Nine Readers Share Their Bright, Colorful Rooms
When I was five, my parents let me pick paint colors for my bedroom. A month later, I had purple walls and a pink ceiling you could see from the street. Color is such a mood booster, don’t you think? Seeking inspiration, I asked Cup of Jo readers to share their bold rooms at home…
“I live in one of the cloudiest cities in the U.S. and knew that color would brighten our kitchen [both photos above]. I decided to paint the walls Arsenic green, the cabinets Bond Street Blue, our freestanding pantry Rangwali pink, and the stairs in a shade of yellow inspired by the Dunraven Arms hotel in Adare, Ireland.” — Averil, Grand Rapids, Michigan
“For our bathroom, I wanted something fun. So, I got a gallon of peach and pink paint, a sample size of green, and a pint of black paint I had left over from something else; and we painted strawberries. My engineer friend mentioned after visiting my house that I’d forgotten the stem on a single strawberry, and it took me days of looking to find it. My favorite ones, of course, are those my son did.” — Britt, Portland, Oregon
“I painted this window in my spare bedroom bright yellow and the walls a softer shade. Even on the greyest English days, I pop my head round the door for an instant happiness injection.” — Jess, Kent, England
“I got divorced a couple years ago, and when my kids aren’t here, I often spend time painting or adding wallpaper or putting in a tile backsplash (because I now own a wet saw?!). I’ve painted a few rooms pink. I know I could have done that when a man lived here, too, but there’s something sweet about doing it during my strong single woman era.” — Chrissie, Salem, Massachusetts
“I mixed two blues to make the perfect color for my living room.” — Shelby, Peoria, Illinois
“I’m a therapist, and I try to make my background neutral enough to not be distracting but interesting enough that my clients have something else to look at beside my face. I was craving a bold space, so I decided to go for the warm, witchy library of my dreams. My millennial clients often comment on the deep plum, saying it was the color of their bedroom in high school. It was also my bedroom color in college, so it’s a nice point of connection.” — Allison, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
“My 10-year-old daughter asked for a green bedroom. I was dubious, but we balanced it out with pink, including this tiger wallpaper, and now I love it.” — Christa, Santa Rosa, California
“Before buying this house, I’d always lived in rental apartments with cream or beige walls. ‘Art teacher chic’ was my goal for our new living room. I figured painting is pretty low stakes — you just need time and the cost of paint — so if the color was hideous, we could paint over. My mom definitely gave me a look when she saw the color in the paint can, but she ended up really liking it, too.” — Page, Northville, Michigan
“I let my kids choose the color of their shared room, and they chose very bright blue. I was nervous about it, but all the furniture and artwork pop so much. The room feels happy during the day and cozy at night.” — Jessica, New York City
Thoughts? Do you have any colorful walls at home?
P.S. Colorful house tours in Connecticut, Brooklyn, upstate New York, and Sweden. Plus, these gorgeous NYC bookshelves!
Tags: house tours, reader comments, reader outfits
Comments
123 commentsWould love to see more of Chrissie‘s pink rooms! Heck yes for reclaiming your space.
I love the pink kitchen!!! Great colors next to that exposed brick. Chef kiss! Would love a house tour to see if the rest has as much charm. ❤️
I love these, especially that hand-painted (!) strawberry bathroom! I live in an unupdated 1950s ranch house with the original orangey brown woodwork and the walls were all a warm white when we moved in. The bathrooms are now SW agapanthus (the most lovely lavender) and a blue green that turned out to be a mistake with the tan-white tile. My question is how do other people incorporate wall color into houses with especially orange-brown trim? With a bright white you can do anything but when your trim is basically orange??? The wood is in pretty good shape and we don’t want to paint it…
Farrow and Ball have a deep green called “green smoke” and I love how that looks with darker wood colours….. I guess just go with whatever colour you like…
Haha, I’m actually on Team White Walls. When I first moved into my house, every room was painted a different color – sometimes multiple colors (my son’s bedroom had a pink wall, a blue wall, and green walls, plus a wallpaper border. YES, REALLY). And none of the colors went together. I could not wait to paint all the walls white – in a small house, it’s a nice, unifying element.
Anyone have renter-friendly tips to add colour without painting? Love these bright homes that bring joy!
Curtains can make a big impact You can just hang at the edge of windows to cut cost. I have some I would describe as a paprika color I’ve used for about fifteen years. They seem to go with anything and add a lot of personality.
Big art hung with command strips, fun pillows/rug/duvet!
Curtains and bedding—have different combinations to mix and match. You can paint your furniture bright colors too. I love the look of colorful carpeting to brighten a room.
I’ve seen some people use sofa or chair slipcovers to add extra colour (or just for a refresh). The best one I’ve seen was butter yellow!
I really love painted bathrooms, and this strawberry one made me smile so much! :-) Feeling very inspired now!
I always thought rooms should be light color to make them feel bigger. Then I moved into a house with a hideous dark brown in the primary bedroom. During the day I hated the hue, but at night, I loved feeling like I was in a cave. Just this week I finally took the plunge and re painted a gorgeous deep blue green and I’m thrilled! https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/blue-paint-colors/SW9140-blustery-sky
I let my five year old pick her room color and it was hot pink, my least favorite color, but I did it because I love her. But in the dark of our basement it had a gray tinge and we both loathed it within six months. I now have a palette of six colors I like that my children can pick from.
Love this post! Thank you for sharing colorful homes and thank you to the readers for sharing their homes!
I am easily overstimulated by too much color and stuff, so we have a very neutral home all around. However, our windowless laundry room/pantry was very dismal. During covid, my husband painted it a bright, happy blue and then (because he is a dear) he made me an original illustration of a NorCal beach we used to visit during our college years. It is now a little pocket of joy, and (almost) makes folding endless loads of laundry not so bad.
This is such great inspiration! Thank you! I’ve bounced back into the nest to help take care of my disabled mother and this lavender room hasn’t been painted since I was 18!
Our downstairs 1/2 bathroom is mostly hot pink, with purple trim, and wall paper that is animals in the jungle but dressed up in human accessories. It’s a tiny powder room so it’s always such a fun surprise for people to go in there when at our house!
My living room walls are matte black but my coffee table is pink, my kitchen is pink and my bedroom has a deep blue accent wall. Winters in NB, Canada are long and dark so I make sure that my home is bright and warm.
Where is that animal print rug from?
It’s the Jingle Jungle Royal Blue Rug by Iris Apfel for Ruggable (it used to be available at Target too)
I love all of this! My bff cousin went through a terrible breakup in ~2009 (found out her fiancee was cheating on her about 2 weeks before their scheduled wedding). She moved in with her parents for a month and then found a cute condo. On her first night in the place, we ordered Chinese takeout from the place on the corner, got blindingly drunk, wandered to the Ace Hardware 2 blocks down and chose a bunch of wild paint chips. We went back, raced around and chose which rooms should be painted which colors, and taped them onto their respective walls. She considered it again in the sober light of day, and she went for it with every choice. Her condo was so fun and bright and cheerful! (Yellow living/dining room, hot pink bathroom, blue kitchen, etc etc). She lived there for a long time, found a new love, got married to her soulmate in 2018, moved to a new house, but I’ll always remember that cheery condo and how much fun we had. (We also don’t get blindingly drunk anymore, lol)
I love this so much ❤️
When my parents bought a new car, they let my sister and me choose the colour. We chose the most acid lime-yellowish-green, and my parents went with it! It still makes me laugh thinking about it today.
This is so fun! I painted our living room millennial gray and then decided one year to go for “sea serpent” by sherwin Williams instead. It’s almost navy but with a twinge of green/turquoise to it. It made the space feel a lot bigger somehow and also cozier at the same time.
