Dreamy White Inspiration at the Country Living Fair

"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." -- Jeanine Larmoth





If you dream in white and white, you can rest easy at the Country Living Fair in Atlanta.
Here are some of my favorite flashes of white, along with thoughts from the classic book
At Home with White by Jeanine Larmoth.

One of the delights of the Country Living Fair is interacting with people who have been featured in Country Living Magazine. Many vendors displayed pages from the magazine, like the lovely white spread above. And speaking of spreads, check out the crisp white linens below.

"White is capable of endless subtleties; ever fresh, ever responsive, it is the only color that can fill a whole house with beauty without becoming irritating, strident or tiresome." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"It also unifies as no other color can, smoothing rough corners, slipping past small faults, encircling disparate objects in a single, very personal composition." -- Jeanine Larmoth 

"From antiquity, white has expressed a society's loftiest aspirations, the need for dignity and the yearning to breathe, if only for a moment, a higher air." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"At the same time, whether aloof or intimate, the poetry of white helps each of us give expression to our most private voice." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"In decorating, white is capable of creating almost any style or mood. It can be traditional, modern, rustic or romantic, depending on the shades used, the shapes chosen, the textures combined." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"It may be the most ethereal of hues, but it is neither reticent nor shy. White is positive, assertive and highly visible." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"When we decorate a house, a room, or a garden with white and its extended circle of neutrals, we focus not on the bold or the obvious but on nuances, differences in tone, gentle gradations, subtleties of shade, and quieter harmonies." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"We savor contrasts of shape and silhouette, light and shadow, surface variations that are barely discernible, allusions that would be lost in another color." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"White is an invitation for us to extend our imagination, to reconsider outworn rules, to capture the delicate, to perpetuate the illusive, to step into privacy and calm, a world of our own invention." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"Though the house glows with the windswept freshness of white, and an atmosphere like a dream, there is nothing dreamlike about it. White is the easiest color to live with ... ." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"The fortunate bride has in her trousseau fine old pieces -- some, perhaps, showing the handiwork of a grandmother or aunt: cambric handkerchiefs, linen sheets, crochet-edged pillowcases and tea towels, lace tablecloths and doilies, knitted shawls. If the use for which they were originally created has gone out of fashion, there are a thousand new purposes to be invented for them." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"The expressiveness of white speaks of the soothing and the flawless, of the otherworldly and of worldly perfection." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"White creatures and objects alike seem caught, like angels, in their radiance, between heaven and earth; real, but not entirely so." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"The American poet Emily Dickinson drew attention all her life for wearing only pristine white dresses, whose spareness matched her verse." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"White has an endless capacity for changing the mood and style of a setting." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"White lets me expand what my mind can do, see how I can arrange, do things differently -- what I would do with that piece at Christmas, what I would do with it in summer." -- Mary Baltz, as quoted in At Home with White

"Almost more than anywhere else, the rooms where we lead the most intimate side of our lives should be a kingdom of white." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"One of the many qualities of white is its ability to change from surface to surface." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"A sweet dream's worth of baby pillows tied up in ribbons and scented with flowers is an extravagant means to turn a bed into a private kingdom." -- Jeanine Larmoth

If you love dreamy whites, you will be interested in the Little Lovely pictured below that I picked up for one of you at the Country Living Fair.




If you follow A Little Loveliness on Facebook or through a link on my sidebar, leave a comment below for your opportunity to win this beautiful bracelet I picked up from Country Living Fair vendor bel monili by l. marlane. (Due to shipping costs, this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.)



There is more inspiration to come from the 2012 Country Living Fair in Atlanta, so stop in again soon!