The Edit · Issue No. 06 · Palette
Blue & White
Decorating
Timeless coastal decorating inspired by Nantucket cottages, blooming hydrangeas, weathered cedar shingles, and classic New England homes.
On the Cover
Shop the Look Featured in This Issue
The six pieces styled inside our cover shot — the ginger jar, the stems, the quilted stripe, the ivory rug, the pair of ceramic lamps, and the toile pillow that pulls it together.
Home Decor
Chinoiserie Blue & White Ginger Jar
Why we love it ·The piece that ties a mantel together — my grandmother kept one on either side of the clock and I've never seen a room that wasn't better for it.
Bring This Look Home →
Home Decor
MacKenzie-Childs Sky Check Enamel Large Flower Vase (Light Blue & White)
Why we love it ·Hand-painted sky-blue checks on a curvy enamel vase — the perfect just-right-height centerpiece for hydrangeas on the dining table without blocking a single conversation.
Bring This Look Home →
Florals & Art
MacKenzie-Childs Sterling Check Enamel Tall Vase
Why we love it ·A tall hand-painted Sterling Check vase with a warm gold rim — the shapely hourglass silhouette I'd fill with an armful of blue mophead hydrangeas and set on the console at the end of the front hall for the whole summer.
Bring This Look Home →
Rugs & Mats
Hand-Tufted Wool Scalloped Rug — Blue Stripe with Navy Scallop Border
Why we love it ·Hand-tufted wool in blue-and-cream cabana stripes finished with a hand-cut navy scalloped border — the Grandmillennial living-room rug I'd anchor a slipcovered sofa and a pair of striped chairs on for full Nantucket-parlor charm.
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Pillows & Throws
Blue Hydrangea Toile Pillow Cover — Hamptons Quiet Luxury Accent
Why we love it ·A classic blue-and-cream hydrangea toile that reads like vintage Schumacher — the cottage pillow I'd toss on a wicker porch chair beside a pitcher of fresh-cut blooms.
Bring This Look Home →A Note from the Editors
Editorial Introduction
There is no coastal palette older, or more forgiving, than blue and white. It arrived on the island three centuries ago in the holds of clipper ships — jars and ginger pots and tureens traded out of Canton — and it has never really left. Walk down any lane in 'Sconset in July and you'll see it in ten steps: hydrangeas foaming against the shingles, a striped awning over a screen door, a pair of Chinese jars on a scrubbed pine hutch.
The reason it endures is simple. Blue and white is a rest for the eye. It borrows from the harbor, the hydrangea hedge, and the four-o'clock sky and echoes them indoors so the rooms never feel disconnected from the view outside. A ticking-stripe pillow tempers a slipcovered sofa. A single ginger jar anchors a mantel that had been trying, and failing, for a year. A chinoiserie garden stool becomes a side table by the front door.
What we call one palette is really a small family of blues — the hazy cornflower of the Delft potters, the deep cobalt of a summer night off Great Point, the powdery blue of a Nantucket shutter that has weathered thirty winters. Set any one of them against chalky, unbleached white, and a room begins to look composed without ever looking decorated. What follows is that room, told in six chapters — and the pieces we would use to build each one.
Before You Shop
The Mood Board
Cedar shingles, hydrangea hedges, ginger jars on a scrubbed pine hutch. The feeling first, the pieces second.
A Designer's Rule
The Nantucket Formula
Restraint is the reason these rooms endure. Blue is the accent — never the subject.
60%
Warm Whites
Linen, ironstone, whitewashed pine.
20%
Blue
Hydrangea, cornflower, faded shutter.
15%
Natural Texture
Jute, wicker, seagrass, linen.
5%
Brass & Collected
Lanterns, small heirlooms.
Texture matters more than adding more blue. When a room feels flat, reach for jute and linen before reaching for another jar.
A Feature in Six Chapters
Shop by Room
One idea per room, built slowly, kept quiet.
Chapter One
Ginger Jars & Vases
Every blue-and-white room begins with a jar. A single ginger jar on a mantel, a pair flanking a console, a tall vase filled with hydrangeas at the end of the hall — this is the palette's opening line, spoken in porcelain.
Why we chose these pieces
These are the anchor pieces — the shapes that have carried this palette for three hundred years. Start here and the rest of the room follows.
Shop Ginger Jars & Vases →
Kitchen & Table
UPware 12-Piece Blue & White Floral Melamine Dinnerware Set (Service for 4)
Indoor Furniture
LINSY HOME Modern Farmhouse TV Stand with Glass Doors (75")
Chapter Two
MacKenzie-Childs Blue & White
The Sterling Check and Sky Check collections — hand-painted enamel in the softest hydrangea blue and cream, finished with brass and glass. The pieces we reach for when the room needs a moment of whimsy and craft in equal measure.
Why we chose these pieces
MacKenzie-Childs treats an everyday object like a small piece of art. A kettle on the range, a cake stand on the island, a candlestick lamp beside the bed — the blue-and-white palette, elevated.
Shop MacKenzie-Childs Blue & White →
Chapter Three
Blue & White Bedding
White linen sheets, a toile coverlet folded back at the foot, a stack of hydrangea-blue shams against the headboard. The guest room that makes people want to stay the whole week.
Why we chose these pieces
Bedding sets the temperature of a room. Choose one printed piece — a toile comforter, a floral quilt — and let the rest of the bed stay quiet in ivory linen.
Shop Blue & White Bedding →
Chapter Four
Pillows & Throws
A ticking stripe, a hydrangea toile, a block-print floral, a quilted throw folded over the arm of the sofa. The small pieces that make a room feel collected rather than purchased.
Why we chose these pieces
Pillows are how you change a room without redecorating. Mix a stripe, a print, and a solid — never all three matching — and the sofa reads inherited.
Shop Pillows & Throws →
Pillows & Throws
Pastel Coral Linen Throw Pillow Cover — Blush Watercolor Floral Print
Pillows & Throws
Blue Coastal Seashell Lumbar Pillow — Scalloped Watercolor Bolster Cover
Pillows & Throws
Coastal Blue Green Coral & Shell Pillowcase — Embroidered Beach House Cushion Cover
Pillows & Throws
LVTXIII Outdoor Cabana Navy Stripe Lumbar Pillow Covers, 12" x 20" (Set of 2)
Pillows & Throws
Chandler 4 Corners Duke Yellow Lab Hand-Hooked Wool Pillow (14" Square)
Chapter Five
Blue & White Rugs
A Persian medallion in faded French blue under the dining table, a scalloped wool cabana stripe anchoring the parlor, a toile de Jouy in the sitting room. The floor is where the palette begins.
Why we chose these pieces
A rug decides the whole room. We chose the ones that read like heirlooms — hand-tufted wool, vintage-washed cotton, softened blues on ivory grounds.
Shop Blue & White Rugs →
Chapter Six
Furniture & Statement Pieces
A blue-painted sideboard, a scalloped coffee table, a slipcovered chair by the window, a farmhouse nightstand beside the bed. The bones of the room — chosen once, kept for years.
Why we chose these pieces
Furniture is the slowest layer. A single painted piece — the vanity, the sideboard, the nightstand — will carry the palette across a whole room without another drop of blue.
Shop Furniture & Statement Pieces →
Furniture
TOLEAD Flower Pattern Door Storage Cabinet — White Accent Sideboard
Pillows & Throws
NUYECY Light Blue & White Tassel Fringe Throw Pillow Covers, 16"x16" (Set of 2)
Pillows & Throws
CaliTime Cream Chenille Pom Pom Lumbar Pillow Covers, 12"x20" (Set of 2)
Bath
Silicone Decorative Tray, 9" Dark Blue — Bath, Vanity & Coffee Table Organizer
Indoor Furniture
ChooChoo 40" Farmhouse A-Frame Coffee Table with Storage Shelf (White)
Chapter Seven
Lamps, Lanterns & Lighting
A pair of porcelain jar lamps with cream shades, a rattan pendant over the island, a brass lantern by the door. Lighting is where a blue-and-white room stops looking decorated and starts looking lived in.
Why we chose these pieces
Matched lamps are the fastest symmetry you can buy. Choose one pair for the room and let every other fixture be different.
Shop Lamps, Lanterns & Lighting →
Chapter Eight
The Blue & White Table
Transferware plates, a hydrangea pitcher, blue-rimmed glassware and a ticking stripe runner. The table is where this palette started — Chinese export porcelain on an English sideboard — and it still looks best there.
Why we chose these pieces
Mix patterns freely on a table as long as every piece shares the same blue. Transferware, spatterware and check all sit together happily.
Shop The Blue & White Table →
Kitchen & Table
Coastal Lighthouse Pitcher & Serving Bowl Set — Hand Painted Navy Nautical Dinnerware
Kitchen & Table
Spode Blue Room Georgian Collection Plates — Set of 6 Transferware Dinner Plates
Kitchen & Table
Light Blue & White Scalloped Stripe Tablecloth — Coastal Beach Wedding Table Linen
Kitchen & Table
Bico Blue Garden Toile de Jouy Ceramic Cereal Bowls, 26 oz (Set of 4)
Chapter Nine
Mirrors, Art & Wall Decor
A rope mirror over the console, a framed botanical, a plate wall climbing the stairs. Walls are the last layer and the one most people forget.
Why we chose these pieces
One large piece beats four small ones. If you want a gallery, keep every frame the same finish and let the blue do the varying.
