By Leslie Linsley

Author of “Nantucket Island Living” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang)

February 2024

According to current home style publications, glamour and a touch of femininity is an appealing direction for this year’s look in home décor. At the start of a New Year, I get the urge to refresh my home and a new paint color is an easy fix. This year it’s my walk-in closet. 

The color of the moment is pink, from blush to berry. Pink can infuse a room with vibrancy or serenity, depending on the shade.  Benjamin Moore’s "Raspberry Blush" is perfect for a dash of excitement on one wall, in a dining room, or in a hallway. To create a sense of calm, Farrow & Ball’s “Shallot” should be called Perfect Pink. And if you want to tiptoe into pink, F&B’s "Middleton Pink" is as classy as its name.

Not quite ready for pink walls? Introduce pink with a variety of accessories like candles, hand towels, placemats and napkins. Or, paint the inside of a linen closet, then fill with the plush petal-pink towels from Bed & Bath. You’ll smile every time you open your closet door. Add pink accent pillows in the living room and a plethora of the palest pink pillows on the bed. Treat your home to bouquets of fresh pink flowers all winter. Be creative with groupings of pink accessories on tables.

Give your Valentine a winter pamper basket of luxurious hand creams, Italian soaps and a 100% Mulberry silk eye mask (black for him, ivory for her) and pillowcase (all available in Bed & Bath).

Gray/green walls with dark gray, almost black doors and stair treads are trending. Very Old World glamorous for rooms with printed fabrics and beautiful objects, a den filled with books. An interesting change from off-white and gray. The era in which F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, was the first in which interior design was featured. This influence made houses glamorous, fun, and sophisticated. 

In the film version of “Gatsby,” made in 1974, the interior designs were monochromatic, with everything from the paneled walls to the woodwork painted in the same creamy white. One room flowed into another, creating a feeling of expansiveness. To achieve this look in your Nantucket home, use Benjamin Moore’s "White Dove" with its hint of gray, and "Swiss Coffee", a warm and classic shade of white for trim and moldings. This color palette allows the surrounding views to be part of the interior.

Benjamin Moore’s 2024 Color Of The Year, "Blue Nova" , could not be more “of the moment” for both historic and new built Nantucket homes. A winter ocean best describes this color.

In a more current version of the film “Gatsby,” the 1920’s décor includes lots of chrome, mirrors and glass. Bold colors were used in combination with black or green, reinterpreted by Farrow & Ball in a lively version called "Arsenic"! For drama, paint the woodwork with their "Pitch Black". I used F&B’s "Down Pipe", a rich gray, in my powder room. it’s the perfect background for pink hand towels, a delicate, rose-patterned teacup filled with rosebuds, a bar of pink soap and framed black and white photos on the walls.  Could be framed botanicals in shades of pink.

Ready for a refresh, but not a drastic change?  Farrow & Ball’s "Dimpse" is a soft, twilight gray. Paired with black or navy doors, it’s reminiscent of those Gatsby rooms, proving that what was old is new again, if one waits long enough.