I have a question : I just bought an apartment and my walls are white and beige. I’ve always love interior design and colors but I find myself stuck to choose the color. All the bright colors I live in life seem too… expressive ? Full of émotions ? I feel like if I paint my bathroom pink it will always “imprint” the same mood on me and I will quickly get tired of it. While white feels like a “white canvas” (on which I plan to add a lot of artwork anyway) which would contain all of my moods and emotions and ways of beings… But it seems less fun! How have you chosen the colors/wallpapers of your house ? Have you got tired of it ? Have you chosen white/grey/beige and are happy with it ?
White walls enthusiast here. I have lots of colourful furnishings but not a lot of artwork actually on the walls. Colourful and/or crowded walls make me feel stressed – it’s too much brain input. White walls make me feel instantly calmer. Trends come and go. It was all white walls for a while, now the pendulum has swung the other way and it’s all colour all the time… but you’re the person living in your space. Decorate for how you want to feel when you get home.
light grey was in for a while and now i find it so depressing and overdone. i try to pick a color that isn’t a trend but also looks good in relation to the light that room naturally receives. for example, if light bounces off your neighbor’s red brick house, it will add some warmth to the colors you pick for your walls. all of this is to say you should get some color samples and paint little splotches to see how the color actually looks in a room, rather than how it looks on a piece of paper, and try to not limit yourself to what is in style at the moment, because soon you’re inevitably going to be sick of seeing that color everywhere (if you’re like me)!
I enjoy the design blog Stylebyemilyhenderson.com she has a small team that works with her. If you enter the name Mallory in the search bar, you can see some creative decorating in her apartment. She just did a very glamorous “speakeasy” in the (only) hall closet. Might not be for you, but fun to see!
A really good compromise is to paint the bottom half of the walls, and keep the top half white. You can leave it like that, or do a thin trim of another color, or put a piece of molding in white or trim. I did this in my living room and it looked so good I did my kids rooms too. Bises de Marseille ;-)
Hi Maia, When designing a space, it can be helpful to ask “how do I want to feel in this room?” and then go from there. Think of what your favourite colours are and what you feel when you’re around those colours. I work with a lot of clients as an interior colour specialist, so it really differs from person to person. When my husband and I were choosing colours for our apartment, we knew the living room should feel like a warm hug. We ended up with the most stunning shade of earthy pale pink that changes colour with the light, time of day, and seasons. It looks like a neutral in our space. When choosing a colour, it’s also helpful to be aware of what direction the room is facing as the light has an effect on the colour. I would really recommend doing swatches on your wall beforehand if you’re on the fence, and if you’re unsure where to start, most paint companies large or small have a customer service rep who would be happy to help give you ideas. Life is too short to not try painting a room a colour other than white/grey/beige. The worst thing that can happen is you won’t like it, in which case, it can always be changed. Good luck finding your colour(s) — maybe one day we’ll be seeing a photo of your space on here!
Lucy – What color is the earthy pale pink??? I’m looking for something very pale, that works well with a lot of natural light!
