Easy, Low-Commitment Ways to Add Color to Every Room of Your Home

From your entryway to the bedroom, these easy ideas will infuse your home with color.

January can sometimes feel a bit bleak after all the excitement and festivities of the holidays, which makes it the perfect time of year to recalibrate how you live with color. Color is a joy to the eye and can have a powerful impact on your mood and your life.

Adding color to your home doesn’t have to be a big commitment, expense, or Herculean effort—there are plenty of small updates that will make a difference. Here are some of my favorite ways to brighten up every room with color.

Mudroom and Entry

Adding some color to your entry makes a great first impression.

• A mudroom is a pretty quick pass-through, but adding a colorful doormat or rug is an easy way to add a pop of brightness right off the bat.

• Rethink the bins you use to organize things like toys and coats. Swap plain baskets for colorful ones.

• For a more formal entry, I always like to see flowers or plants when I first walk in the door. You can pick a plant with unique foliage or one that blooms, like orchids. If you already have a plant in place, switch the pot for one in a new color.

Related: 15 Best Doormats That Will Make Your Entryway More Inviting

Living Room

For low-commitment color in the living room, add new decorative pillows and a throw blanket, plus a pretty tray. Try a new paper lampshade—or spray paint an old one—and the color transformation is complete.

"Color is a joy to the eye and can have a powerful impact on your mood and your life."

Dining Room

Table linens are the most obvious choice, but there are other low-commitment ways to add color that I like even more.

• You may not want to bring in a whole new set of dishware, so try adding chargers in a hue that works with the plates you have, or buy colorful beaded placemats or a patterned runner. These can be left on the table even when the table isn’t set for a meal.

• Candles are especially nice in the dark winter months. I love taking out all of my silver candlesticks and putting them on the dining table filled with different tapers. I generally lean towards monochrome candles, but I have experimented with multicolored candles—it's fun and just so pretty to look at.

Bedroom

We begin and end our days in the bedroom, so it’s an important room not to overlook.

• Choose a new set of sheets in an unexpected color. I happen to think everyone looks better against pink sheets.

• Bring in a new throw blanket for a cozy pop of color. Add in some decorative pillows for extra cheer.

• Add area rugs on either side of the bed. People often don't think to do this, but it's nice to have a soft spot for your feet, especially in the winter.

• I’m a staunch believer in fresh flowers in the bedroom. It doesn't have to be anything fancy; it can be as simple as a bud vase with a single blossom from the deli or grocery store.

Related: 20 Small Bedroom Ideas With Big Impact

Kitchen

Bringing in color, even if the additions are small, can make everything feel fresh.

• Martha relies on color that comes from nature—bowls of Araucana eggs, fruits, and vegetables—to accent the subtle palette in her kitchen.

• Think about both hard and soft goods, like colorful tea kettles, bright enamel cast iron, canisters, pot holders, and dish towels, as appropriate, to add pops of color throughout.

• Don’t forget patterns. I don't think you could find a kitchen in America that doesn't have some sort of lemon image or motif!

• Mix colorful glasses in with your usual glasses, or consider some new flatware with colorful handles, like vintage ones made with Bakelite.

Home Office

Now that so many of us work from home at least part of the week, paying extra attention to the home office makes a lot of sense.

• One of my favorite high-low approaches is to color-coordinate everything. Get new sticky notes all in one color. Make your pens one color and display them in a pretty glass. Push pins and file folders can be all the same color ... you get the idea.

• If you have a bulletin board, cover it with colored paper or fabric. You can even string some ribbons across it and turn it into a ribbon board.

Bathroom

Even if your bathroom is lacking natural light, there are several ways to brighten it with color.

• There's a reason Martha picked pastels when she launched her towel line at Kmart—just like with pink sheets, everyone looks good against a pink towel. Also, think about changing your bath mats and shower curtain.

• If you really want to go to the extreme, you can purchase items like colored cotton balls and cotton swabs and keep them in a pretty glass canister.

Try any (or all!) of these easy opportunities to sprinkle color throughout your home. You’ll soon feel the positive impact that living with color can bring.

Read the original article on Martha Stewart.