Recessionomics doesn’t mean your home décor has to suffer and fade into the background. No drab and dull shades of gray need apply this season as analysts predict the months ahead will bring about a spring awakening… at least when it comes to your room colors. The Color Marketing Group-arbiters of what color palette will be all the range up to 19 months in advance-forecast a year peppered with every color in your Crayola box. “We’re finding comfort in colors that are familiar, and yet, at the same time, we’re embracing colors that make us happy-especially as accents,” says the international association’s executive director Jaime Stephens. So go ahead and find your happy place! Then get set to color outside of the lines with these eye-catching hues that are set to dominate this year’s color wheel.

Something new, something old, something borrowed, something BLUE:

This primary color will be sure to give your space a punch of color. Just take a page from actress-cum-musician Zooey Deschanel who recently turned her study into a blue-on-blue soundproof studio layered with cobalt and light blue walls and swathed in blue gingham chair coverings. If cobalt is too bright too soon, pare it down with a lighter shade of robin egg blue.

Tie a YELLOW ribbon ’round the old oak tree:

No need to go all out with this hue. Instead, opt for a sparing hand and consider accents like highlighting the dining room with a sunburst of yellow chairs or painted shelves that silhouette your books.

The color PURPLE:

Look to plum purples and blue-infused fuchsias to dominate the purple spectrum. A large swath of eggplant gives this dining room and bedroom a regal focal point but be sure not to overwhelm your space as a head-to-toe purple look can do the opposite and envelope your space thereby making it dark.

GREY gardens:

Okay, okay, okay! If you must think practical, go neutral with light charcoal tones that will give you a blank canvas to work with. That way you can at least sprinkle touches of color in your bedroom with printed sheets and pillows to give yourself a temporary bright bite without having to full on commit.

Road to MOROCCO:

And speaking of printed accents, consider exotic Marrakesh prints and graphics like these fuchsia Moroccan-themed rugs and blankets, which were featured throughout the pages of Elle Décor in March. A few key pieces like a bright printed quilt slung over a chair or hung on the wall mixed with a few Moroccan lanterns can revamp an entire space quickly without burning a hole in your wallet.

Photo credit:
1. Domino (both)
2. Pia Ulin (chairs) and Domino (shelves)
3. Domino (both)
4. Domino (both)
5. Elle Décor (both)