To Maïa — here’s my story. My previous place was entirely white walls, and for me the effect was calming and peaceful. I was able to add colors through my furnishings by season, and I never tired of it. I even repainted it with the exact same shade after 10 years: Polar Bear by Sherwin Williams. That was in Southern California. Then I moved to the high Sierra Nevada mountains to a darling cottage perched on the slopes of Kate Peak. I brought my California sensibilities with me and immediately made plans to refinish the worn wood floors and repaint the walls. The entire place was painted a dusty shade of yellow. I mean the entire cottage — every single wall and ceiling — all the same. Full Sun by Kelly Moore (may they rest in peace). But life got in the way, as it does. Before I knew it, a year had passed… and I realized that I love this color. The walls change remarkably as the sun passes around the house — from bright, happy, sunny yellow during the day to a soothing, welcoming, glowy tan in the evening. I often send a wave of blessings to the woman who lived here before me and who chose this color. It’s been almost 15 years now. Yep, I’ve repainted a wall here and there — with the very same color! And no surprise, the floors didn’t get refinished either. Anyway, this is a long way to say three things to you, Maïa: Think about how the sun passes through your space, and how that might affect your choice. White isn’t the only neutral — the rainbow is at your disposal! You’ll come to the best choice. Trust yourself in this. Peace out — B
Maïa, I’ve lived in my home for 25 years now. Lots of different colors, especially at the beginning. Before the all white minimalist walls of the lady few years, there was every bright color, esp bright accent colored walls in living spaces and very bright bathrooms and kitchens too. All I tried that. I have to say, nothing really felt right (bright yellow kitchen, sage green and yellow living room, cream bathrooms, pink, blue, purple bedrooms). Now the 2 spare bedrooms are all white. The guest bath is all white. Kitchen/living/ dining room is warm pale gray with one wall Caribbean blue. We have great light, lots of sunshine, lots of windows, high ceilings, and live in the far north so light changes a lot throughout the year. A lot of warm oak finishes. It just works for me. I finally don’t want to change anything. Although all white (or gray or beige) was trendy for a bit, it’s also timeless and classic and there’s good reason is preferred by a lot of people. I love looking at brightly colored homes. But I don’t want to live in one. Anyone who said “my deep red walls are so bright actually!” I mean, not compared to if you had white, though? That literally doesn’t make sense. And for some, brightness isn’t the goal, and that’s cool. You really need to ask yourself what you want, and don’t worry about anything else.
A friend introduced me to Sherwin Williams “agreeable grey” at 50% (this is how she told me to order it). It is BEAUTIFUL. It adds just a little color & contrast, but it also seemingly changes colors as the sun rises & sets. Is it a gray? Is it a little bit purple? Nobody knows & i love it. Adding that shade has given my kitchen a lot of life & made the white features (sink & cabinets) pop in the best way. You can always try an accent wall & see what you think before committing to the whole room! Painting a ceiling is annoying, but it always ends up so cool!
I’ve always chosen very bright colors and it doesn’t take much time for my brain yo read them as a neutral. I disagree with advice to paint accents. I think this feels busy. I personally don’t enjoy the experience of looking at colors with a gray tinge like sage green. It makes me feel staticky and uneasy. Robins egg blue feels clean and calm. My advice is to go brighter when in doubt. One thing to consider is how these colors look bounced back onto your skin. Pink, red and orange light flatter my skin tone, so they are natural choices for the bedroom and bathroom.
I love colour, but I find it overstimulating. In my place I pick a colour and go for one of the palest, calmest versions of it I can find. So far the bathroom is a pale, rosy pink; the bedroom is a light sage green and the living room is a warm pale taupe. It’s calming to my brain, but makes me feel as though there’s some variety and each room has a distinct personality.
Thank so much to you all for your advice, expériences and stories! I’ll report here what I finally chose!
The strawberries are so delightful! And the tiger wall paper! And the rug from the second to mast photo! As usual, CoJ readers are the best <3
Yes!!! That rug! Details please!
Thanks for the inspiration, I am looking at paint colors to make my little house a cozy haven for my boys and I – like a friend said “you want a room to sit down in and say ‘I LOVE this room!’” We rented a house a number of years ago that had a bedroom that was robin’s egg blue with appliqué trees on the walls. The landlord offered to take them down and paint over it and we said NO WAY! We added stars to the ceiling for the next people :)
My favorite handbag was a gorgeous yellow chartreuse. Absolutely loved it! So I had it color matched at the paint store and put it on my living room walls. Love at first sight!
My old bedroom was this color, it’s the most beautiful wall color!
I love all of these! What a great idea for a reader-sourced article. That final blue kids bedroom is so great!
