Black and White Decorating Ideas

By sara — May 16, 2009

Black and white décor is an affordable way to make your home look sophisticated, elegant and dramatic. You can easily transform any room into this style by repainting old furniture and purchasing a few basic accessories.

Try framing pictures such as black and white photos, with bold black frames. These will provide a great contrast to a stark-white wall. Using other black and white artwork or framing objects is also a great black and white room decorating idea. The point is to have lots of contrast.

black-and-white-dining-room-idea

To keep your black and white rooms from being too boring try using large, interesting accessories with unusual and creative shapes. Large black candle sticks on a bright white table can add to the dramatic effect, and you can find candle sticks in all different shapes and designs. You can also try using a funky contemporary looking black or white lamp, bowl or coffee table.

black-and-white-living-room

A black and white checkerboard tiled floor is classic and never gets boring, but it can be pricey to redo your whole floor. An area rug can have the same effect for a much lower price. Try using contrast here again having either a black table on a white rug or the opposite.

An important principle to keep to when decorating in black and white is to only buy one or two items that are both black AND white. Otherwise, have your pieces be only one color to avoid making the room look too busy. Also, if you ever want to change to another color scheme, you can easily integrate the solid color pieces.

black-and-white-bedroom-decor

If a room that is entirely black and white seems too much for you, try using an accent color. Kelly green and yellow can be great accent colors, but the best is to stick to what you like. Remember, only to use a little bit of this color, like in a photo on the wall, a pillow case or a few small accessories.

Black and white decorating ideas aren’t too hard to come up with and they make your room look elegant almost instantly. This is why I personally love them!

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(10) Readers Comments

  1. April 4, 2012 at 8:13 am

    Hiya very cool blog!! Guy .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I'll bookmark your web site and take the feeds also?I am glad to seek out so many helpful info here within the publish, we'd like develop extra techniques on this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .

  2. Rena
    Reply →
    November 15, 2011 at 11:24 pm

    I'm also doing my bedroom in black and white, if you can go to Dillars web page and look up Rosetree bedding, I'm doing to use gray or silver as my accent. Pillows ,drapes ect.I have a four poster canopy bed, mahogany wood. What would be the best color for the drapes on the bed and should I paint an accent wall in black or a dark gray. Thanks so much for your help.

    • Rena
      Reply →
      November 15, 2011 at 11:24 pm

      @Rena, sorry thats Dillards...lol

  3. Kristen MacDonald
    Reply →
    December 17, 2009 at 6:32 am

    Where did you get those curtains in the living room pic?They would go perfectly with my black and white Shand Kydd wallpaper. I heard from Laura Ashley, but I don't spot them. Please help! Thank you.. kristen

  4. Rebecca
    Reply →
    September 6, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    I love the clean, crisp look of black and white. I did my bedroom about six months ago and it looks awesome. I added a few accent colors that really make the room come alive. I came across a site that sells satin pillowcases and they had an entire page devoted strictly to black and white. They had over 30 different patterns, from gorgeous florals to contemporary designs. The company is A Touch Of Satin and if you're interested, the site is http://atouchofsatin.com. The black backround to the fireplace in your living room picture is spectacular. It frames the fireplace so perfectly. Thanks for sharing your decorating ideas.

    • Betty Duzan
      Reply →
      August 23, 2010 at 8:27 pm

      @Rebecca, I am decorating a guest bed room in black and white. i haven't decided on an accent color but thinking about apple green or red. What color should I paint the walls-I thought about a very light gray. And what about flooring color- it will definitely be carpet, just not sure what color??

      • Brittany
        Reply →
        March 25, 2011 at 3:54 pm

        @Betty Duzan, What color did you decide on the walls?

      • alex
        Reply →
        May 6, 2011 at 1:15 pm

        @Betty Duzan, i think it would be neat to paint w/e wall the bed is against black and the rest white with checker board black and white carpet (yes the have carpet squares you can do that with) and do both red and green with curtains throw pillows, ect

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