Lemon yellow on the walls pairs perfectly with chairs covered in a giant pink-and-yellow tulip print. Beside the yellow living room is the tangerine dining room. A high-gloss table and a large mirror reflect lots of light.

Spring means you get to start over, and we're not talking about just your flowerbeds. Right now, it's tempting to give your rooms a new look. But don't call the contractor yet. Gallons of paint and bursting-with-color fabrics transformed this home that had mostly neutral walls when the owners moved in. Learn paint tricks, and choose a new palette to kick up the color quotient in your house.

Salute to a Smart Mix
Nicole and Scot Burris's home in Austin is not huge--by Texas standards especially--but it packs a wallop of color. On the first floor alone, the rooms radiate orange, yellow, green, and blue. So how can such a medley of super-strength colors work together? "I think bright colors look better in small spaces," says Nicole. If you're painting each room a different hue, link them by using the same trimwork and ceiling color.

Secrets to Color Confidence
You can make any color combo work, as long as you follow a few simple rules. It's best to pick four or five colors to use throughout your house before you start painting. Make one color a neutral. Tape paint chips next to each other on a piece of paper, and decide which color will go on what walls. Look for ways to help rooms flow together. You could use the wall color of one room to paint a small piece of furniture in another, or pick pillows that have more than one color from your palette. It also helps to choose colors with the same intensity. If you like a shade in the middle of the paint strip, choose other colors that are also in the center of the strip.