Britt. I live in Portland. You know. The war zone. And LOVE the strawberries. Will you be my friend? Not creepy at all I realize. But those are awesome.
Waving from NE!
Omg loveeee feeling connected to these ladies through these painted walls! The pink and plum walls, I feel so seen
What I always want to know, though, is do you actually do all of the prepping and painting yourselves or do you just pick a color and hire a painter?
we paint ourselves. too poor to hire lol
My kitchen was painted by the contractors when the cabinets were installed, but I do all the other painting myself, including the yellow hall and the adjacent dining area with the mushroom print.
not one of the people featured, but we’ve never hired interior house painters. the prep work is soooo annoying but I find painting very relaxing!
love the strawbs, LOVE the yellow, can’t wait to paint in a non-rental one day !!!
I love all of these! We are also big fans of color in our house. We have high ceilings with thick crown moulding and high baseboards that I painted an off-white throughout the house. Each room is different—green in the foyer, tangerine in the laundry room, dark gray in the parlor (with flamingo wallpaper accents!), yellow in our bedroom. The outside is painted bright pink. I reupholstered some of my grandmother’s chairs with a colorful fabric that I used as a guide for colors throughout the house. The kitchen/dining/living room color came from some art that’s in the dining room. Then I used some of the paint colors to paint thrifted/found furniture—the yellow from our bedroom is on the dining hutch that’s in the kitchen, whose back is covered in the flamingo wallpaper from the parlor. The best thing I did before I painted was to hire a designer to come in and help me find the right shade of each color I wanted to use. I tend to choose colors that are too bright or saturated on my own. It was the best $100 I ever spent!
That sounds so fun! I wish I could see it!
Team color all the way! When we moved into my current house, our kitchen had orange formica countertops. They are in no way trendy and I adore them. We painted the walls a minty green. I also painted the door to my office the brightest yellow i could find and its the first thing you see as you walk up the stairs. It feels like a portal to another world. I want to paint the doors of all my rooms now.
These are so happy! Once I rented a house with a lime green kitchen. Our house ended up being used in a TV show and film crew painted the kitchen grey. At the end of filming, they offered to repaint the kitchen. We jumped at the option to choose our own color with none of the work, but we had to make a quick decision on the color. We went for what we thought was a buttery yellow; it turned out to be extremely bright, very intense, eye-popping yellow. It made me laugh every time I entered the room. Eventually we repainted it a calm blue. But I so enjoyed the years of the very yellow kitchen.
That first one – I gasped! They’re all so gorgeous. I love colorful rooms but I do struggle with how to connect them within the house, so they don’t each feel completely separate and disconnected.
I started with painting one room at a time, the yellow stairs used to be light blue, but after the kitchen was green it didn’t feel like the best color. The rooms adjacent to my kitchen/dining areas are dark blue and pink. I painted a lot of swatches and took my time(it was over the course of about 4 months). I wanted to make sure the rooms all flowed well since they are connected with arches.
All of these rooms are gorgeous! As a person who grew up in a house that was (and is also lowkey still is) afraid of colours, this is amazing and inspiring. If I ever own a house (or rent a place I can paint), I might need to consult Averil because I would have never thought to combine those colours for a house decor.
Katums I wouldn’t have thought to combine the pink, green and blue either without some help from the team at deVol Kitchens.
I grew up in a house with white walls and married a man who is very much into neutral paint. I always wanted to have a more colorful interior, so when we first got married we agreed that I could paint my office whatever color I wanted. I picked (what I thought) was a pretty shade of light green. Once it was up, it had more of a pale neon green look much to my dismay. To make it worse, when the lights were on and blinds closed at night, the edges of the windows appeared to glow as if I had green lights in the room. It was laughably terrible! My husband deemed it “Alien Autopsy Green” (and helped me repaint it more of a grayish blue). We still laugh about “Alien Autopsy Green” 15 years later!
