AMERICAN COUNTRY HOME DECOR

Blue and White Living

Fresh and crisp with a classic appeal, the combination of blue and white is the world's most popular decorating scheme. From Chinese tiles to French fabrics, from the deep blues and bright whites of Greece to the pastels of Wedgwood china, these colors can be found around the globe, used in the most beautiful ways. With Blue & White Living, you can bring those same styles into your own home, whether you are decorating a grand mansion or a country cottage, reupholstering a sofa, or simply draping a quilt on a bed.

Stephanie Hoppen, owner of a decorative antiques gallery in London, is the ideal guide to blue and white's exciting possibilities. In Blue & White Living, Hoppen highlights the major rooms of the house--bedrooms, dining areas, living rooms, and bathrooms--in addition to devoting chapters to collectibles, fabrics, pictures, and exteriors. With careful attention to each room, she showcases the colors in all their decorative forms, including curtains, carpets, paint, pillows, crystal, porcelain, upholstery, and more. And since the book features hundreds of full-color photographs, it will immediately inspire, educate, and demonstrate why the combination of blue and white is both fresh and versatile.

Blue & White Living is a must for collectors and decorators who are interested in creating unlimited variations on a timeless theme.

Stephanie Hoppen owns The Stephanie Hoppen Gallery in London, where she is an expert dealer in decorative antiques, books, and maps. She works as an independent consultant to both private and corporate clients and is developing the merchandising of her picture archive. The author of Decorating with Pictures (Potter, 1991), she resides in London.

With the practical inspiration of Stephanie Hoppen's decorating expertise and Fritz von der Schulenburg's vivid photographs, the classic look of blue and white finds hundreds of exciting new interpretations.

Blue and white is the simplest color combination to decorate with, because most shades of blue look good with other shades of blue and because so many world cultures have produced art and home furnishings in those colors. Therefore, its subtleties are often overlooked. Stephanie Hoppen takes us on a blue-and-white tour of the world: the turquoise tiles of Turkey, the soft milky blues of Sweden, the marine blues of the Caribbean, the crisp dark blue of Chinese pottery, all set off by clean white paint, linens, and porcelain. China, glass, fabric, and tile are all featured in chapters on dining, sleeping, and bathing in blue and white, with close to 200 lovely photographs by Fritz von der Schulenberg making it all look at once peaceful and lively. There's an accessibility to the beauty of blue and white; Hoppen shows that mixing and matching shades and styles is practical and fun. As she says, "We may not live in castles, palaces, or idyllic country retreats, but we can all enjoy the beauty of blue and white living."

My furniture is a mishmash of new purchases, Craigslist, antique and thrift store finds, and one fancy writing desk handed down from my grandmother. You can see that in the right side of the photo above. The walls look dark blue in the daylight. At night they turn more eggplant. The sofa was chosen first for it’s size (it was the only one that would fit through the tiny hallway) and second for it’s clean lines. The chair was purchased at Dayton’s warehouse (remember them?) years ago and has worn like iron and embraces you like an old friend. There are also five pieces of Ikea in the room which I worry is too much.

In the Sag Harbor, Long Island home of Bob Weinstein and Eric Hensley, the chandelier and fireplace are original to the house, the oldest part of which dates to 1750. The Gigi chairs and 85-inch Burke sofa (on which sits the couple's dog, Spencer) are from Room & Board, the Italian cocktail table was purchased at a flea market, and the Belgian sisal rug, in cocoa, is from In Home, a Sag Harbor shop.

Interior design by Peter Frank. Photo by William Abranowicz, Elle Decor, July 2008.