Kathryn Long’s Master Bedroom

Ambiance Interiors, Asheville

One thinks of Claudette Colbert, curled swan-like in a satin chair, or crimson-lipped Joan Crawford smothered in a snowy boa. Glamorous white dress and décor defined 1930s Hollywood, and Kathryn Long has revived the color in the light-drenched master bedroom of her Biltmore Lake home.

A big fan of that romantic era, Long was meticulous in her selection of furnishings and fabrics. A bed from a small artisan maker, discovered at the world-renowned North Carolina furniture venue High Point Market, features an unusual headboard: it’s upholstered in an eggshell shade and framed in light wood. Simple, crisp window treatments are made from what she describes as “the perfect linen.”

But before the trimming could commence, Long had to enact some Crawford-style drama, knocking out part of the wall to lift the space from the doldrums. “The room,” she declares, “was dead” when she first purchased the house, built in 2005.

“It faced north, windows all on one side, with gray walls and gray carpet.” But their addition of two windows on either side of the bed admits the majestic western glow.

Using a lot of white means playing with light, and Long points out the difference between the too-stark tones of that shade and her preference for its softer gradations. The carpet, she says, “is sandy-colored, a very nice Masland,” the walls a mohair shade. Endearing romantic touches include a dazzling Venetian chandelier and floral throw pillows.