Color Ideas for Walls and Decor

From vibrant textiles to bold graphic art, these rooms show that white walls are the perfect canvas for color.

Interior and set designer Amy Exton shares this colorful, vintage-filled home with her dog, Presley.

Ph.D. candidate and creative entrepreneur Taylor Evans and her partner have incorporated color and pattern into their small rental apartment. "It feels playful, yet sophisticated, and I think it reflects our personalities," she writes.  

Musician Emma Frank and her husband work from home in this bright rental apartment in Park Slope. "It’s a really nice space to be creative in."

Should we call it "Gen Z Purple?"

Autumn is here, and everyone’s decorating with amber-tinted leaves and pumpkins. But just because the color orange is in season, doesn’t mean everyone’s splashing their walls with it. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.Modsy, an online interior design service, has released its Interior Wellness Report, revealing two of America’s least desired colors for home decoration.

It's honestly stunning both inside and out!

Maggie Antalek, who owns a mural and interior decorating business, was able to use this new apartment as a blank canvas for bold murals and DIY projects to make the space her own.

Ayanna Barton loves color, and she wanted this house to be classic and timeless while also being a little adventurous with colors.

But a very dreamy, nature-inspired one!

"I often say the vibe I’m going for is the home of a Time-Traveling Anthropologist," says artist Keighty Alexander, who has owned this two-bedroom apartment for four years.

Actor Charles Busch believes a home is a visual autobiography. And his NYC apartment's style is best summed up as: 19th century Parisian bordello mixed with the Golden Age Hollywood.

The celebrity chef's kitchen is the exception.

The house had been flipped and drained of all character and personality so Christie added color, vintage touches, and high quality mid-century furniture intermixed with joy and whimsy to bring it back to life.

Previously, Rosemary has gravitated toward a more vintage MCM aesthetic, but that didn’t feel like the right match for the ultra-'90s architecture of her condo, so instead she's embracing a more Miami Modern/Art Deco revival look.

Interior blogger, Instagramer, and owner of this black, gold, and glam UK home, Rachel Edmonds, says life is too short to conform to the norm. "Your home should be a happy place."

Roxy Michaud brought in textures like wicker, dark wood, bamboo and greenery to her Brooklyn home, as well as used the color black to make the space feel more warm and cozy.

Since she was a little girl, Sunita Chhabra has loved collecting colorful, beautiful things — and her house is covered is vibrant hues and cool objects. It's travel-inspired, mural-filled maximalism.

There's an Op Art entryway. A Memphis Milano bathroom. Tons of rare tropical plants. And much of the design was DIYed on a budget!

And it'll add lots of warmth, too!

Sophie Lopez's maximalist home is full of personality, personal touches, and lots of colour.

We promise there's more than velvet on this list.

Your walls are ready.

It is, after all, the perfect complement to orange.

Grab the chips and get ready to dip.

Check out the cozy but vibrant space.

These grand prize winners have a warm, colorful, and cheerful space they DIYed themselves.

Kristine Bélanger always dreamed of adding a ton of color to a home, so as soon as she and her husband bought this house, she finally started to paint... using nearly every color!

Think: Murky, earthy tones, with thoughtful pops of color and a mixing of wood tones and texture layers.

If you like green, you're going to be happy about this shade!

This DIY-infused boho, French coastal Austin home is filled with neutral and monochrome decor and TONS of plants.

There's also bold color, wall murals, a working disco ball, and plenty of other fun, vibrant, warm, and homey decor elements.

When it came to decorating this Oakland apartment, interior designer and artist Sophia E. Aguiñaga painted the entire space, and surrounded herself with pieces that inspire and start conversations: like art by Black artists and artists of color, queer artists, and pieces purchased from Black- and woman-owned shops.

Plus, how to figure out what anchor color is best for you.

Laura doesn't let beige walls in her rental apartment keep her from adding vibrant color and bold prints to the space!

Not only was this homeowner on a tight budget, this apartment's makeover was finished in a week!

Los Angeles-based interior designer Kara Thomas' small LA apartment is full of ideas on how to make your rental apartment look good.

With only 600 square feet, Celeste and Lucas had to get creative to fit as many functions into their small home as possible, employing an interesting furniture arrangement to do so.

Maya Goldfine breathed life into her rental home by embracing a mixture of textures, color, and styles, which was primarily inspired by a trip to Mexico City.

Writer Merissa Nathan Gerson is a speaker, spiritual consultant, and sex educator living in this joyful house in New Orleans.

Baby Pink is a deliberate choice — not just a fad — for this writer.

It's like Lisa Frank meets Hot Topic with a sprinkling of theater kid, rhinestone cowboy, and disco daddy.

Take a walk down memory lane.

Every lamp, light fitting, wall color, floor covering, cushion, chair, switch, and socket has been considered and thought about in this beautiful home in Ireland.

Guided by color magic, which uses colors to guide spell-casting, I've started using colored pens to help evoke results from my daily journaling and to-do lists.

According to someone who does it all the time.

And the majority of the art in Albrica Tierra's home comes from Black artists, designers, photographers, and makers.

There's a recently renovated attic bedroom suite, a vintage library card catalog-turned-bathroom vanity, and a basement transformed into a speakeasy/brewery space.

Color can be a first step toward universal design.

And it's less than $20!

This art teacher and museum educator draws inspiration from "estate sales in untouched time capsule houses, old magazines, and period movie and TV show sets" for decorating her own 1970s Philadelphia house.

IG is full of inspo. My latest obsession? Muralists.

Many of the rooms in wallpaper and fabric pattern designer and artist Claire Swindale's home have been updated with her own wallpaper designs.

Bright colors, cute art, fun wallpapers, and whimsical accessories... Lucy Hamilton's home is incredibly happy, colorful, and pretty!

Sharon Lomas and her husband share this four-bedroom Victorian detached rectory located in a national park surrounded by natural settings. Their home's decor takes tons of inspiration from nature.

Fine-tune your search for the perfect shade with these paint chip tips.

Sarisa's biggest challenge was designing and remodeling this house from 1000 miles away while she and her husband were still living out of state.

From subtle to saturated, these 20 spaces are proof!

Sara and Garrett own this house, but it serves as inspiration for renters, too; it's full of incredible colors against a backdrop of crisp white walls!

If you think you've run out of places to paint, think again!

Josh and Matt struggled to decorate their home while ensuring they didn’t damage their rental... so they make their own home decor and art that's easy to install AND remove.

For paint and beyond!

Because sometimes one color isn't enough!

It was important for Kaitlyn that her apartment be "dually comfortable and creative." She describes her style as "refined maximalism."

It's about to get more colorful.

Erin Kerr's style can best be described as: "Like if a Danish Grandpa and Primary School Teacher Grandma had a grandkid who loved Memphis Milano."

It's not all about white, beige, and blue!

Carissa's style is "Colorfully Dramatic Maximalism that fuses unexpected genres and styling elements together to create a layered and statement-filled home."

Thanks to how open this space is to the outdoors, you can't tell that it's small at all!

Ms. Pink and Mr. Black share this three-bedroom flat set over three levels in a Victorian house conversion with three sons, and their cats, Coco and Tommy.

Calling all soon-to-be sellers.

These two siblings own a start-up interior design studio and homeware shop and live together in this chic London space. And they weren't shy with color!