The "Pale" Look: Decorating

[Anonymous]

I enjoy seeing the pale look (example, white or whitish couches and rooms done in shades of white), and would love to redo a room or two. But how do people maintain the "pale look"? With dogs and kids, isn't this impossible?

[Anonymous]

Ask Cameron Frye.

[Anonymous]

It's really not that hard. I'd like to think that, just because you have dark walls, it doesn't mean you stop cleaning your house!

We have been doing all white/light houses for about 5 years with a toddler and two cats. White walls and trim, white kitchen cabinets and white countertops. Bathrooms are all white (one vanity is walnut, but both are white walls, tiles and countertop). Rugs are darker - like medium greys and medium blues. Furniture is also darker - medium and dark greys, blues, etc. You don't want to do light couches or rugs because they will get crazy dirty fast. We have a housecleaner come once a week - so that keeps the dust bunnies off the floor, and keeps the kitchens and baths at a basic clean level. So as long as we quickly wipe the kitchen countertops every night, it stays really clean looking. The walls do have places where they can get quite grimey, but really not one is noticing but me. So I go through every few months with a mr. Clean eraser and wipe the grime. Maybe takes 20 minutes in total. And honestly every year or so, I actually repaint the super dirty places. Like, my son's room right beside the bed - the wall is really grimy because he puts his dirty feet up on the wall. So I paint it every year - only takes 5 minutes to do a small patch with a big brush. Over time it probably is a slightly different color than the rest of the room, but since it's light colored, there's really not that much fading.

[Anonymous]

If you want to go with an all white pallette, I would do an oatmeal shade for the couch in a slightly textured fabric so the color is mottled.

Oatmeal is a white that hides daily wear and tear very well.

[Anonymous]

Other white sofa option: IKEA Ektorp, with washable slipcovers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's really not that hard. I'd like to think that, just because you have dark walls, it doesn't mean you stop cleaning your house!

We have been doing all white/light houses for about 5 years with a toddler and two cats. White walls and trim, white kitchen cabinets and white countertops. Bathrooms are all white (one vanity is walnut, but both are white walls, tiles and countertop). Rugs are darker - like medium greys and medium blues. Furniture is also darker - medium and dark greys, blues, etc. You don't want to do light couches or rugs because they will get crazy dirty fast. We have a housecleaner come once a week - so that keeps the dust bunnies off the floor, and keeps the kitchens and baths at a basic clean level. So as long as we quickly wipe the kitchen countertops every night, it stays really clean looking. The walls do have places where they can get quite grimey, but really not one is noticing but me. So I go through every few months with a mr. Clean eraser and wipe the grime. Maybe takes 20 minutes in total. And honestly every year or so, I actually repaint the super dirty places. Like, my son's room right beside the bed - the wall is really grimy because he puts his dirty feet up on the wall. So I paint it every year - only takes 5 minutes to do a small patch with a big brush. Over time it probably is a slightly different color than the rest of the room, but since it's light colored, there's really not that much fading.

You don't do the white look with darker furniture and rugs.