Victoria: At Home with White: Celebrating the Intimate Home

White is the color of angels and brides, moonlight and lily of the valley. It is capable of endless subtleties; fragile or strong, it can be transparent as ice, opaque as marble, in love with light as a diamond.
Now the secrets of using this most challenging color is explored and shared by the editors of Victoria magazine in At Home with White. More than 150 beautiful photographs feature the many decorating styles created or enhanced by the color of white - richly traditional, clean-lined contemporary, rustic country, breezy tropical, lushly romantic. Victoria takes us on an informative tour of the exquisite fabrics that bring these styles to life, from hardworking cottons to sophisticated linens to precious laces. We are invited into the wonderful, magical world of summer, a season that seems as if it were created expressly for white, and into the private places in our homes made intimate and fresh with white - bedroom, bathroom, dressing room. The white gardens, porches, and terraces that serve as refuges in our lives are explored, as is the long-standing friendship between white and blue. Throughout the book are profiles of homeowners who have spun some magic of their own with this most intriguing color.

A Color of Many Moods

It may be the most ethereal of hues, but it is neither reticent nor shy. White is positive, assertive, and highly visible. Over the centuries, its power has been understood and exploited. Ever sage, Queen Elizabeth I, when visiting her courtiers, stepped from boat or coach clothed in radiant, silver-threaded white so she would stand apart from her attendants and the welcoming throng.

A Palette of Seashells

A house near the sea carries its own special obligations. The interior must reflect the light from the expansive sky, the fleeting clouds that forecast the day's occupations, and the distant roar of the ocean that is a constant reminder of the shore with its glistening, tufted grasses, undulating sand, and thousands of tinted seashells scattered there.

The open living room of Susan Becher's house on Long Island is made to seem more open still by white moldings and floors, and by the subtle shade of vanilla paint on the walls. Easy-going blue and white striped slipcovers, a dash of white lace on chair backs and tables, and a hardy sisal rug make the room a year-round ode to summer.

Copyright 1996 The Hearst Corporation