High Contrast

Consider the black-and-white scheme. When it comes to creating classic style with graphic appeal, all other color combinations pale by comparison.

By Brad Mee

Here’s what you do: Choose black and then choose white. It doesn’t get much simpler—or more spectacular—than that. You’ve just created the most classic color combination and one that is all the rage today in stylish rooms of all kinds, from living to laundry and every space in between. For proof, we present 11 stunning black-and-white décors created by local design pros.

1. For the laundry room of a French-style Highland home, designers Jessica Bennett, Christy Klomp and Kristina Kellet chose a checkerboard black-and-white limestone floor.

“We carried the checkerboard limestone floor throughout and added accents of black for a more modern take on the classic French style,” Bennett says. Iron stools, window frames and an island countertop contrast black with the room’s white cabinetry.

2. To accentuate the daring design of this Salt Lake home’s white fireplace, architect Kathryn Anderson and Marsala & Co.  suspended a slab of black Cosmopolitan granite along the bottom of the modern, sculpture-like feature.

3. A black stair rail and framed art pieces punctuate this room’s fresh white color scheme. “A strong punch of black and white really helps balance out some of the more feminine elements throughout the home,” says designer Shea McGee. “We love that it adds drama and sophistication to an otherwise laid-back space.”

4. A palette of black, gray and white packs a powerful design punch in a Park City bedroom decorated by designer Beth Ann Shepherd.  “It’s the accents that create the contrast,” she says. Patterned black-and-white shades create drama while texture-rich furs, blankets and bedding add luxuriously layered texture.

5. In a Park City powder room, a white Boffi sink stands like a modern sculpture surrounded by highly textured walls of cypress-raked limestone. Duravit fixtures add shots of shimmering metal to the striking, two-toned space.

6. To replicate the forest surrounding this bedroom’s Park City home, designer Kristin Rocke dressed the walls in a graphic Cole & Son’s Aspen Branch wallpaper. Finished in stark white, the modern canopy bed doesn’t detract from views of the trees, indoors or out.

7. In a Salt Lake City home built by Jackson & LeRoy, a short hallway features a built-in bench backed with bold black-and-white wallpaper and accessorized with a similarly colored striped pillow and rug. The confined nature of this area provides the perfect spot to add this statement of color and pattern.

8. Using black and white as her tools,  Kristin Rocke creates bold style in a client’s very small bathroom. The stool’s off-kilter stripes are a surprising detail in a space balanced by symmetrically staged fixtures. 

9. “People don’t decorate bathrooms, so you give them levels of finishes,” says architect Scott Jaffa, who layered finishes and fixtures of dark and light to create this modern Park City bathroom. The colors contrast, as does the visual weight of delicate Sonneman pendant lights paired with the dark mass of Oregon pine cabinets from Peppertree Cabinets and the stone countertop and wall tiles from European Marble.

10. By painting this front door black, designer Shea McGee hints at the classic color palette flowing throughout the home. Played against a canvas of white walls, refined black accents move the eye across the interior without darkening or bullying its light-filled décor.

11. To create a classic, chic kitchen in a Holladay home remodeled by Upland Development, designers Nicole Thompson and Bennett Lee fearlessly contrasted floor-to-ceiling white cabinetry with strong shots of black captured in the island countertop, range hood, shades and graphic tiles.