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Worldly white

In able hands, its many shades are far from safe or stark.

ln the 1920s, Syrie Maugham decorated a house for herself and her husband, the novelist Somerset Maugham, on King's Road in the Chelsea section of London. The house and its enormous drawing room, done entirely in shades of white, caused quite a stir in the upscale design circles of the day. While other designers like architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and decorator Elsie de Wolfe were partial to white, it was Syrie Maugham's dramatic, groundbreaking drawing room that set the white standard and put its creator on the map as one of the most important decorators of the time.

The room featured sofas slipcovered in white satin, a white geometric carpet, white wooden tables, white velvet lampshades, and Maugham's trademark white flowers. Her bold design not only made Maugham famous, it served as the inspiration for all the other white rooms to follow.

Today, white on white is a decorating classic. While amateurs may turn to white because it is "safe," the ablest of designers - Vicente Wolfe is a notable example - use white to challenge staid concepts, pushing interior design to new heights of style and sophistication.

Astrid Vigeland, a Maine-based designer and photo stylist, finds a white palette soothing, simple, and very relaxing. Vigeland is Scandinavian by birth, which, she says, may contribute to her passion for white. "I equate Scandinavian with clean, sleek, simple, and sensible design, and the majority of the days in Norway are spent under snow," she says.

In fact, Vigeland says she has always lived in a white house and she always drives a white car, but, she adds, "I usually dress completely in black; I am rarely in color."

In the 1970s, Vigeland worked at Design Research in Cambridge, a retail furniture and home accessories store that, she says, was on the cutting edge of the clean, simple aesthetic that was then just beginning to emerge in design. Since then, she's worked wsContinued on Page 84 in New York as a design consultant and stylist. Now that she's settled in Maine, she recently expanded her work to interior design.

Vigeland lives in Yarmouth, where she rents the back half of a 120-year-old Victorian house. Her favorite room is the living room, which she says is "the coziest spot in the house." Indeed, her use of white, there and elsewhere in the five-room apartment, dispels the myths of white as a cool, stark, look-but-don't-touch color. While the room is painted white (she used a combination of Benjamin Moore's White Dove and Decorator's White throughout the house) and all the furniture is white, the upholstered pieces are slipcovered in washable cotton duck that she bought for $5 a yard. "The covers go into the washing machine all the time," says Vigeland.

Accents, like the numerous black-and-white photographs by Rockwell Kent, are subtle and soothing. So, too, are the pieces of white and brown transfer ware, the white lamps, the sisal rugs, the white candles, and the plentiful pillows covered in linen, all of which, says Vigeland, stir things up, albeit with a gentle hand.

The kitchen is charming, kept clean, light, and simple with white. The floor is painted with Showroom White, an oil-based paint by Benjamin Moore. Accessories - antique table linens that she inherited from her grandmother, ironstone, tulips - are also white, but they add texture and shape that give the room life. A collection of enamelware pitchers in a variety of shapes and sizes look almost sculptural arranged decoratively on wooden shelves. The theme is carried over to Vigeland's mismatched china, an interesting assortment of various patterns that works as a matched set because of its unifying white color.

"I collect these as I go along," says Vigeland. "If I see a piece that has a flaw and imperfections, it makes it more interesting, and some of the pieces only cost a dollar," she says.

"I feel that white complements many environments," says Vigeland, who adds, "If I had to live in color I feel that I might go off the wall."

Still, she values color. "I bring in color with pillow changes, and right now, I have a red sap bucket for an accent in my living room," she says. Indeed, using color sparingly can enhance its impact on a setting.

Take Vigeland's bedroom, for example. It is the antique wooden bed, done in white linens and finished with a white matelasse coverlet, that is the focal point. Window treatments are simple floor-to-ceiling muslin draperies with a pattern of white flowers. Against this backdrop, Vigeland has added a striking antique chaise. "I loved the elegant lines, the old wood, and the tight cane," says Vigeland of the piece, which she spotted in a Boston antiques store two years ago. "I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I knew that I had to have it." The chaise now sits regally opposite her bed. "The effect is sophisticated and dramatic," she says.

Another disciple of the white-on-white school of decorating is Madeline Gens, owner of Charles River Street Antiques in Boston. "In the '70s and '80s," says Gens, "everyone tended to use stark white. Now a white room is made up of multiple shades of white from taupe and cafe au lait to varieties of cream, which give a softer look, and one that is much more subtle."

And one that is much more versatile.

"Using a variety of shades of white can help soften the contours of antiques," says Gens, "and it also looks great with contemporary furnishings."

Ten years ago, Gens started covering the upholstered pieces in her shop in muslin, so that buyers could take them home and cover them in a fabric of their choice. It came as a surprise to her that many of her customers liked the white look and never gave another thought to covering the chair or ottoman in another fabric. So, Gens started using a better grade muslin or raw Belgium linen to cover her pieces.

White almost universally symbolizes cleansing and renewal, and when it comes to vintage furniture it can work wonders.

"If you take a not very fine antique and paint it white, you wouldn't believe the transformation," says Gens. "I've taken some pieces, a mirror, for instance, that was dreary and morbid and painted it white. All of a sudden, you see all the details, and it is a showpiece."

While Gens is partial to all shades of cream and uses it on the walls, ceilings, and furniture, she often adds a flash of color such as apple green to warm up a room.

"You can use wonderful white fabric such as piques or white-on-white stripes that are subtle, yet give the room a great effect," says Gens. "It is the different textures of white that create the warmth in a room. For interest, I'll often use a mix of textures such as antique French table linens with ironstone and other white decorative objects," Gens says.

In her new book, White on White: Creating Elegant Rooms With Classic Whites (Bulfinch Press, Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 2000, $35), Stephanie Hoppen stresses how important texture is in the monochrome interior. "Without it," Hoppen writes, "you merely have a blank space with no life or vigor. Trying out various textures gives you great scope for adding interest and changing focus."

The owner of a successful art dealership in London and New York, Hoppen has come to appreciate the virtues of white in all its many shades as a backdrop for paintings and photographs. She says she relies on a white background to make her pictures "sing out."

But more than that, Hoppen loves white because it is timeless, classic, and stylish, and because it can unify styles and periods. "It will free you from following decorating trends," she writes, "which is an enormous relief because you can blend ancient and modern together and create a wonderful harmony that invites in light, tranquility, and space."

The examples she offers will persuade even the most colorfully minded to consider white. Hoppen views white an interior for all seasons and demonstrates this principle using a sofa with a white washable slipcover. For spring, she piles it with fresh-looking white pillows; for summer, she leaves it bare; for autumn, she adds a textured throw; and in winter she brings out a thick, warm wool blanket.

The book is full of lovely and inspiring photos that make successful decorating seem simple. White suits the city house just as much as the country house. It can be sophisticated and urbane or rustic and laid-back. According to Hoppen, "You just can't go wrong with it."