I remember being advised, when I first moved into my small GHI home, that I’d better keep the walls all white so the rooms would look larger. I may have mumbled I like color but quietly I was thinking “Boring!”

So I thought it would be fun to post to the Unofficial GHI Facebook Group the question: “Who’s got bold colors? Send me photos!” Here are the results, followed by three amazing homes that I solicited for this project.

Above, from Alison Gary: “Larger bedroom of long frame (now an office with a door into new bedroom where the back window used to be and that bump on the left is for part of that en suite).

Above, Alison’s purple kitchen and orange half-bath (addition off front of a frame. “You can see the washer/dryer/hot water heater closet was flipped around and made part of it.”

From Debbie Ashpes (Alison’s sister), above: “My living room used to be turquoise and it was very fun!”

“And now it’s grey.” (Left) ”And my upstairs bathroom is lavender with a really bright shower curtain!”

From Emily Alvarez, left, her green kitchen. On the right, “This isn’t too bold but here is my recently redone bathroom.”

From Colette Zanin, left:  ”I wasn’t sure I had enough paint so that gave me the 2-color wall idea. I did the accents, like the overhead fan, the long mirror on the left, and the inset panels on the back of of the door in bright lime green.” Right: back of the door.

Above, from Katy Collin: Joker colors in my bedroom – these were not much choices, but I’ve chosen to keep them. Right, red accent wall in the living room.

From Shobha Duncan, accent wall in kitchen. “The color is called Raspberry Truffle. The other wall color is lighter.”

From Jen Ruffner, “Our green kitchen with yellow check floor…And our periwinkle bath.”

From Erica Ginsberg: “Moroccan Blue entryway. Clementine dining room.”

From Kristen Wolford, left, “Our plum addition/office (guest starring Oscar the cat). From Beth Leamond, right: “Lime green upstairs hallway.”

From Gretchen Schock: “Our previous GHI house, 2 bedroom wide kitchen in a fun green. The color always made the food look better.”

From Susan Stewart: “The room is such a mess this was the best shot I could get without cleaning up all the clutter. The paint was the line of California paint, their heritage series.”

Also from Susan Stewart, left, “Our living room. Again the false wainscot with a chair rail. Can’t get the colors right in this photo with my iPhone, it’s actually very calming.” Right: brightly lit bedroom corner.

Now for Drew Sommers’s block home, which I asked permission to photograph because I’d seen it.  Above, a bedroom.

Drew’s metallic-looking blue bathroom.

Dining room (note photo of Drew during a bike race).

Another bedroom.

Drew urged me to ask Lindsey Dodson if I could photographer her walls, too.  Glad I did. Living room above. She told me that each room has a theme.

Dining room.

Bedrooms.

Upstairs hallway, and sitting room.  Clearly, Lindsey wins the prize for BOLDEST GHI WALLS!

But there’s more – check out her light plates! Each is color-coordinated with the room it’s in, of course.

And the prize for boldest CEILING goes to Rachel Channon, for the dining room above.  The walls aren’t exactly meek, either.

At my urging, Steve Skolnik took this phone-camera shot of his and Lola’s scrumptious dining room.

And this one of their newly renovated kitchen. Gray can be pretty bold.

Since seeing all these walls I’m feeling a lot less bold about my own – grey in the bath and kitchen, grey-green in the living room and grey-blue in the hall. But I DID do some stenciling! Japanese maple and River Birch. I have no talent with a brush, but these were super-easy.

Finally, a panoramic shot of my favorite office ever, in mushroom brown.

Thanks for playing, everyone!