Shades of White

Someday I will have a clean house, all the time.  Right now I have a clean house, some of the time, and it lasts about 20 seconds or less.  Less, usually, because my little ones just go play in the clean rooms while I work in the dirty ones.

So when I’m craving the feeling that things are tidy and relaxing, sometimes I have to take myself on a little tour and just pause to enjoy the spots and corners that are inviting.

I realized that one of the things I appreciate the most is the color white.  I love the way white lets you appreciate texture so much.   I love how calming it is.  And I love the way it looks with blue.   So I decided to snap a few photos of different shades of white in some of my favorite little spots.

Mirrors, linens, frames… I love the simple beauty of white.

I think that patterns, texture, lines and so forth all show up better on white, where there’s no color to interfere with my appreciation of it all.  This is a vintage runner that I bought for around $5.  It’s not a fine linen, but I really like it.

This star hangs over my front door, which happens to be where my boys most love to throw balls (go figure).  So….. every so often, the wonderful vintage star comes crashing to the floor, gouging walls and floor, losing countless pieces of paint, and getting all bent up on the points.  At this point there is always much apology, much discussion over the fact that we have bedrooms, basement, toyroom, and, heaven forbid! the outdoors in which to throw balls instead of in the entryway, and I always walk away shaking my head a little at the workings of a boy’s brain.  So we’ll just say that I really appreciate what white is left on this star and I sincerely hope we’ve learned our lesson.  I suppose I could give in and move it, but it’s really quite perfect where it is, and I’m really quite certain that we can learn to throw balls in more appropriate locations.

For Mother’s Day, my sweet parents bought us an old, used piano.  It is wonderful.  Somebody painted it white.
In any other room, in most any other house, it would look out of place.  But in this room in this house, it is perfect.
I love it.  I love the legs on it.  And my kids love to play it.

I love little spots that are serene and attract light.

If you were going to wander your house in search of happy glimpses, what color would you pause most often to gaze at?

For me, today, it was definitely white against a blue backdrop.  They’re both lovely colors!