Neoclassical:

I wanted to avoid some typical black and white schemes at first: Glasgow School, American Deco, American Psycho 1980s modernism, etc. Anything that I could find a picture of easily or in a real estate listing ( a fair amount of 1980s no-color contemporary time capsules show up in the real estate listing here)

I actually visited a home for a few hours that was decorated in only black, white, and greys. The ONLY color was two red vinyl seat stools in the kitchen. No natural wood, plants, nothing. The view out the window was the only respite, and only because the sky was blue and the grass was green. By the time we left I was really feeling a bit, I don't know, out of sorts? So, I look forward to seeing the DATs here for proof it can be done right :)

Patrickthedestroyer, love that wallpaper mural. And how you choose furnishings that would show it off and not cover it up.

Palimpsest, yes, my first thought was a black and white bathroom--those are so pretty. But it seemed like a bit of a cheat. Are those Eiffel towers in front of the fireplace? Love the dog!

@bpathhome
That's what I feel like when I spend any time in the Restoration Hardware stores. Like I'm in an in-between world.

This was tough for me as I so love color...this just proves it to me. I think I could've been much happier had I been able to add even one accent color. As it is, I tried to do all white and gray with a black accent, but I'm not sure it's successful.

Annie, I like it. Except maybe the rug seems a little incongruous? No especially like the bed and bedding together. And I like the art--I found it challenging to find art that fit the bill.

crl, I'm definitely eclectic, clearly...I wanted a rug that had black in it and I thought the swirls reminded me of the headboard...but clearly it's very contemporary. I just thought Whistler's mother was a spot of humor...

This was so tough for me! I spent a long time working on it, and I'm still not satisfied. Black and white decor usually makes me think of 80's geometric patterns and Miami Vice, or very formal settings, or everything covered in toile. I very rarely use black, white, or gray to decorate. I tried to do something I would have in my own home, but I don't think I could do it without more natural wood tones and at least one more color.

I know the "Woods" wallpaper is kind of overused, but I like it so much!

I found the rug I used here when I was looking for my first moodboard, but I didn't think it worked for a soothing bedroom. So here's a teenage girl bedroom

Edited to add, here is the source for the art: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/grey-rain-art-in-process-by-jrr-first-star-art-.html

I think part of the struggle was not doing the easy thing by making it a bath or kitchen. Somehow the "industrial" rooms seem to lend themselves and their hard surfaces more easily to B&W. These from houzz....

Tracey Stephens Interior Design Inc · More Info

1644 Residence · More Info

Kerferd · More Info

Kitchens

Chambers St · More Info

Kitchen Cabinet Refacing, Maine · More Info

preppyplayer · More Info

dovercout house · More Info

Laundry rooms

Willowgrove Laundry Room · More Info

Ramble House · More Info

Charmean Neithart Interiors, LLC. · More Info

jlc712, I particularly like the feather art.

This looked better in my head . . .

Round Two:

Mostly Piero Fornasetti, but some other post WWII Italian modernists mixed in: Fornasetti did a lot of work in black and white but it was never bland. I would have preferred the version of the wallpaper without the monkeys but I couldn't find a good image.

I think one of the hard things with this challenge is to make a black and white room that doesn't look like it is a colorful room photographed with black and white film. I think problem is a little true of my room and of Annie Deghnaugh's room (I hope, as a lover of color, you won't take offense Annie).

I suspect that texture is probably really important to making these rooms feel comfortable and liveable, which isn't something that these relatively small pictures are good at conveying.

crl_ The play between the lace and all of the fretwork patterns is interesting. The room doesn't read as overly feminine to me, and if you replaced to vase of flowers with a sculpture of a ship or something, I don't think it would be feminine at all. Interesting what an accessory can do to grays. I think your second room is the most liveable and welcoming room so far.

palimpsest, your rooms are, as always, an education. I appreciate the the challenges you give yourself though I don't usually feel like I have the knowledge to say anything about them. I think juxtoposition of modern and older forms and motifs is interesting in the italian modernist room. The cabinet looks deco on a mid-century base, the wall paper seems to portray Renaissance or Renaissance revival building, which can't help but evoke the arches of the Colliseum. I can't quite tell if the sculpture is early 20th century or classical, and the fruit place is similarly hard to place.

JLC712, I also thought of that wallpaper. Something about the light fixture, the feathers and the trees combine to give the room a very gothic horror vibe to me.

Magdalenalee, I think your room is also really successful at not being overly severe which helps moderate the lack of color. Part of it is the texture evident in the wall and pieces that you chose, but I think having the light coming in helps as well.

Hmm, this has been one of my favorite DAT threads. Too busy to participate, but I love several of these rooms. I've always had a thing for the Anthro mural, so that was a shoe-in, and I love herringbone floors.

But I think too the rooms I like ,,, both of Pals, JLC, and Magdalena's, used b/w in a patinaed sense. JLC's black was almost a matte dark grey, for example. Magdalena had the brick, Pal the aged mirror. I think that is what attracted me.

I could live in these rooms.

I think that black/white/grey gets a bad rap because when you even say it, it connotates negative images. Much like "pink bathroom", "avocado" "peach" "polished brass" "oak" will. Just say some of these words out loud, and most people will start yelling, that sight unseen, you have to get rid of it immediately. The reality is that it's possible to have a perfectly fine room with any of those things but by their mere presence, people will see "ugly" or "dated" no matter what it actually looks like.

But the black/white/grey thing tends to have so many more chances to fail than it does to succeed. One of the first things I think of is "first apartment after college" or "guy's apartment". But I know a woman who has an apartment like this right now because she rents: off white walls, a bunch of matching price point black leather furniture, black melamine bookshelves, an entertainment "unit" (I think it's a bad sign when a piece of furniture can't even find a real name), grey carpet. Not enough lamps. So it's very stark, garishly lit up by the ceiling lights at night, and impermanent looking. Depressing.

The other sort of thing it conjures up is the "Young Turk" or aggressive guy sort of apartment. Patrick Bateman's apartment in American Psycho:

For some reason I think you can tell that, at the very least, this guy is going to be a jerk.

There was a real-live variation of this apartment in the listings a few years back. Very expensive to do, very high eighties chic, but bleached out and severe somehow. I don't think it looked much more alive with furniture: Care to take a guess what this guy did for a living?

According to a local blog that featured this apartment, he was involved in the financial end of the local porn industry. But for someone in the porn industry (where you would think you would only end up if you had some real interest in it), he was completely detached from the physical end of the business and almost strictly concerned with the profit generation aspect as if it could have been any sort of financial venture. I guess the apartment fits someone like that.

Yeah, see, those rooms are what you think of when you think of a b/w color scheme, and they are very cold. The rooms I liked in this post are far warmer.

Heh! I was going to guess he was with Wall St...porn, wall st....close enough!

Its funny how much the 80s really seem to have hurt a black and white color scheme. In my mind its really hard to overcome the association of black and white with a kind of soulless modernism that is probably a caricature of 80s greed and materialism. Especially if you throw in chrome and glass.
MtnRdRedux's point about patination is helpful for indicating how to knock sociopathic edge off of black and white.

Annie - c'mon now!

As far as softening black and white, a little bit of nature (rattan, greenery), totally moves the dial.

Take three

I did something that reminded me of what summer houses used to look like before they became expensive investment properties: bleached out and a bit cobbled. I tried to stay away from anything in that obviously "created" vein, a la Restoration Hardware, or anything of the Swedish sort of school, not that there's anything the matter with those in the right settings.

Finding a piece of artwork was hard, almost anything was too overpowering for the faded nature of the rest. The patchiness of the wallpaper is not intentional but it reminds me of rooms that were last touched when wallpaper was more DIY than painting (essentially pre-WW II and the invention of the roller).

Another room i love! This thread is a color-phobe's dream! The desk is wonderful; I assume its one of a kind?

Here's a modish attempt. I basically tried to do black and white (and even a little chrome) before the 1980s.

Fabrics on the bottom could be throw pillows or draperies. The tuxedo sofa doesn't really fit.

