I’m now agonizing over white paint colors for our kitchen at the new place. I will be sampling Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace and White Dove because they typically play nice. White Dove has served us well in the past, but I need to see if it reads too warm as sunlight streams in. Chantilly Lace is a brighter white that works well for modern interiors, and that brings us to Erin Fetherston’s West Hollywood home. We have swooned over glimpses of it before, and these white interiors in fashion designer Erin Fetherston’s charming 1923 house feel ethereal. A Designer’s Midcentury Modern Living Room Painted Chantilly Lace points us to a white on white scheme that is certainly not for everyone. You’ll also score ideas to shop the look.
Photography: Joe Schmelzer and Alex Reid/One King’s Lane
Midcentury Modern Living Room Painted Chantilly Lace
Even though Erin’s home was refreshed with more color recently, we’ll tour an earlier version and discover furnishings and home decor she chose from One King’s Lane.
California Modern Country Living Room
Located in West Hollywood’s gorgeous Sunset Park neighborhood (sometimes described as a neighborhood within a neighborhood), we’ll tour this pretty home’s neutral living room.
The interiors here are a mix of Mid-Century Modern, Modern Country, California organic, and ethereal Erin style.
Fetherston partnered with designer Alex Reid of One King’s Lane The Studio, and they call the look “California farmhouse” with lots of organic.
Erin told OKL, “I wanted every purchase to feel fresh, from the plates to the sofa to the glasses…I really asked, Does this fit into the home? Does it have that neutral, subtle, earthy California elegance? Is it easy and family-friendly? Will I worry about it?”
Midcentury With Organic & Modern Rustic Style
Erin Fetherston was careful to avoid going totally midcentury with the design and instead opted for a fusion with fresh and organic textures that help the place feel very NOW.
There are some decidedly retro moments such as the 1970’s Karl Springer table, but Fetherston and Reid have added contemporary photography for balance.
What is the White Paint Color?
Also, most of the furnishings are by Erin Fetherston x Fragments Identity.
White on White Decor Scheme
When this living room was designed, Fetherston was expecting their first child, so it would be interesting to know whether the all white scheme created new challenges with the young family!
In my own home, living with white was never a problem even with messy chapters of childhood. You simply see the mess immediately and attend to it rather than allow it to become worse!
Living with white doesn’t mean you stop entertaining or treat your interiors like a museum; life and mud do happen.
You simply don’t ignore it.
I like the designer’s philosophy about not being overly concerned about living with white: “Blankets are always in arm’s reach and can be thrown down as a cover in a pinch.”
Symmetry in a Fresh Organic Living Room With White
Notice all the symmetry in this room (below)?
As if the color palette and cloud-like textures weren’t enough, symmetry calms the senses further.
Modern Rustic Bar Cart Vignette
Is it a bar cart? Small console? Accent table which could double as a bedside table?
I love investing in such pieces that can live many lives over the years in multiple rooms.
More Chic White Organic Interiors to Inspire
Even though this story is about the living room, I can’t help myself and must also reference the inviting breakfast nook!
The Marcel Breuer chairs placed with the Saarinen table (below) have a special place in my heart since they were the first kitchen chairs purchased for my first apartment at age 18.
Those chairs were super comfortable! I love how they work with the organic and dramatic rattan pendant. My own breakfast nook needs to be cozied up big time. Because of the angular bay (I guess it’s a turret – it is three levels of those angles!), it doesn’t feel inviting to me at all.
But this does! What do you think about the way vintage and modern are mixed in this space?
All White & Neutrals: Get the Look
Speaking of white linen…did you know that a small business I have regularly lifted up over the years (they create linen decor and clothing) blew up in popularity when Meghan Markle wore one of their dresses I frequently spotlighted??
Yep! Magic Linen’s Toscana dress:
Shop the Look
The Living Room Evolved!
See the living room with its new look (“modern organic”) here:
Modern Farmhouse Decor & White on White
For more modern country decor inspiration, visit this and this.
If bold color is more your jam, don’t miss THIS!!!
Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
Shop for items you already intended to buy on Amazon RIGHT HERE, and also find home decor here to keep decor inspiration flowing on Hello Lovely!
Hello Lovely is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
We have white sofas that survived a child. Not because we’re neatnicks but because it’s one of those French things–all food was consumed at the dining table or breakfast bar only. No eating on the sofa. Sure, if people came over, we would serve snacks and aperitifs in the living room. But it has been a good rule for avoiding couch-potato snacking, with a side effect of no spills on the sofas.
