Ready, set, color! It's time for our annual celebration of color and we're looking for the most beautiful use of color in a kids' bedroom or playroom. Over the next few weeks we'll be showing off your colorful spaces and your fellow readers will weigh in with their votes. Three winners will be declared color champions, carried around on our virtual shoulders, and, best of all, receive shopping sprees from our prize partner, P'kolino.

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Name: Natalie (19 months)
Location: Fairfax Station, VA
Color Inspiration: We recently bought my parents' home and the room we decided to give Natalie was my old room, which I decorated when I was 16. Out of my laziness to primer and paint everything, I decided to keep the lavender walls and dark blue trim. The Laura Ashley floral wallpaper border had to go, as well as the dark blue ceiling. Once I saw Penelope's room featured on ISLY's blog, with the scalloped border, I was inspired to paint a similar border to help lighten up the room. I wanted to re-use a lot of the items from Natalie's old room, which was brown, pink and green. When I found the matryoshka doll fabric that combined almost all the colors I wanted, I used it loosely as inspiration for the rest of the room.

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Name: Wren (6 months)
Location: Christiansburg, VA
Color Inspiration: An old thrift store suitcase, my own c. 1975 baby blanket and nature. The suitcase began the process which was developed further with many handmade or passed-down items from great-grandmas, grandmas, grandpas, and aunts. Most of the objects in this room are a part of family history. I also wanted to integrate the colors often found in nature in an attempt to compliment the dark brown woodwork that seems too prominent to me. I figured, it used to be a tree (trunk) so why not put some green (leaves) around it?

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Name: Charlie Max (9 months) Location: Wheat Ridge, CO Color Inspiration: Charlie is our third boy, and because his brothers' rooms were very "boy", I went more gender neutral this time (no cars, trains, etc). I loved the idea of a forest room, and then found the incredible bird fabric on Etsy. After sourcing lots of colorful accent fabrics, I made the bumper, curtains, and bed skirt. The yellow walls became neutral after adding the tree mural. Artwork made by each member of our family, a blanket from Great-Grandma, and a handmade mobile add another layer of color. More

Name: Grayson (4) and Ava (1)
Location: Alabama
Color Inspiration: Inspired by the sea, summer, and shared spaces of Pottery Barn, I wanted the room to feel bright, yet colorful. I saw a lot of blue, green, white, and natural textures, and I'm definitely pleased with the results.

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Name: Adelle Riley (10 months)
Location: Seattle, WA
Color Inspiration: I have a serious obsession with turquoise (and teal, robin's egg blue, etc.), and I knew right away that I wanted the main colors for the nursery to be turquoise and red. I opted to use turquoise as more of an accent color since the walls in this room were already painted red.

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Name: Lily Q (4 months)
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Color Inspiration: My husband and I loved Sherwin-Williams' Aquatint and had it on the walls before Lily was born. We didn't want a typically pink and girly bedroom for 'lil Lily so we opted for the light turquoise tint. The other colors in the room were chosen to "pop" against the blue.

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Name: Fiona (20 months)
Location: Houston, TX
Color Inspiration: When I first planned Fiona's nursery I had a subtle and modern color scheme in mind. Much to my dismay our landlord would not let me paint. When Fiona was 10 months we moved, however by that time I was able to let her personality dictate more of the palette. It had to be bright and cheery to reflect her disposition. I have always had a bit of an obsession for aqua and chartreuse. Hot pink, well it just seemed right!

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Name: August (9 months)
Location: Austin, TX
Color Inspiration: We knew we wanted the room to be a bold statement in a home full of otherwise grey walls. As soon as we found out that we were expecting a boy, we felt that a blue tone was in order. However, we didn't want to go with the predictable pastel tones of a baby boy blue as we wanted it to be a room that our son could grow up with. We ended up settling on a blue that complimented our two inspiration pieces for the room, the bird fabric from Urban Outfitters, and the George Rodrigue Blue Dog print, which was a wedding gift to my husband.

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Name: Athena (1)
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Color Inspiration: The nursery, much like the rest of my house, serves as the antithesis to the gray, dreary winters here in Michigan. I went wild with color but paired with the clouds and snow, it works for me.

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