Shop Mirrors, Art & Wall Decor →
Florals & Art
3D Hydrangea Oil Painting — White & Blue Blooms on Sage, Textured Canvas
Home Decor
Fine Ticking Stripe Peel & Stick Wallpaper — Blue Granny-Chic Cottage Stripe
Home Decor
Blue & White Floral Peel & Stick Wallpaper — Vintage Grandmillennial Toile
Chapter Ten
Baskets, Hydrangeas & Finishing Touches
A lightship basket on the coffee table, a jug of faux hydrangeas that never wilt, a candle that smells like the back of the garden. The small things that finish a room.
Why we chose these pieces
Every room needs something living and something woven. These are the pieces we add last and notice most.
Shop Baskets, Hydrangeas & Finishing Touches →
Pillows & Throws
Hofdeco Grandmillennial Indoor/Outdoor Lumbar Pillow Cover, 12"x20" — Blue Laurel & Pink Bow
The Nantucket Rule
“Never decorate an entire room in blue. Layer it, thoughtfully, among warm whites and natural textures — and let the hydrangeas do the rest.”
— The Editors
Another Way In
Shop by Material
Sometimes the room starts with a texture, not a color.
Linen
Slipcovers, tablecloths, napkins
Wicker & Rattan
Baskets, chairs, chandeliers
Weathered Wood
Driftwood, cedar, painted pine
Brass
Lanterns, hardware, small details
Ceramic
Ginger jars, lamps, ironstone
Cotton
Stripe pillows, quilts, throws
Glass
Hurricanes, vases, decanters
Build the Room
Complete the Look
One imagined room, top to bottom — the rug, the sofa piece, the jar, the bloom, the lamp, the art.
Editor's Notes
Five Mistakes That Make Coastal Decorating Feel Cheap
- 01
Too much navy.
Navy reads heavy in a coastal room. Reach for hydrangea and cornflower first; save navy for a stripe, a lampshade, a single accent.
- 02
Anchors everywhere.
One nautical piece per room, and never the obvious one. A rope mirror, not a wall of anchors.
- 03
Skipping natural texture.
Blue without jute, linen, and wicker turns clinical. Texture is what keeps the palette warm.
- 04
Tropical turquoise.
Nantucket blue is soft and weathered — hydrangea, harbor, faded shutter — never pool-water bright.
- 05
Matching, not mixing.
The best blue-and-white rooms look inherited. A little chinoiserie, a little check, a little ticking — collected slowly.
A Quiet Checklist
Before You Buy
Five questions we ask ourselves before a piece comes home.
Does this piece add texture, not just color?
Will I still love it in five years?
Does it work with our natural light?
Will it mix beautifully with what I already own?
Does it feel collected rather than purchased?
Keep Reading
Featured Magazine Stories
Cover Story · Issue No. 05
The Coastal Cottage Decorating Guide Everyone Wishes They Had
Issue No. 01 · Dream Homes
The Ultimate Guide to Nantucket Dream Homes
Journal · Home Decor
19 Nantucket-Inspired Front Porch Ideas
Journal · Florals
25 Beautiful Hydrangea Gardens That Look Straight Out of Nantucket
Issue No. 04 · Summer
The Little Things You'll Only Notice on Nantucket
Explore Another Edit
Related Collections
More curated corners of the Nantucket Charm archive.
The Last Word
“Great coastal homes aren't decorated all at once. They're collected slowly, one beautiful piece at a time.”
Questions We Get
Blue & White, Answered
What is blue and white decorating?
Blue and white decorating is a centuries-old palette built on Chinese export porcelain, Dutch Delft, English transferware and American coastal houses. The rule is simple: white or cream carries the large surfaces, and blue arrives in pattern — jars, stripes, toile, florals, hand-painted check — so the room reads collected instead of decorated.
What shade of blue is most classic for a coastal room?
Two shades do most of the work on Nantucket. A deep delft or French navy gives weight to art, lamps and porcelain, and a soft hydrangea blue — a slightly gray, slightly violet blue — carries pillows, throws and walls. Skip bright turquoise and teal; they read Caribbean rather than New England.
How do you mix blue and white patterns without it looking busy?
Vary the scale. Use one large pattern (a toile, a floral, a Persian rug), one medium (a check or block print), and one small or plain (a fine ticking stripe, a solid linen). Keep the blues in the same family and let at least a third of the room stay quiet white.
Where should you start when decorating with blue and white?
Start with porcelain, because it is inexpensive to add and easy to move. A pair of ginger jars on a mantel or a cluster of three on a console establishes the palette immediately, and everything you buy afterward — pillows, rugs, lamps — can be matched to the blue in those jars.
Does blue and white work in a room with no ocean view?
Yes. Blue and white was an inland English and Dutch look long before it was coastal. Away from the water, warm it up with more oak, brass, rattan and a faded antique rug, and lean toward the deeper delft blues rather than pale sky tones.
The Coastal Cottage Styling Guide
A 12-page Nantucket-inspired playbook — hydrangea-blue rooms, weathered cedar curb appeal, and the pieces I'd buy again tomorrow. Plus the weekly Sunday finds. Free, no spam.
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