The image of glowing green around your nightime blinds made me laugh. I could envision your neighbors wondering “what in the holy X-Files is going on in there?”
Christa in Santa Rosa, hi from another Santa Rosan!
Christa and Rocky! Hi from another Santa Rosan. I was so tickled when I saw a darling Santa Rosa room included in the round up.
These bright, joyful rooms immediately brought to mind, memories of 80s Esprit catalogs and clothes lines.
I loved Esprit! Thanks for reminding me about those awesome clothes/bags.
Our first home was all oak and white. It was on top of a hill, and our windows looked into the treetops. And I loved it. 15 years ago we bought a 200 year old Colonial with white trim, white walls, white ceilings. BORING! We painted the center hall Dallas Cowboys blue, the family rooms are yellow and John Deere green, and when we redid the kitchen, painted it red. One bathroom is a lovely watery blue, and the other is spring green. Our bedroom is yellow, and the kids’ rooms have been a multitude of colors, but are now baby blue, robin’s egg blue, and grey with a navy accent wall. Our furniture is pretty neutral, but we have a lots of artwork, blankets, and pillows for added zing. And I love it!
The pink and green kitchen… that is my friends!!!💗
Sanctuary! Creative, striking and all so unique. Wow!
The whole article is perfection but that opening photograph is the platonic ideal. Thank you
I love this post and I also have a strawberry bathroom! All of these rooms are so fun. Our home was cursed with the millennial grey when we purchased it and have since painted the office baby pink, the guest room lavender, and the primary bedroom blue. Next up is painting the kitchen cabinets green and installing a baby pink backsplash.
We painted our dining room Old Navy from Benjamin more, it gets a lot of light so its not too dark and I love the way our artwork pops off the walls now and its my favorite in fall because I buy ornamental pumpkins and the oranges and yellows are so pretty against the blue For tips Id say go with your heart A few years back everyone was painting everything white and that just wasn’t me. I was curious about the trend and thought it looked nice in other people’s houses but it didn’t make me heart sing. Your place is a refuge pf you so of course everyone’s home looks different
OMG I am the beigest girl of all times and this has me wanting to paint my whole house.
The tiger wallpaper is fantastic with the green! Love❤️
A couple years ago I strong armed my husband into getting wild monkey-themed wallpaper in our half bath and we incorporated an uncharacteristic amount of color. He doubted me but now we both love it. It looks great!
looove
This post is amazing! When we moved into our new house, the whole thing needed a facelift (which it’s still waiting for), but we wanted our kids rooms to feel like theirs immediately. My then 4-year old son wanted a “rainbow room” and we brainstormed something that would age with him. We got small cans of 8 colors in paint, all rainbow colors, tarped the room and all the family grabbed brushes and painted the entire room in brightly colored blobs. We then covered it in lines of painters tape, painted the entire room in two shades of gray, and pulled off the tape. It’s amazing, and so happy.
I’d love to see this. Maybe there can be a “readers colorful rooms part II” (in winter, when we need another boost)!!
😍 Loving all the colors! The pink Kitchen with the pink, green, and exposed brick – plus the cute story….it is all VERY sweet! You go Chrissie!!!
Oh wow, these photos are inspiring! I’m a renter with blindingly white walls, and I worry if I paint some of the rooms, the other rooms I’ve left white will look even more stark. Anyone have suggestions?
Have you considered fun textiles? They are bright, lightweight enough for renter-friendly hanging, easily resized, and can really draw your eye and look intentional on a neutral background. Plus you can sometimes repurpose them (cushions, pillowcases, tablecloths) when you move. I have a hallway that is visible from many rooms and therefore painted the same neutral “agreeable grey” mentioned downthread. Hung a multicolored Otomi tablerunner from Mexico lengthwise down the hall and really like the contrast of the color riot against the grey.
