is so bright with all the windows and on a nice day I can feel the ocean breezes and see the dog and kids playing in the yard.  I love painting watercolor, reading and writing out here.  The boys even “camped out” with the windows open during the summer.

This color looks amazing in every season (early summer above).

Autumn:

Even in winter it is pretty (which is how it looks now):

Our patio chairs have come in from the deck to make room for the snow and the cold.

The other room we have Simply White is our guest room. The walls are painted Glass Slipper (which is a pale blue gray) but the Parlor Lace Stencil is painted in Simply White in satin finish and it really does look like lacy wallpaper. The satin finish almost gives it a shimmer on the walls.

The original wall color was a periwinkle blue which worked for a little boy’s room but I wanted something soft and serene for our guests.  We love how it came out.  If you’d like to read more about stenciling your own wall click here and to see the room makeover click here.

Poppy, our dog, loves it too and she sleeps here every night.

No, I didn’t pose her like this.  She is just always camera ready.  Ha! Ha!

Here you can see the stencil closer up:

The stencil wall actually makes the space feel bigger.

I love this color so much I’m actually thinking of painting another room in our home with it! Stay tuned for that!

I also wanted to share another white we have in our house that looks fantastic with dark woodwork.  I actually have this in our dining room AND our living room.  The color is Mascarpone and it is a slightly warmer white than Simply White (Benjamin Moore included Mascarpone in this year’s color palette). Our dining room is quite a bright room and always looks pretty in pictures but our living room is darker and this really brightened the room up.

Here you can see the dining room:

How are dining room was looking this fall:

Here’s a peek at the living room:

Now with the new room set up, I floated the couch in the middle of the room, which made a world of difference. You can see the refresh here and our Christmas living room here.

This is how the space is looking now without the tree:

Can you see what I mean?  Everything just goes so well with white.  You can move new pieces in or change out curtains and pillows because white goes with everything.

I’m actually painting my yellow kitchen walls this week.  It is in this year’s color palette but it isn’t white. Don’t worry, though, it is a neutral.  I think you’ll love it.  I’m soooooooo excited about it.  It only took almost three years to paint it.

This post contains an affiliate link.

Sharing with: