Decorating With Soft Rose

Here’s something to pick you up out of the end-of-winter blues: soft rose.

This shade — paler than a true pink, but with enough red to stand out against an eggshell or off-white — has the delicacy and gentility that we find in any of the pinks, but it isn’t just for frills and bows. In fact, soft rose can often be best used by pairing it with heavier, more masculine furnishings, as we see here.

In this photo, we see the soft rose used in the upholstered dining chairs, complemented perfectly by the wood of the table and of the chair frames. The lightness of the pink is further balanced by the square lines of the wooden chest, which marks the division between the living room and dining room.

To see how pale rose perks up the mood of this room, just imagine those chairs upholstered instead in a dark blue, or a deep maroon. Such other colors would lend a much more serious, formal tone. Here, the pale rose is used to lighten the mood of the room.