A breath of fresh air

Decorating with Blue and White by Gail Abbott. Photo / Supplied

Of all the combinations of colour, blue and white seems to be the most perennial, a favourite throughout the ages for craftsmen, artists, and decorators alike. The two together always remind us of nature at its most beautiful-or at its most dramatic. From the tranquil cerulean of a tropical sea lapping a beach of white sand to an exhilarating bank of white-tipped clouds highlighted against a storm-laden sky, blue and white always lifts the spirits.

Nature in all its forms uses blue and white with a far-reaching liberality. Think of the brilliance in the heart of a sapphire, a shimmering haze of bluebells in spring, or the glowing petals of an iris.

Because of its strong links with nature, blue is a universal colour, surely loved in one of its forms by everyone; white reminds us of purity and innocence and contains all other colours within it, and both have a seemingly infinite range of tones and hues. If pure blue veers toward the greens that lie next to it in the spectrum, it becomes aquamarine, cerulean, and turquoise - cool, clear watery hues that have associations with lakes, oceans, and rivers. When tinged with purple, blue assumes the warmth seen in royal blue, indigo, and navy - colours that make us feel confident and safe.

When it's mixed with white to create a range of gentle pastel shades, blue becomes pale and airy, with tints that convey a feeling of relaxed space and the far-distant horizons. If tinged with black, it assumes a more substantial air, redolent of grey clouds and overcast skies.

And white is not just white. It can be as fresh and brilliant as a field of snow reflecting the blue sky, as creamy as a bowl of milk, or as softly grey as the feathers on a dove's breast.

Decorating with blue and white can mean starting from scratch and transforming a whole room using wallpaper to achieve a new look; or it might mean painting the outside of an old display cabinet with white, and then giving it a surprising interior of pure blue. It could be as simple as piling a clutch of mismatched cushions and pillows on the sofa for instant effect, finding a new set of blue and white china for tea in the garden, or re-covering a favourite armchair in blue and white gingham. A love of this combination might persuade you to search for vintage enamelled storage jars in your local junk store, or to start a collection of antique, patterned plates. Once you get started, there's no knowing where it might lead you.

* Extract from Decorating with Blue and White by Gail Abbott. Photography by Mark Smith. Designed and published by Cico Books. $59.99.