If you have a room that is all neutral, with beige or white walls, floors, and furniture, you may not know where to start when adding color to your decor.
Some people are color-phobic and afraid of decorating because they might "mess up".
Here are a few interior designer tips & tricks for how to add color to a neutral room, baby steps at a time.
Research
You should research beautifully decorated rooms to figure out what you like and what you don't like.
If you find a photo of a well decorated room that you like, analyze it and figure out why you like it.
Do you like the furniture, the architecture, the colors, or is there one particular piece in the room that you like?
Save many room images that you like (perhaps in Pinterest), then occasionally get rid of the rooms that are no longer your favorite. The more time you spend saving photos and getting rid of photos will get you a better result that is a true representation of your design style.
Starting Point
Select a starting point object that has a color or several colors that you like.
It could be a large piece of artwork, a blanket for your bed, a colorful chandelier, multicolored curtains, or a large rug.
The starting point item will set the overall color scheme and style of your room, so make sure you love it!
Try to avoid using only the basic primary colors of blue, yellow, and red for a more mature color scheme.
If you really don't want much color, select a starting point item with maybe one color with a lot of different neutral colors and contrasting textures to add interest to your room.
Repeat Colors
Once you have started decorating using your starting point item, add more decorative items in similar colors to fill in.
You might only have one color that you wish to add to your neutral colors, such as pink.
If your starting point item has multiple colors, such as burgundy, emerald, and navy, you can decorate using burgundy items, emerald items, burgundy & emerald items, navy items, navy & burgundy items, etc.
Try to repeat each of your chosen colors in at least 3 different places in your room to repeat color and have a cohesive designer look.
Feel free to also use darker and lighter values of your chosen colors for an added dimension of color that interior designers love.
Modify What You Have
If you are happy with your current decor, consider modifying what you have to add more color.
You can paint your decor in one of your accent colors. Spray painting a decorative item a unique color is very simple and a great way to get a fresh new look in your room (especially if it is no longer your favorite accessory).
You can remove your existing pillow covers and replace them with new pillow covers in your chosen color.
Consider adding a slipcover to your sofa to give it a new look.
You can also reupholster a chair to add more color to your room.
You Need Contrast
If your neutral room is looking rather dull, it might be missing contrast.
Take a photo of your room and convert the photo to black and white.
10-25% of your room should look white, 10-25% of your room should look black, and 50-80% of your room should look gray.
If you don't have enough black or white, add some to create more contrast in your room to make it feel less muddy.
In addition to color contrast, you should also have textural contrast.
Consider adding rough & smooth items, soft & hard, shiny & dull, and bumpy & flat.
Rough items include brick, reclaimed wood, and burlap.
Smooth items include mirror, silky, and metallic items.
Sot items include velvet and other soft fabrics.
Hard items include wood and metal furniture.
Shiny items include metal and mirrors.
Dull items include fabrics and flat paint.
Bumpy items include textural fabrics and button tufting.
Flat items include wood furniture and hardback books.
Paint
If you are ready to update the color of your walls, see the article How to Choose Paint Colors for Your Home.
You can even paint the ceiling if you desire.
