11 Striking Ways to Add Color to Any Room!

March 9, 2018

By: Leanne Potts

Paint a door super bright yellow, or the trim on a window for amazing results.

Buying a house — it’s such an adult thing to do. And putting work into it is another mature choice.

But when personalizing your home, the instinct to keep things adulty can also keep things pretty dull. Gray walls. White ceilings. Taupe for miles. Suddenly your house (read: your life) is booooring.

Time to dive into the pigment pool. Hot pink, wowza red, rich navy, and other colors with a capital C can be just as chic as neutrals, and they’re a lot more fun. Here are 11 ways to bring loud, proud hues into your home without making it look straight outta Dr. Seuss.

#1 Paint the Inside of Your Cabinets:

Because anyone can paint the doors, but getting rid of them and painting the inside is more interesting.

Using the same color on the cabinet’s back panel and the wall behind them adds continuity to the space.

Here, lemon yellow walls work complementary-color magic with the blue-gray cabinets. This is an easy way to get on-trend open shelving without replacing your cabinets.

#2 Paint Your Office Your Favorite Color:

Because in there, you’re the boss.

The trick to making a bold palette work? Favorite color + white + contrasting color = smashing room.

These bold green walls get a chill pill from the white trim, area rug, and desk. That red bookcase and chair bring the big bang of contrasting color that shakes things up.

#3 Dare To Have A Bright Ceiling:

Because you get a pop of color by painting just one surface.

The ceiling sizzle works because the hot pink repeats the color in the ikat wallpaper, and because the floors and furniture are in sober, neutral hues. The gold heart ties into those neutral colors as well as the wallpaper. Win-win.

#4 Choose Retro Hues:

Because throwback colors turn cookie cutter into quirky cool.

Painting these ho-hum kitchen cabinets jadeite green gave them a shot of mid-century mod personality, and replacing the old pulls with retro brass ones punched up the 20th-century vibe.

You can’t beat a kitchen makeover for the cost of a gallon of paint and new cabinet hardware.

#5 Add Wow With Wallpaper:

Because wallpaper’s back, and it’s not your grandma’s tea-rose print circa 1948.

Today’s wallpaper features bold prints and colors (and can even be temporary). This room looks sophisticated, not garish, because while one wall is rocking the psychedelic colors, the rest of the room is a mature blend of good old gray hues.

#6 Focus on the Floor:

Because a bright color underfoot can add big personality to a neutral room.

Porch paint transformed a boring laminate kitchen floor into a whimsical turquoise-and-white checkerboard pattern. Bonus points for the gold cabinet pulls that pop against the blue floor.

#7 Paint the Window Trim:

Because you don’t have time to repaint the entire kitchen.

Add pizzazz in an afternoon by painting a window pane’s trim a bright color. Just that.

You’ll get an instant focal point to distract from the clutter that never seems to totally leave the kitchen. For maximum impact, choose a color complementary to the cabinets.

#8 Don’t Re-Tile A Backsplash, Stick Decals On It:

Because putting fancy tiles like these on a wall is expensive and a big commitment.

And unnecessary. Nope, those aren’t new tiles. They’re decals to put over your old tiles. Peel, stick, done. And if you hate them or just get tired of them? Pull off, throw away, done.

#9 Choose a Bold Hearth Hue:

Because you can get a big bang of bold color by painting just one key thing.

Give your room an instant focal point by painting the fireplace, bricks, wood, and wall above it a single, brilliant color. Keep the rest of the room furnished simply and neutral, so the fireplace can be the star of the show.

#10 Paint the Backside Of A Door:

Because it’s a great place to tuck in unexpected color.

This is especially effective in spaces that are otherwise neutral, like a bathroom. Because a door is a small surface, you can go bold without overpowering the room.

#11 Turn A Bedroom Ceiling Into Art:

Because you spend a lot of time looking at it, so it should be interesting.

Painting this ceiling like the night sky takes the “Star Wars” theme to every surface. Bonus points for the light fixture that adds a bold pop of complementary yellow, and looks like BB-8.

100 Safest School Districts In Massachusetts: Niche.

March 7, 2018

By: Alex Newman

See which school systems are the safest in the Bay State in 2018.

How safe is your child’s school? Recent national events have put student safety at the forefront, and one website has revealed which Massachusetts school districts rank highest in this category. Niche.com released its list of the Safest School Districts for 2018.

The list was created using information from the U.S. Department of Education, the FBI, parent reviews and other data. Niche assigned the most value – 50 percent – to health and safety reports from students and parents; expenses per student and student absenteeism were assigned the second-most value at 10 percent, suspensions accounted for 7.5 percent; and expulsions, law enforcement referrals and school-related arrests rounded were at 5 percent.

Below are the 100 safest school districts in Massachusetts, according to Niche:

1Cambridge Public Schools

2Easton Public Schools

3Wellesley Public Schools

4Duxbury Public Schools

5Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District, Ashburnham

6Westford Public Schools

7Swansea Public Schools

8Franklin Public Schools

9Auburn Public Schools

10Milton Public Schools

11Beverly Public Schools

12Norwood Public Schools

13Berkshire Hills Public Schools, