advertisement A Pure White California Beach Cottage Designer Carolyn Espley-Miller decorated her Carpinteria, California, beach house with white walls, slipcovered seating, and antiques to create a tranquil and serene space. Get more decorating ideas for coastal homes . By Lisa Cregan 10 of 20 advertisement Lisa Cregan: Your house makes me feel as if I'm inside the crest of a whitecap. It's such a fresh look — not the usual for a California beach house. Carolyn Espley-Miller: It's really more Atlantic Ocean than Pacific Ocean. You'll have to explain that to me. I tried to evoke a sort of "Bretonesque" mood. I really love the feel and look of Brittany, the gray-blues and the rough, briny textures, like a fishing boat that's been knocked about in the sea, all peeling paint, pocked by sand and wind. That's the texture I was going for with all the antiques. All those rough things against the white are wonderful, like yin and yang. There are some serious masculine elements here, like this living room fireplace. Things can't be too dainty when you use this much white, or it'll look way too sweet. I had to ground it with grays and browns and blacks and big textured pieces. I wanted light and white, but not where everything looked like it could just up and float away. Did you paint all the rooms and woodwork the same color white? Almost all the rooms and all the hallways are Benjamin Moore 's White Heron, a nice, soft white, not glaring, not too bright. The kitchen and master bath are a seafoam color, Silver Sage by Restoration Hardware . You can't obsess about matching your whites; they're going to change with the light anyway. I'm kind of a white floozy. For me it's any white in a storm. I guess you can't obsess about white furniture, either — not when you have a husband and two sons. Let's just say I'd never have done white if they weren't slipcovers. They come off and on a lot. But stains don't set if someone fesses up fast and we can get it out quick. Were all the

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