Inside Out & the living with white issue

The August issue of Inside Out magazine hits the newsstands tomorrow and alright it's all white! (Oh bad pun.) Managing Editor Lee Tran Lam explains a little more in her latest email.

I know that white can seem a little intimidating – and too much white can conjure an image of those clinical science labs in the movies, you know the kinds where some horrible virus is unleashed? So we wanted to show how you can have white interiors that still have warmth and personality (and still are practical, because we all know how much of a stain-magnet white can be)!

This featured home belongs to textile and wallpaper designer Karina Pires, who runs House of Six. Even though the home is near Bondi Beach and she has two young kids, the strong use of white throughout has not been a nightmare to clean. And that's despite (boldly) painting the floors a good shade of white! "It doesn't chip, it's not shiny. It's been two years and we haven't repainted," she says. "The floors are also easy to maintain and, surprisingly, they don't ever look very dirty." She did spend a long time experimenting with the right paint to coat the floors with, so it seems like her constant juggling of many test pots paid off! She's also added vivid rainbow hints throughout, so it's not an overly bare home – these well-deployed bursts of brightness definitely add a mood-lift to each room. A small dose of colour goes a long way. Megan Morton styled the home beautifully and Françoise Baudet did a great job photographing it.

Wow! It's like dropping Skittles into a milk bottle. What fun! Can't wait to see more in the latest issue out tomorrow. Don't fret if you aren't in Australia though. You can read along on  Zinio, Google Play,  the Apple Newsstand and Nook.