Color Combinations - Blue and White

This is the first in a series about colors and color combinations.  I LOVE blue and white together and judging from all the decorating magazines I get (and I think I get them all), it continues to be a perennial favorite for many people.  I have this combination throughout my home (reinforced by lots of blue and white Delftware and other porcelain pieces).

Blue and White Vintage Chair 

I just picked up a Colefax and Fowler (all things English)  "coffee-table" book illustrating the work of one of their premier designers of the 90's - Roger Banks-Pye.  He LOVES this color combination "happily admits to a passion bordering on fanaticism" and features it throughout the book which became the inspiration for this series.

Banks-Pye offers these cautions about the use of blue and white (after saying they fit any decor and any room and any period):

• dull northern light (exposure) will dull many blues - may need a red-blue
• blue dyes are unstable and will fade quicker than others when placed in direct sunlight

Blue Floral 

He does suggest adding blacks in small doses when using very pale blues.  He also believes you can just keep adding different shades of blue almost forever "there is a danger of disastrous clashes only when just two conflicting blues are used in juxtaposition" - in other words, the more the merrier!

Multiple Shades of Blue

Blue and blue and white pieces are and have always been my best sellers!  All chairs illustrated are sold.

Blue and White Slipper Chair