throw pillows, colorful accessories and painting the door jamb are easy ways of bringing color into your home.
If you're looking at the entries for the Fall Colors contest, and thinking, "Yeah, they look great but I don't know if I can live with so much color," we can help. Whether your present place is completely neutral or you've just started experimenting with color, here are some ways to dip your toe in the blue (or green, yellow, orange, pink or purple) waters...
- Throw pillows can add exciting pops of color. Try one color. Add a second color. Or even a third.
- Try a colorful throw.
- Curtains can add a waterfall of color. They don't all have to match. Try analagous colors (next to each other on the color wheel) for a different look.
- Paint the inside of a bookshelf or arrange your books by color instead of author or subject.
- A colorful collection on your coffee table might be all the decoration you need. In an otherwise neutral room, it puts the focus on what's important to you.
- A colorful rug is a great way to add a wash of color. Since part of it will be hidden by furniture, and since it lies on the floor, and not on the walls, it's a way to add a big swatch of color in a relatively safe way.
- Nature, in the form of plants and flowers, is a lovely fresh way to add life and color to a space.
- Paint just the door...
- ...Or the door jamb.
- Painting just the molding, a different color in each room, brings a stark but still vibrant Mondrian-esque quality to a home.
[image: Maria's "Oh So You!" Bungalow]

Comments (3)
Great advice, but...
"or arrange your books by color instead of author or subject."
am not one to care (arrange your books by the number of pages for all I care), but you conflict-mongering writers you.
About the door: there was a post today with yellow doors which I thought was very effective. I think all of the advice boils down to: put splashes here and there, but not overwhelmingly so (a lesson which, sadly, some of the contestants can really learn from). And is that a sheet covering a couch? Goodness, I'm nostalgic for college with all the collegiate/juvenile references being made lately (decorating on the cheap, Mary Kate and Ashley furnishings, etc.)
I'm afraid of neutrals. :)
The one problem that folks should be careful for when using small pops of color is that your room can quickly look like skittles scattered across a white table. There can be lots of little pops- but no overall theme.
Chosing a few relative colors in small pops against a broader expanse of neutrals can be very effective. Larger pieces in softer colors can add mass and a background.
Softer colors also give the eyes places to rest, and will make brighter colors pop more without being overly aggressive.