If your walls are uniform ie not vaulted ceilings or tons windows peel and stick wallpaper might be easier than painting. Or maybe Im just having flashbacks to the time I thought we’d be in apt for a while and we painted and then we moved out around a year later and had to repaint EVERYTHING and it was no fun or colorful furniture?
Ooh I like these suggestions, thank you! Do people still do an accent wall?
In my parent’s house, the bedrooms were all 3 walls of white, then 1 wall of a feature colour each person could choose. It works beautifully!
Of the rooms on my first floor, I painted just my dining room. You can see it from both the living room and the kitchen so it feels high impact but less of a commitment (and less work) than painting all the rooms. I don’t find my other white rooms too stark and I really like looking through the doorways and seeing the color. But I also like white walls in order to show off my art collection, YMMV
I wanna see more of Christie’s kitchen!! That story is so beautiful and I feel like so many women can relate to that. I love the way the colors pop!
Love all these! Cup of Jo team, I had a thought today about a feature called One Perfect Piece where readers submit a picture of their favorite art (wall art or sculptural) in their homes. I personally would love to see that feature and I bet other readers would too.
Love this idea
Love this idea! I’m in the midst of creating a gallery wall and would be so interested to see what creative pieces of art others have displayed.
Shout out to the rainbow mushroom print in the second photo! My all-time favorite puzzle is a 1000 piece eeBoo puzzle of the same print: https://eeboo.com/products/mushroom-rainbow-1000pc-square-puzzle?srsltid=AfmBOoqYoHMqtMa18Q2iRBzbwanl_dtDxq4VRlKAXrPexyalaiu26j-w
How delightful!
The mushroom print is by Kelsey Oseid, and can be found here: https://kelzuki.com/products/rainbow-of-mushrooms-art-print
I’ve always chosen very vibrant colors in my homes. When I bought my condo as a single mom, my daughter and I each picked out pastely purples for our bedrooms, and the bathroom is pink with fuschia towels. When people comment, I say that we are leaning into our feminine energy; no boys allowed.
i needed this today <3 so lovely
Love love love Page’s living room. That rug is mesmerising. We could all use a little more colour in these dark times.
Royal blue in our bedroom, nacho yellow in our dressing room, forest green in my office, our kitchen cabinets are olive green and the basement bathroom has blue peacock wallpaper. Life is too short for boring walls!
I love those strawberries!! So simple yet such a statement. And I really like the idea of painting a window frame yellow to bring in the light. I am that person with family photos everywhere, children’s artwork taped in between, and a bajillion bookcases so painting is daunting. The last time I did it was actually when my kids and husband left early for a trip and I stayed behind just to paint in peace. A glorious deep blue/teal in the kids’ room and I love how it complements their navy and white furniture.
I love the exuberance and spirit of experimentation displayed in these rooms. Even more than this, I love the spirit that doesn’t take interior design too doggone seriously. That said, my home is filled with dearly loved, colorful objects (mostly scrounged from thrift stores) that I like to set off against off white walls. I think that there is a choice to made between walls that energize and those that soothe. But! There is a spectrum and there are homes with colorful walls that fall on the soothing end without being ho hum. My Scandinavian Home features some beautiful examples of these. Here’s are a few examples: https://www.myscandinavianhome.com/2022/06/a-charming-stockholm-apartment-with.html https://www.myscandinavianhome.com/2020/04/a-fabulous-danish-home-in-plethora-of.html Also! A bright, colorful home doesn’t necessarily need bright walls!: https://www.myscandinavianhome.com/2018/05/12-child-friendly-ideas-from-happy.html
Speaking of a dubious parent … three paint memories of my VERY (!) particular dad who exclusively meticulously paints in the neutral tan / greige zone in his own house: – He let me pick the paint color of my bedroom in high school, and only grimaced a little when I picked an eye-popping and somehow electric Robin’s egg blue. – He painted my grandma’s living room/kitchen a bright butter yellow that she adored. – And for days and days, he spent time on a ladder painting three floors of our church, a very on-sale green. He’s the best painter I know, and while I know he was gritting his teeth, he did this for the people he loved.
