Sunday, February 6, 2011

Classic colors: Blue-and-white furniture always trendy

Classic colors: Blue-and-white furniture always trendyPractically the definition of "classic," the blue-and-white color scheme never really goes out of style. The spotlight just drifts from time to time while other more trendy looks get attention. It's center stage again, and as vivid and crisp as ever.

Designer Barclay Butera used the color combo all over his main showroom during the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point last fall. Like a cool breeze, the pieces will be in showrooms just in time to freshen your home for summer. His Barclay Butera Home and Barclay Butera Lifestyle collections feature fabrics he designed for Kravet, such as a bold cobalt-and-white stripe on the sofa and the oversized check pattern on the chaise.


"Quintessential blue and white is my all-time go-to for a fresh, crisp, clean interior. This color palette is so versatile that I can use it in any project. Of course, beach is a classic, but it also translates beautifully in a rugged mountain environment or a serene desert retreat," Butera said.

To add to the symmetry, he created a paint line with Benjamin Moore that coordinates with his Kravet fabrics. The paints will also be available this spring.

Somerset Bay, which uses the tag line "The Colors of a Life Well-Lived," featured several blue-and-white pieces. The Pamplico half-round cabinet was painted vanilla bean with a deep blueberry interior visible through the curved glass door. The same color combo was used on the Topsail Decorated Chest. Featuring a japanning finishing technique, the bow-front is illustrated with hand-painted scenes in blue against a vanilla background. It's a look reminiscent of Worcester blue-and-white porcelain from mid-1700s England or the ever-popular blue-and-white Delftware from the Netherlands dating back to the 16th century.

But this pairing goes back even further, to the Middle East and China. Ming Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain is a coveted collector's item, as is the blue-and-white pottery made for export from China.

Century Furniture tapped into that Far East motif by upholstering the Pagoda Pizzazz love seat in blue pagodas against an antique white. The back is shaped to echo the silhouette of the pagoda. Century also showed a deep-indigo velvet to cover its button-tufted, rolled-arm two-cushion sofa for the Signature Collection.

Palecek was showing a lot of blue and white on wicker and rattan sofas, chairs and pillows as well as decorative accessories. The pillows, which can be used inside or out, sport sea-horse, crab or sea-turtle motifs in white against a navy background with white piping.

Miles Talbott and the Joe Ruggiero "House of Blues" fabric collection for Sunbrella was all about the darkest blue and the brightest white. Ruggiero explained that his travels influence his design and color ideas.

"We have been working on this coloration and this year hit the right formula," he said. So look for those classic navy, indigo and cobalt blues to be popping against all shades of white this season.


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