The 8 Best Places in Your Home to Use Bold Colors

We love a good eggshell white or slate gray any day of the week, but keeping your home completely neutral can feel a bit too safe and stale. Sometimes you need to shake things up with a fun, eye-catching color that demands visitors’ attention in the best kind of way. If you’re looking to turn your ho-hum home into a visually stunning sanctuary, we’ve got your back! Here are the 8 top spots in your home that bold colors can make the greatest difference:

Pay Attention to the Details

How long has it been since you’ve actually noticed your baseboards or switch plates? We’d guess probably a good long while. Add a subtle yet bold pop of color in unexpected places around your home! You can start small with switch plates and doorknobs or go big with a bright fireplace mantle (or the fireplace itself!). Don’t forget to breathe new life into your home’s exterior as well – outdoor shutters are fabulous places to add a brilliant new shade of bold color!

Primp Your Powder Room

Is your small bathroom a bit boring and blasé? Add some visual interest with splashes of your favorite hues! Paint the underside of that clawfoot tub or wall-mounted sink in a bright color for a seamless look. Even a navy bathroom with white fixtures and baseboards can make an elegant statement!

Pack a Visual Punch in the Kitchen

The kitchen is one of our favorite spots for so many reasons. Not only is it the heart of the home where we gather and spend time eating and laughing with one another, but it’s also the perfect place to add some zest to your color scheme! Paint your lower or upper cabinets, add fun barstools in an eye-catching color, or update your backsplash to give your kitchen that much-needed pop!

Take It to the Ceiling

If you’re not ready to paint an entire room one shade, start somewhere a little different instead – the ceiling! This makes a world of difference, especially when your room is painted and decorated in neutrals. If the ceiling still seems a bit too intimidating, try something even smaller by adding a gorgeous accent color to your light fixture or lampshades!

Add Unconventionally-Colored Upholstery

Usually, it’s a smart idea to invest in big-ticket items in neutral shades like cream, beige, or charcoal. If you want to add a punch of color without spending thousands of dollars, bring home upholstery in playful hues! Don’t be afraid to step a little outside of your color scheme to add more visual interest. Maybe, for example, you have ruby red chairs in the dining room; if so, try adding a magenta or fuchsia chair in the adjacent living room!

Crank Up the Color on Case Goods

We’re talking bureaus, bookcases, chests of drawers, and wardrobes! Take that boring oak dresser in your bedroom and give it new life with a bold new color of your choice. Adorn it with some fun new hardware and voila – you made a beautiful statement piece without spending much money!

Accentuate Beautiful Architecture

Why wash out your home’s unique architecture with a stark shade of white? Dress it up with a dazzling color that’ll get everyone talking! If that feels like too much, you can always highlight the window frames to create an interesting focal point.

When in Doubt, Start Small

We totally get it – sometimes you just don’t feel terribly comfortable investing in bright colors and would rather stick with metallic or neutrals. There’s no shame there! Instead, play it safe by making a few small changes around your home. Throw pillows, rugs, vibrant artwork, ottomans, throws and blankets, and lampshades are excellent choices to help create a lively yet harmonious space! You can also spray paint some thrift-store frames to add an inexpensive yet stately pop of color! Which bold colors are you excited to decorate your house with? Navy? Crimson? Peony? Leafy green? Tell us all about your plans in the comments below!

17 Ways You Can Celebrate Earth Day Around Your Home

Earth Day is Thursday, April 22 – are you ready to celebrate our awesome planet? If you’re looking for ways to observe Earth Day and make a difference in the world around you, you’ve come to the right place. Here are 17 ways you can appreciate our beautiful earth and take steps toward making our planet even more beautiful:

Pick Up Litter

Head outside and clean up your neighborhood while you soak up the sun! Take a trash bag along and make sure you wear protective gear like gloves and tennis shoes while you pick up litter. Even just a little bit goes a long way in beautifying your community. Who knows? You may inspire others to take action and join you!

Read Up on Recycling

Do you find yourself absentmindedly tossing cardboard boxes or plastic containers in the trash instead of the recycling bin? Maybe you’re guilty of recycling milk cartons without rinsing them out first. If you recycle, great – but doing it incorrectly can wind up doing more harm than good and can cause tons of recyclables to end up in a landfill. Read up on how to recycle correctly without causing contamination and double-check which items your community accepts.

