DECORATION

       BLACK AND WHITE DECORATION

                                        Bold Bedroom

The bold horizontal stripes in the guest room in a San Francisco Victorian  are "playful and modern," designer Ken Fulk says. What he calls "Rorschach inkblots" on the furry stools and rug loosen up the geometry. French silhouettes of children hang behind the Pottery Barn daybed.

                                          Graphic Patterns

Graphic patterns extend from the foyer in a Washington D.C town home through to the kitchen. "We both like snappy architectural solutions  like the patterned floor and striped wallpaper   that give black-tie panache to small spaces," designer Jeff Lincoln says of the house he designed with Hillary Thomas. The black and white of Montgomery 1 marble floor tiles by Ann Sacks and Block Print Stripe wallpaper byFarrow and Ball is reminiscent of Dorothy Draper.

                                         Outdoor Stripes

The starting point for a 1939 Regency-style brick house in Beverly Hills was black and white. "In the original Regency period and in its Hollywood revival, black and white was de rigueur," says designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard. "It defines the architecture and creates the foundation for the rest of the color palettes." He covered roll-arm sofas and chairs in Perennials fabrics for a black-and-white outdoor living room.

                                            Bathroom Stripes

For a client who "wears lots of colors, and even more black and white," designer Stephen Shubel painted the walls of the master bath in bold black-and-white stripes. They complement the black-and-white master bedroom in the San Francisco House.

                                       Dorothy Draper-Inspired

Designer Carleton Varney created a "young and snappy" kitchen in a 1929 Wisconsin cottage by using a black-and-white color scheme. Walls painted Benjamin Moore's Decorator's White set off by Unity and Embrace baskets made in Rwanda, from macys.com. The table was made by H.J.Martin and Son, the nationwide interior contracting company owned by the homeowners, Edward and Terri Martin. Catalina chairs from Ficks Reed. 

                                          Tent-Like Terrace

"I love a tent room. The black and white stripes are a simple play on the look," says designer Mary McDonald says about the back terrace of this Los Angeles house. She carried the theme onto the porch's walls and trim with Ralph Lauren Paintt's Bone Black and Atlantic Winter. Cabana Stripe Lagoon by Editions.

                                         Edwardian Kitchen

                                      Traditionalist Foyer

"I'm a traditionalist at heart, and this is my David Adler foyer," says Windsor Smith, who chose statuary marble and Bateig Blue limestone for the floor of her Los Angeles House. The Entry Round Settee, from Windsor Smith House, is upholstered in a Rogers&Goffion silk. An old Venetian lantern and a new Venetian mirror add a glint of silver. The paint on the walls is Benjamin Moore's Titanium.

                                        Lacquered Walls

In a Houston House with Georgian bones and siren allure, the drama begins in a foyer swathed in Philip Jeffries's Lacquered Walls in Eyeliner — a long-lasting vinyl that mimics lacquer and "fools everyone," designer Rob Southern says. For theatrical contrast, the shield-back English hall chairs are painted Benjamin Moore's White Dove. "If you're living in a neutral house and you have one black room, that room can anchor everything," he says. "Here, the black foyer and white stairwell allow you to live with all this color, all this pattern, without it feeling like a big confetti box."

                                   Black and White on a Budget

Designers and owners Craig Schumacher and Philip Kirk avoided an extensive kitchen remodel by painting existing cabinets Benjamin Moore Brilliant White and installing inexpensive black and white tile on counters and backsplashes. An extensive iron stone collection overflows from shelves to walls. Schumacher and Kirk collected enough quarters in the three ginger gars to buy a new flat-screen TV.