Also, I think the negative connotations of the black/white/grey color scheme and the generally Art Deco or Modernist styles this is often associated with are perpetuated by the movies. An art deco or modernist/minimalist interior is rarely associated with a down-to-earth ordinary character. Usually these interiors indicate that the person is too sophisticated at the very least, often lonely, overly ambitious, not very nice, or even a villain. There's Patrick Bateman's apartment above, and then there is Julian Kaye's apartment in American Gigolo. He is actually a victim in the film, but he's not a sympathetic victim at all, he's a prostitute so he's asking for it. The interior of Cameron Frey's house isn't monochromatic, but it's modernist, and Cameron's dad is a control freak who cares more about his 1961 Ferrari than he does his own son.

Mtn, the desk is from 1st Dibs and sold. Even on 1st Dibs, the wicker isn't all that pricey, I guess because it has a limited market.

I was looking through my saved real estate photos, and I have several all BWG listings saved. Some of the photos literally look like BW photos instead of color.

Similar wicker desks show up on my Craigslist pretty often, though you would have to paint it the color you want.

Jlc712- I like that wallpaper, too :)

My favorite room with this color scheme is Regina's office on "Once Upon a Time". She's also the Evil Queen. Notice the red apples....

Inspired by pal's wicker, I decided to go beachy...let the window add the color I so long for. For me, this one is a little more successful than my first...by which I mean I'd be happier living here.

Here's my second version, this time a foyer with a black ceiling. This time, I used things that are black and white that I actually really like: clocks, silhouettes, checkerboard floors, and the Frames wallpaper. I have to give credit to TheFoxesPad, because I love the black ceiling in her foyer. The silhouettes do have some color, so I'm cheating a little. Just imagine them all with black frames. I LOVE how they look with the Frames wallpaper.

It's interesting how the smallest bit of color, and a neutral color at that, will pop out of a greyscale palette.

Some shots of another greyscale apartment from my archives:

I've been a bit slow on this one. I've been out and about with other commitments.

Gray patchwork floor tile is from tilemastercanada.com

Zinc dining table from burnedin.com

Orient Express Furniture Oliver dining chair

Klaussner Ashton buffet and hutch

Photo by Pierre Gonnord (1st Dibs)

"Ghiaccio" Murano glass obelisks chandelier (1st Dibs) (it's really bigger than this)

Paint is Benjamin Moore Balboa Mist

Finally, I have time to comment! These have been great posts and pictures. Very interesting discussion. It is true that the black/white palette seems associated with villains and drama. Even in animation-- think of Cruella de Vil, Maleficient, and Boris and Natasha.

Crl, I love the iron bed and lace curtains in your first bedroom. Very serene. And the corner bed in your second post is so cool! I've never seen one like that! (and of course, there's that pretty light fixture again)

Patrick, that mural is so gorgeous. It would make a perfect dining room. I like your second "mod" room because it looks liveable and fun. Your "gothic horror vibe" comment is so funny! and true! I didn't even realize it. I do love gothic novels, old houses, abandoned places... and the Haunted Mansion, lol.

Pal, what I love about both your rooms, and your designs in general, is that they are unusual, interesting, and never ever include anything trendy or mainstream. Your knowledge of design and art history is always apparent. Plus, you included a Dalmation! :-)

Annie, I think if you had a plush white rug and different artwork in that bedroom, it would be very glamorous, kind of Hollywood Regency. I like your all white beach room, it's very fresh.

Magdalena, I really like the casual bohemian vibe of your room. I could live there.

I could easily live in one of these rooms:

Prints on the wall · More Info

I thought I'd try a nursery since a black, white, and gray nursery would be counterintuitive for me. I didn't realize that black and white nurseries are kind of a thing now, so it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I think I could live with something like this, but only if there were baskets overflowing with colorful toys. At least it's a truly gender neutral nursery.

Edit to add: is that crib bumper blue? Oops, I didn't notice until I posted. Let's pretend there's no bumper, or it's a breathable mesh type - in gray.

All I can say is Thank God for Color! :-)

My home office is B&W...almost!