That said, our sofas have slipcovers for easy cleaning. Maybe Erin had hers super-scotch-guarded.
Author
Same here! We have been living with white forever so the family knew nothing different! I ran a tight ship about food staying in the kitchen as well, and the rule always made sense to me. No shoes either except when entertaining, and this has helped minimize the germs in our home (for many years, with my Crohn’s disease, my immune system was compromised). Thanks for reading, friend. 🙂
We had very light sofas in our LR when our boys were small. Eating in the LR wasn’t allowed either. We still have the same couches (more than 25 years old!) and they still look lovely. I do have them slipcovered now because we have 3 dogs that are a little less easy to ‘control’ than our human babies. 😉
We too are a shoes off household too which helps immensely with the light carpeting and honestly the entire home throughout. People think white (or very light) is hard to keep clean. I say “if you see the dirt, you clean the dirt”. 😉
I truly loved seeing this post of such gorgeous rooms! White reigns supreme!
Author
Preach! Thanks for adding to the beauty here, Connie. 🙂
Such a clever mix isn’t it? So calm, at first you don’t see how much is going on, the beautiful architectural details; fireplace, ceiling, french doors! Touches of gold, a little chrome, rustic wood, rattan, gorgeous layered floor rugs, little bit modern little bit vintage (with my circa 1983 21st birthday dining chairs thrown in for good measure LOL!) lovely.
Author
Beautiful summary of why it works without being overdone, Debbie. Thank you. Peace to you, friend. 🙂
I couldn’t have described it better. After scrolling through the images several times, studying all that makes this room with it’s modern furniture seem like it has history, I came to the same conclusion. The mix of modern furniture with the architectural details of the room make it feel more livable, less sterile. I’d like to transport those furnishings into my not so modern room. Wouldn’t that be a dream?
Author
Yes! All the texture keeps it from coldness. For some reason, I want to touch the fabrics of all these pieces Erin picked for this living room. The nubby mudcloth pillows, white linen, and silky sheepskin. She has layered rugs in the room too, yet the white keeps everything feeling calm and not busy. 🙂
By any chance would you know where the wood console table is from?
Author
Hi. It would have come from OKL here: https://bit.ly/2LzZ4mG. Hope this helps.
Where can we find these amazing white chairs that are in the very first picture of the living area?
Author
They were white linen and offered by One King’s Lane but aren’t currently there. This one is similar in style: https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=65867&u=1324239&m=11035&urllink=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewayfair%2Ecom%2Ffurniture%2Fpdp%2Fmercury%2Drow%2Dmaldanado%2Dclub%2Dchair%2Dw000265482%2Ehtml&afftrack=
Do you know where the what the white sofa is? I love the lines of it and haven’t been able to track it down!
Author
Hi! As I recall, the name of this sofa is Cara, and it was white linen with a wood base from this store: https://rstyle.me/+LPq8GgVnUHPBN_8teYiVoQ. They stopped offering it soon after the shoot at Erin Fetherston’s home was done. I also recall the president of one king’s lane using this sofa (in rose linen) in her own family’s home. I found a beautiful slipcovered white sofa without the wood platform here: https://rstyle.me/+nZhmCGXs575jf1S4EQ-PIg and I’ll stay on the lookout for the Cara sofa!
Thanks! I did a bit of digging and it looks like it was made by Brownstone Upholstery, but sadly it doesn’t look like they’re doing sofas anymore. Too bad, it’s so lovely and as an investment piece I feel like it would be well worth it.
Author
You bet. Thanks for sharing that with us–a lot of folks have been interested in that sofa, and it’s hard to believe there are not many options for that airy style wood base!
Author
Have you seen Pottery Barn’s Tallulah sofa? https://rstyle.me/+JYuzsnvcgiGaaaN6X_J6Fg
Michelle, I was recently at BM store and began chatting about whites with the clerk. I adore white dove, it’s a perfect beautiful neutral – but just a bit too dingy looking for my house. He suggested cutting it to 50%! Light bulb moment! I’ve cut colors before, but never thought of cutting a classic white in half! I want to repaint all my walls! I’m excited to see what you will do with your beautiful home!!
Author
Ooooooh -I love this tip and have also not tried it with whites. Instead, when I find myself torn between two whites, I have combined them for a custom, new, completely original color. Many thanks for your brilliance this morning as the white stuff is falling and accumulating on the ground! White now is everywhere! Thanks for the encouragement about the new place – I hope I can do it justice. 🙂