Haha at the very on sale green for the church…that’s how our church got its (exterior! nearly Pepto pink!) paint job. But it made such a reputation in the neighborhood that decades later when it was time to repaint, we went with the same pink shade again :)
LOVE this!! we’re all about color in our house! We’re renters so have chosen colorful furniture [our beloved teal sectional] and have moved & put up our wedding umbrellas [we hung them from the top of our reception venue so the whole ceiling was pops of joy!] in each place. In our current place, we let our kids choose a feature wall in their shared bedroom and it was pure fun to see their personalities come out [49ers for one side and vibrant pink with polka dots on the other side!]
We need a full house tour from Averil in Grand Rapids, Michigan!
As a fellow Grand Rapidian, totally agree!
Yes please!!
After living with our basic, builder-grade, matte “Agreeable Grey” paint job on every single wall in our house for five years, we’ve finally started branching out and doing some painting. We just painted our room Dutch Tile Blue by Sherwin Williams (it’s similar to Shelby’s living room) and I’m blown away by how much of an impact it has! The room instantly feels cozier and full of personality. I’m excited to make progress on painting the color we chose for the main living areas/hallways: Likable Sand by SW (lol at all these congenial paint names.) It’s still neutral, but very warm and it looks almost peachy in some lighting conditions—I’m really excited to warm up our space and I’m hoping it will make it feel snug and cozy during our dreary PNW fall/winter, and glowy and vibrant in the beautiful summer light!
Wow! I live in PNW and have nearly my entire home in agreeable gray. I’m about to paint three rooms different colors (two bathrooms and a bedroom), and I’m going dark green, deep blue or plum, and a pale pink….i still love the neutral light gray, but I’m ready for colors too.
My realtor told me to paint every room in “Agreeable Gray” to help sell the house and I thought she was joking, but there it was, a real Sherwin Williams color.
Page- would you please share link to your beautiful vibrant rug? Loved your room.
It’s a Iris Apfel Jingle Jungle rug from Ruggable! We have the white version in our nursery.
I love these all!!!! As a fellow cloudy locale dweller, I noticed a trend in the locations :) My husband and I have always preferred colorful interiors (and exteriors) to combat and compliment the greys outdoors. When we painted our first kitchen, we selected a crisp, classic muted slate blue. Then _immediately_ repainted in a cheery, bright yellow! We’ve gone straight to colorful ever since. Paige and Averil, the time has come to address the beige living room in our current home and your rooms are particular inspiration! Britt, greetings from Portland :) The strawberries are incredible and extra applause for carrying them to the ceiling. I hope you got a good massage after that was completed!
Page, I adore that rug!
These are gorgeous and so fun! Thanks for sharing! ❤️
Just a heads up that the ads I see along the sides and bottom of this article are from a pro-Trump org called “common sense leadership” – I highly doubt you ok’d that with your advert team!
immediately calling our ad network, thank you so much for flagging!!!
I absolutely adore every single one of these rooms. You all have incredible style!
A painted room feels like freedom! I love it!
That first image looks like a Hopper painting! Beautiful saturated colors with pools of light and shadows. Gorgeous!
Thank you! The sunlight makes the room very special when we have it!
When I was three, my parents let me choose colours for my room all by myself (!). I chose deep red carpet and sky blue flowery wallpaper. It was hideous but I was so happy. I still can’t believe that they let me do it!
That does not sound hideous! It sounds so creative and wonderful.
The engineer strawberry story cracked me up. What a fabulous idea for a bathroom!
@Shelby, Peoria, Illinois – your room’s got SAUCE
I Agree!!!!! @Shelby, I want to see more of your home!
Thank you!!! I’m sharing bits and pieces on Instagram! Just did a post about my kitchen reveal which is F&B Sudbury Yellow! @birdhouseofhobbies