Just clued into the pink blossoms and little turquoise bird:)

I decided to try a western living room. It's aimed at showing off the Santa Clara pottery collection--the piece shown is meant to represent several pieces that would be displayed on the restoration hardware shelves--and other art.

Source for the Navajo rug image.

Source for the black pottery image

Source for the horse sculpture.

I'll say it again, you all are amazing. Those mostly all white rooms nosoccermom posted make me want to start over and paint my whole house white, get white furniture, etc.....so simple and serene.

Here is another contribution. I'm a bit late with my entry, but sometimes it takes a while to find the proper inspiration.

That came with finding this unique armoire from Noir. Seemed a good fit with the Oly Pendant. The white chair is one of my favorites that I used 20 years ago on a project. I teamed it with a favorite graphic pillow; a new way to use simple black and white stripe fabric I recently found an updated seashell mirror. This one is created using shucked oyster shells. Makes me want to contact my local oyster bar, so I can gather the shells and put one together myself. The gray herringbone wood floor seemed a complement with the rest of the room, and although I tried a variety of other rugs, I settled on the leather shag. I am attaching the other rugs I found just in case someone is looking for some inspiration.

Uno mas. I almost felt like I cheated here with the paint, but it is Sherwin Williams Comfort Gray, though it looks relatively colorful in this context.

Beverly and crl_ those are both very tastefully put together rooms. I've never heard of a leather shag rug. I looked at quite a lot of ebonized furniture for this challenge, but I never found anything as cool as that cabinet.

I don't know who is keeping track of the challenge options or setting the agenda, but could I add a choice to the list of contenders? I guess it's a marriage challenge? Imagine two people who decide to live together with different senses of style and a significant collection of pieces (furniture, art or fixtures) from those two styles. How would you put the two styles together? The challenge might be to include two pieces from each style in the room. In a way it is a chance to think about eclecticism.

Patrick, the leather shag rugs are available through Overstock and Wayfair among other on line retailers. The cabinet from Noir has a quite a few interesting pieces in an ebony finish.

My daughter, Kittycatpaws, has a board to offer up.

My aunt and my mom say I have really busy wallpaper. What do you think?

Cawaps, nice dining room. The patchwork tile and the photo art make the whole room! In your second one, it is amazing how green Comfort Gray looks!

PBH, I really like the nursery. It is cute and fun even in black and white. It is an awesome idea for someone who doesn't want to find out the baby's sex in advance, and then add accent colors after the baby is born. They say babies love black/white contrast patterns because they can see them before their vision fully develops. Great artwork!

Crl, love the western room. It definitely references the West without all the cliche stuff. I can see that room looking right in many kinds of houses.

Beverly, that is my favorite room of yours so far. Love that oyster mirror, and the cabinet, side table, and rug. It looks very liveable.

Patrick, thanks for the suggestion, that would be a good challenge. I am keeping a list of suggestions, and just randomly picking one each week. All ideas are welcome!

Kittycatpaws, I like your room. The wallpaper is really cool, but I do think it would give me a headache :-)

It is a busy wallpaper pattern, but that's not a bad thing.

I don't know if you included that optical illusion print to reference the visual confusion in the room or not, but one approach to making a bold pattern like that work is to make sure that the eye has places to rest in the room. In practice this means making one pattern the focus. You have three patterns all of about the same scale: the wallpaper, the rug and the bed side table fronts, which creates visual confusion. This is not to say that you can't combine patterns, but a principle from clothing that seems to apply to decorating is that the patterns should all be of different scales. So if the rug had a narrow stripe and the bedside tables each had a single repeat of some kind of big pattern (a floral?) the room would probably look quite different.

Even simpler would just be to have solid fields of color or grey on all the other surfaces.

I'm sure there are other ways to work with bold wallpapers as well.

A well-done black and white room can be breath taking. It's all in the details. These rooms by Luis Bustamante

Another DAT idea...how about designing a room to evoke a particular emotion?

It might be fun to explore design and age....design a room and have people guess the age of the inhabitant...might get us to challenge some of our preconceptions around age.