In deliberate contrast, the walls, stairway banisters and all architectural details, including the fireplaces, were painted in elegant tints of white. "I wanted the focus to be on texture, not colour," she says. To this end, she set a smooth mirrored coffee table on a white shag rug in the living room, and hung an etched mirror, rich in textural detail, above the mantel. Some shiny mercury glass candlesticks and smooth porcelain birds reflect and absorb light, but very few details in the room have colour. "I won't say I didn't try to add it in, but I'd always end up taking it away again," Jeannine says.
Where colour was used, it was spare. Peony pink in the living room appears on the painted woodwork of an antique chair. And cushions, some velvet, others silk, adorn the white sofa. "There was a time when my love of pink would have meant painting the entire room that colour," she says. "Now I know that a little goes a long way." In the family room, it's pastel touches of robin's egg blue that offset the white furnishings. But there, too, the hue is in the details. Damask wallpaper, fuzzy cushions and ceramic lamps are used to create the serene surroundings.
"I've always been drawn to pretty things," Jeannine states. "As a little girl, I'd go to garage sales with my mom, and I'd head straight to the china teacups." Beauty remains her guiding principle. "It's not the value, or the age of an object that matters to me. It's how it makes me feel." This is evident in the cottage-sweet details, such as vintage-style floral prints and worn antique seating, that appear in both the master suite and in seven-year-old daughter Kiona's room. Even the views from the windows have a gentle and romantic look. The dining room, for example, overlooks a duck pond and some young trees. To Jeannine's delight, they are white birch.
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