Go Zero Waste for a Day

Want to really challenge yourself? Try going the entire day without producing any trash! You may be surprised just how much (or how little!) garbage you can create in one day. Treat yourself at the end of the day with a few handy products to help you live a more zero-waste life!

Go Paperless

Are you still receiving all of your bills in the mail? Are you a subscriber to magazines or newspapers you never read? Do you tend to get a lot of junk mail? Celebrate Earth Day by switching to paperless! It won’t just help reduce paper waste – choosing the paperless option for your bills (when you can) allows you to schedule payments as well!

Give Composting a Try

You don’t have to keep throwing those food scraps or used paper towels in the trash anymore – just start a compost pile! It’s a great way to save landfill space and give your soil the nutrients it craves. If you’re not sure where to begin, check out this handy guide!

Plant a Garden

Earth Day is the perfect time to get outside and, well, spend time in the earth! Why not take this day to create a little garden in your backyard? You can either plant fruits and vegetables to harvest for future meals or beautiful plants and wildflowers to give your home some extra curb appeal. Remember to choose native plants and trees whenever possible to help out our pollinators!

Plant a Tree

Make your world a better – and greener – place by planting a tree or two! You can choose to plant a beautiful tree native to your community, or you can make a donation to an organization involved in the global reforestation effort like One Tree Planted. One dollar will plant one tree – and you can choose which continent you can plant it on, too!

Bring Home a Houseplant

We love houseplants! They provide us with cleaner air, help us feel calmer and happier, and make our spaces even more beautiful. Sneak a spider plant in your bedroom, hang English ivy in your living room, and add an adorable pop of color in your kitchen with some African violets!

Try Collecting Your Rainwater

Want to give those new houseplants a drink while conserving your water? Collect rainwater! You can do this by setting up a large barrel under the spouts off your roof, or you can create your very own rainwater garden.

Make Your Own Cleaning Products

It’s surprisingly easy to make your own cleaning products. In fact, you may already have items in your pantry – namely, vinegar and baking soda – that work just as well as all-purpose cleaners but at a much lower cost! Making DIY house cleaners also reduces the amount of harmful chemicals present in your home. So, grab some spray bottles, a few key ingredients, and maybe a couple of labels, and start making your own green cleaning products!

Install Low-Flow Faucets and Fixtures

If you’re good with tools and have some extra time on your hands, install low-flow fixtures and faucets in your kitchen and bathrooms! Go the extra mile and install a low-flow toilet as well. These new features will help conserve water, lower your water bill, and can make your house even more attractive if you want to sell it!

Open Your Windows

April is a beautiful time of the year. Turn off your thermostat for the day and let some fresh air in! This is especially important if you’re still working from home. Besides, it’ll help you save some money on your energy bill!

Stop Streaming and Read Instead

Speaking of saving electricity, binging Netflix and other online streaming services requires a surprising amount of energy! Switch off your stream for at least part of the day and pick up a riveting book instead. If you still want to watch your favorite shows, you can – just make sure to take breaks and turn off your streaming devices when you’re not using them!

Set Up a Birdfeeder

Birds of all feathers are beginning to migrate back north, so give them the food they need by setting up a birdfeeder! The birds will appreciate it, and you will find a joyful source of entertainment. Place your feeder close to shelter like a tree or shrub, and keep it either very close to (fewer than 3 feet) or much farther away from windows (greater than 10 feet) so they can avoid colliding with your windows. You don’t need anything fancy to enjoy the birds – you can make a simple birdfeeder using basic birdseed and a milk carton or pinecones!

Support Local Farmers and Businesses

Do you know how far your produce has to travel to get to the grocery store? More than likely it’s hundreds of miles. Help cut down on distribution-related emissions by buying your fruits and veggies from your local farmers market! The best part is that you’ll definitely get fresh produce, which tastes so much better than far-away, out-of-season foods. Local businesses are also much less likely to transport their goods very far, so shop locally when you can!

Give Your Car a Break

Save some gas, improve the air quality a bit, and get some exercise by taking a walk or hopping on your bike this Earth Day! This is a great, sustainable way to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Who knows? You may wind up enjoying this new mode of transportation so much that you’ll make a new habit out of it!

Adapt Some New Practices

What better time is there to make healthy, lifelong changes than Earth Day? Think about some small changes you can do to make our world a happier, healthier place and start today. You can purchase a few water tumblers or filters to help eliminate the use of plastic bottles, start recycling more of your goods, or even learn more about shopping sustainably.

How will you celebrate Earth Day this year? Tell us in the comments below!