The White Minimalist Style

The basic principle of Minimalism is to decorate with as little as possible to accentuate the beauty of what is there. Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe adopted the motto “Less is more” to describe his minimalist approach. The furnishings and few carefully chosen accessories take on more importance as there is little else to attract the eye, and become striking in their simplicity. The simple environment is emphasised by the use of white walls, and the impact of textures and colours is heightened. Patterned cushions, colourful curtains and textured rugs contrast with a white backdrop as a lone bare tree would stand out in an otherwise white snow covered field. Matching white walls with white painted floors or a large white rug can give the minimalist style even more impact.

White Interior Style

The White Contemporary Style

Think contemporary style, and images of elegance and sophistication immediately spring to mind. The Bauhaus School of Design, combining crafts and fine arts stands as one of the most influential currents in Modernist architecture and contemporary design. Pristine white walls work extremely well with the simple angles and planes of contemporary design. The style is not as sparse as minimalism, but again splashes of bold colour and texture are used in accessories for dramatic emphasis. Pay attention to the grouping of furniture and wall art; horizontal lines work extremely well in this design style and the white landscape can be nicely offset with upward reaching accessories.

Rhode Island Dresser Base

New Hampshire Desk

Our white Rhode Island Dresser Base is used in the dining area for additional storage. The white sideboard looks great against against the darker walls with the artwork above.  The choice of dining table cleverly blends the shades of light and dark together, and the white upholstered chairs add a softness to the room. The white sideboard is home to a simple white table lamp, and we love Gregory’s white painted birdcage.

Our white New Hampshire Desk, combined with the white upholstered chair gives the office area a very relaxed, informal feel. The white furnishings against the earthy colours on the wall and stylish choice of floorings give this room a real wow factor.

New England Bedroom

Newport Coffee Table

The use of the darker colours on the walls with our New England Flag, and neutral coloured rug give Gregory’s son’s bedroom a masculine edge. By choosing the New England Bed, Gregory has ensured that the room can easily be adapted to his son’s changing tastes as he grows up.

The large rug with the white cabin bed and our white Newport Coffee Table creates a very cosy area in which to relax and unwind, and usefully doubles up as space for guests to sleep when they come to stay.

Manhattan Headboard

The Master Bedroom is a stylish combination of white furniture and warm earthy tones added through the wall colours and soft furnishings. We love the french doors leading our onto the balcony with the clean white balustrades. The Manhattan White Headboard adds elements of New England Style, accentuated by the classic bedding.

We would all like to send our thanks to Gregory for sharing the images of his beautiful house with us, we have very much enjoyed looking through them.

If you have any images of New England Lifestyle furniture in your home, we would love to see them and maybe even feature them on our website! Just send them to us at orders@newenglandlifestyle.com

West Wittering Beach

Originally uploaded by New England Lifestyle

Holidays by the sea conjure up images of idylic living, fresh and clean sunlight interiors. Think white wooden floorboards, fresh painted walls and clean bright furnishings.

For the bedroom, our Manhattan Range of white painted bedroom furniture immediately makes me think of being by the seaside in the summer. The tongue and groove detailing, clean lines, and fresh white finish reminds me of a holiday time, of fun times spent splashing around in the sea under the warm sun.

For the seating area or conservatory, the Hampton Coffee Table with its planked top is a must, combined with a couple of comfortable white seats in which to just relax and enjoy the ambiance.

Whether the walls are simply painted in fresh white, or cladded with white painted tongue and groove panels, our wall flag can make it seem as though you are on the other side of the world.

I have been involved in property development for 29 years, and have always found that creating a light, bright and clutter free environment helps to sell both houses and apartments very quickly.

White creates space. By keeping the wall colours as neutral as possible (my preference is always white) your home will appear larger than it actually is. Always de-clutter and de-personalise your home, minimise things like tableware, allowing your buyer’s to envisage themselves living in the property. Adding white furniture will add elegance to your house, and could be used to safely store your personal possessions. Our Large White Dresser is the perfect solution for a kitchen, living or dining room; it provides a vast amount of storage, but with a depth of only 42cm it will not encroach into your room. For the bedroom, think about combining the contents of tired old furniture into one, with our Large White Wardrobe. Cleverly constructed in four parts, our most versatile wardrobe is delivered with both shelves and hanging rails to be set up in a way to suit you, and has three additional drawers to ensure maximum storage. With tongue and groove detail, this wardrobe will bring bright, seaside style to any room.

