What better way to warm up your room and give it life and energy than adding bright colors? Everyone seems to be craving a little warmth and color after 10 years of ubiquitous gray and all white rooms. Even neon is trending in decor right now.

While pastels are a pretty and very livable solution to adding color, nothing beats the energy and drama and happy vibe of brights. But how do you decorate in bright colors successfully without ending up with the chaos of Peewee Herman’s playhouse or something juvenile that looks like a cartoon?

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If you are after smart and sophisticated energetic decor, avoid these 3 mistakes

Mistake #1

Making every element of the space a bright color.

If you need to pass out sunglasses to sit in the room, you’re doing it wrong…Your eye needs some relief, someplace to rest and a foil for the brights. Bright can be energetic, but all bright all the time is just exhausting.

Solution: Add in some natural wood tones, a backdrop of neutrals, some natural wicker or bamboo pieces, or a sisal or seagrass floor covering. Even just a bit of natural can ground all that energy.

My design crush, Mark D Sikes, demonstrates this masterfully in the dining room below. Bright red takes center stage, but there is seagrass matting underfoot and a natural bamboo and wicker table and chairs.

bamboo chairs | wool rug | floral pillow | green velvet pillow | yellow lamp

Mistake #2

Using all solid color elements (or what I like to call Lego decor).

This results in blocks of color that don’t have any way to relate to each other and often ends up feeling more juvenile than intended.

Solution: Start with a statement fabric or rug or wallpaper in a multi-hued pattern and pull the rest of your decor pieces from those colors. This will lend cohesion to the whole room.

The classic Schumacher pattern Chiang Mai Dragon comes in a variety of colorways. In the aqua variation shown below it is paired with a raspberry, green, and cream trellis pattern and a red and cream toile. Bright colored accents, and aqua green walls are all colors that appear in the vibrant patterned fabric.

Schumacher Chiang Mai Dragon Fabric | pair of tufted club chairs | blue garden stool | hand painted cocktail table

Mistake #3

Using equal amounts of each color.

While some tension adds energy, too much tension with every color competing to be the most noticed results in an uncomfortable space. Kind of like spending time with a toddler yelling LOOK AT ME! Repeatedly.

Solution: Observe the 60/30/10 decorating rule. 60% of the surfaces in your main color, 30% in your accent color, 10% in another accent color. Of course rules were made to be broken, so you do you. And you can certainly use more than 3 main colors in a room with great success, just make sure to vary the amounts.

The Ruthie Sommers library shown below is ~60% red (on the floor, wallcovering, and millwork), ~30% yellow (on the ceiling, and in the fabric and accents), and ~10% other colors like green.

sapphire mirror | coral tea jar lamp | yellow decorative books by the foot | green lattice cache pot

Color is a terrific antidote to the winter blahs. And if that furry rodent declares 6 more weeks of winter next week, a shot of bright color may be just what we need!

Cheers to Bright Color!