The White Approach: Life in the White House

Are you a fan of the colour white? It’s fresh, clean, versatile and contemporary and can look stunning when used in interior design schemes.

Karen Jones, from The White Approach, is devoted to white and has made working and living with white look like an utter breeze. In this special guest post, she invites you to take a peek into her beautiful white home and discover her approach to using and decorating with white.

Here’s what Karen has to say:

My name is Karen, I’m very lucky to be married to a very talented DIY fanatic.  Together when time and funds allow, we are transforming our run down 1930s art deco house in Devon into a beautiful white home.  We have 3 sons, including twins, so life is very busy.   I have been blogging on and off for about 6 years.  I write about interiors, lifestyle, home wares, DIY and all things white.

Every home I have owned has always been decorated in white.  One friend once remarked my home was like God’s waiting room as it was so white and bright.   I find white restful and calming.  After a hard day at work I love nothing more than walking into my home and the feeling of peace it gives me.

Mind you it wasn’t always like that, do pop over to my House Renovation page and have a look at how our house looked when we first moved into it ten years ago with 6 month old twins and a very unhappy ten year old.

We recently realised a long time dream of removing the wall between our kitchen and dumping ground of a dining room.

The result is a large, light bright space that we now can all use.  We are back to eating as a family around the table.  We have a large comfy sofa in the corner where we can sit and chat and the twins can do their homework at the table.  It’s probably my favourite room in the house now.

Our home style is a combination of new and reloved.  I love to find and renovate old pieces of furniture.  The large white French style cupboard in the kitchen was once an unloved old wardrobe we picked up for just £30 and gave a makeover.

We regularly go to our local bootsale bargain hunting.  Our house is filled with treasure we have found.  It’s a very cost effective way of decorating your home on a budget and creating an individual style.

When we moved into our home the carpets were absolutely filthy, there was nothing for it but to rip them up and make the best of the original wooden floors.  We decided to paint the stairs – they have been several colours over the years including pink, which received many comments from visitors, but are back to white at the moment.

The beauty of painted floors and stairs is you can paint them as often as you want, they are very easy to keep clean and its no a major disaster if something gets spilt on them, unlike carpets.

The living room is the only room in the house where we were able to retain the original fireplace.  It is classically art deco in style and just needed a lick of paint to brighten it up.  It’s the focal point of the room and we are hoping at some point in the future to be able to put either a wood burner in the space or re-open the original fireplace.

When we moved into this house we had no wardrobes as our previous home had them all built in.

My hubby set to work building us some and a cupboard ,as storage in an art deco home is at a premium (no attic space).  I remember those days so well with toddler twins desperate to “help” daddy.  It was a challenge to say the least.

One of the priorities in a house with five people (especially with four men) was the bathrooms!  Again the skill and patience of my husband was amazing when he transformed our tiny upstairs family bathroom and airing cupboard into a lovely bright new bathroom.

Get more inspiration for decorating your home in white from Karen at The White Approach – http://www.thewhiteapproachlifestyle.co.uk/