And remember – any furniture you may use to sell your old property can form the starting point to create a clean, bright, calm environment in your new home.

It emerged they had recently purchased a 3 bedroom penthouse apartment overlooking the sea in West Sussex. The Interior Design was very nearly complete; the only element they were stuck on was the flooring. So when they asked for my assistance, how could I refuse?!!

Their apartment is fairly contemporary in design, and it was important to ensure the flooring complimented the scheme.

I suggested that they bought the timber locally from Covers Timber & Builders Merchants. After much discussion, we settled on 14cm wide tongue and grooved flooring. I asked the salesman at Covers whether it would be possible to bevel the edge of each plank, to give a little groove. He informed me that they had a sawmill as part of their timber operation, which meant it wasn’t a problem which was great news! When the flooring was laid, the grooves ensured that the planks did not just appear pushed together, but had a slightly contemporary feel.

For white painted floors, the very best floor paint to use  is Bradite two part PC76 & TP33. This is a two part paint which dries white, and stays white. There is no oil in this paint – if you were to use an oil based paint, after a time the oil will come to the surface and change the appearance of the paint to a slightly creamy colour, as you may have noticed if you have used brilliant white gloss on the woodwork in your house.

The finished results look absolutely fantastic. The flooring was laid in both the hallway and sitting room, and the spacious rooms look even larger than they already are. The rooms are bright, crisp and timeless.

Storage problem solved

“I have a two bedroom flat and started working from home recently. I wanted to keep a spare bedroom but needed it to double up as an office. I found a computer cabinet from New England Lifestyle that has solved all my problems. Not only does it house my ugly computer and printer but it looks great as a piece of furniture when I close the doors. You would never know that I’d been using the room as an office and I’ve still retained a lovely spare bedroom.

I love the look of the cabinet with its brilliant white satin finish and tongue and groove detail. So much so, I’ve now created a New England style room by buying the Manhattan Headboard and Manhattan bedsides tables. My spare room is now a relaxing bedroom but also a calming place to work”.

Entertaining in style

“We recently decorated our dining room and put tongue and grove on the walls which we’ve painted white. We were lucky enough to discover we had original oak floor boards so decided we’d like an oak dining room table. We love entertaining and wanted the flexibility of how many we could seat at any one time. The obvious solution was an extending table but we couldn’t find one that we liked anywhere until I discovered the New England Lifestyle dining range. Your new extending Westhope Dining Table with matching chairs is perfect!  Its simple design makes it easy for us to add one or two leaves when we have large numbers for dinner and the light oak looks great with the floor boards and white tongue and grove walls.

The New England Style is definitely one I’d recommend. It is so easy to recreate – white walls and wooden flooring – it couldn’t be simpler. We’ve now added a white dresser from New England Lifestyle which completes the look beautifully”.

Transformation New England Style

“We moved house last year and had the luxury of redecorating before we moved in. There wasn’t a huge amount to do but the house felt quite dark and uninviting. On your recommendation, we painted everything white – the walls, the doors, even the red brick fireplace and what a difference it made. After a visit to your showroom in Sussex we completely furnished the whole house with New England Lifestyle furniture and the transformation was amazing. We didn’t even change the carpet, but by just painting everything white and adding New England style furniture has made a huge difference.

The house now feels light and peaceful and even on a rainy winters day it feels bright, fresh and clean.  We cannot thank you enough for your inspired design ideas and your New England furniture”.

When designing your home, think seriously about using white – it liberates you from any fashion colour trends and makes your house feel like an eternal holiday home.

Speaking of which, why not make your home more stylish by choosing one of our newly designed products that are featured in our latest brochure and make your home a New England stylish and peaceful environment?

You can do this by simply choosing one of our exclusively designed pieces of white wooden furniture, or how about one of our new mirrors to help reflect light and beauty and brighten up any room. We have three new mirrors to add to our product range:-

• New England Portrait Mirror, is a white portrait mirror with beading detail
• New England Landscape Mirror, a white landscape mirror with beading detail
• New England Mirror, a white portrait mirror with curved top and beading detail.