Hoe do they look when you hold them together? Could you dye the coverlet to match the cream background on the toile?

Well, they don't look awful. The cream color in the fabric is a creamy color -- not in the tan family at all. A friend suggested that I go ahead and make the draperies and then when I put everything together, I will know if it works. I will do that, but just wondered if some of you have (or had) this same problem too. Maybe it's just a matter of preference, I don't know.

I think I would like a touch of white in the room; it seems to brighten the other colors. It's the same way when you use a touch of black in a room, that seems to accent the color choices.

You could also add a small boudoir pillow in white, too, on the bed to tie in with the matelasse covers. Just a thought; sounds beautiful.

Short answer: yes, it would look fine to mix the two colors.

Longer answer: have some other white in the room, too. Some suggestions: Lampshades, accent pillow, dresser scarf, window shade or blinds or sheers behind the drapes. You could also make an accent pillow out of remnants of the cream/blue for the bed instead of the white. A bedskirt could be fashioned out of either white or the toile.

Just have something else in the room out of either white or the toile. The idea is to make it looked like you PLANNED it to be that way & that you just haven't gotten around to replacing one or the other! LOL!

I personlly think if the cream is not right up against the white, then you can get away with it. I have a blue and cream toile border at the ceiling in the guest bedroom and had the same situation because I love white cotton for bed coverings. Since I never went all the way with the toile motiff I went with the white bedspread and since my accent was yellow pillows, it worked out OK. I did at one point find an ecru cotton bedspread at Penney's and that did look a lot more cohesive. The walls are a very pale yellow.

The draperies will be behind the antique bed, which is placed in front of a wide window (only place for the bed). Fortunately, the window is as wide as the bed, and the draperies will frame the bed nicely. I plan to pull the panels back on each side of the window. So, yes, the fabric will be NEAR the coverlet, brutuses, but not right next to it.

I had that problem with both black and cream and red and cream toile! Solution was to run the white matelasse spreads through a soak with a few tea bags! It was just enough to make them cream, but not enough to make them ecru or tan!

That's a great idea, jaybird. But I'm a little afraid to do that. It would be my luck that the coverlet would come out all splotchy!

Well then all you have to do is bleach it a little and it will be white again :^)..........I have been tea dying things for about 40 years and it always does well
Boil/simmer the tea bags for about 10 minutes
run coverlets through a rinse so that they are damp
strain tea into a clean jar
remove coverlets and fill washer with warm water
put tea into washer and agitate for a minute or two
add damp coverlets
agitate for 10 minutes and let sit for an hour
drain tub and rinse coverlets with regular cold rinse cycle to which you have added a cup of vinegar
dry and enjoy!

jaybird, I'm glad you could be the voice of experience. I haven't had enough to be too brave.

Stargirl, can't wait to see the finished room. It's going to be so pretty!!

Stargirl, I think it could work too, but I would need to see it to decide for sure. I know sometimes things that are white & cream do bother me in person, so I think this is one of those things that may or may not work. I would tend to suggest that you bring the blue/cream toile down on the bed too with Euro shams or throw pillows to tie it all over the room. If it really looks bad with the white coverlet, then that's another story. But, you should be able to tell how it looks by rolling out a big swath on top of your coverlet. How does it look to you? Does it look strange or off, or just another shade of cream? I would say since it's a creamy shade, it might be fine slightly off from the white. It's just hard to judge those things not seeing them. How do you feel about it when you have them together? That's the best test! How does it look to you??

Fortunately, finding a pretty ivory matelasse coverlet is not really a trial at all. Particularly, in about a month, when the stores start hitting the matelasse stock really good. Since you have done such a fine, fine, job, putting together all the lovely finished kitchens for us, I do hope we are going to see a few nice photos of Finished Stargirl Master Bedroom?

Red

Hi Stargirl: Please don't worry about mixing white and off-white in the way you are talking about doing. I see it done *all* the time because, believe me, I look! I had the same concerns with my black & white toile and was relieved when I saw decorators mixing the two whites almost every time I happened upon a room done in toile.

It should work fine if you include other whites/off-whites and balance, distribute them nicely. Here are some shots that might help (some came from Oceanna's bedroom thread, I believe). The last pic is kind of a reverse of what you're doing.

{{!gwi}}

Squirrel, I just love most of these rooms so much. Thank for sharing.

stargirl - I have the same situation. Bought a white coverlet, then found blue/beige/white toile fabric for drapes. Although the toile has some white, it isn't noticeable from a distance. So, I bought the coordinating striped fabric for a bed skirt to replace the current white one. Also plan to make pillows from both fabrics to pull it all together.
This is not my room but the fabrics I have are in the link. You'll see that white is used extensively in the room.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue and beige toile with white

When I think of the cream color background of toile and white, I think of the rooms I saw as a child with prints that had a time-worn background (which we would call tea stain now) and the compliment of new freshly starched and ironed white cotton sheets and open windows with a breeze from a sunny spring morning while birds are beginning to sing and forsythia bloom, a fresh crop of pansies blooming in the cool morning, where sun has long since melted the ice from the bird bath in the distance, clover popping up alongside the road and the fresh smell of a new season.

I wasn't on the computer over the long weekend. Imagine what a surprise I had this morning when I found all your informative responses. Thank you so much for coming to my rescue. Now I'll go and absorb all you've told me and, hopefully, will have this latest decorating problem behind me. Thanks, friends, for your help.

That was lovely Patricia. For a few blissful moments, I forgot it was the dead of winter.

Me too :) And I walked around with it for some time.

Patricia has such a "way with words." I just love her descriptives. And she also has a flair for decorating. We're so lucky to have her on this forum.

stargirl, can you tell me where you found your blue and cream toile fabric? I'm having a difficult time finding some on line. I bought an end remnant and now can't even remember who I bought it from. Thanks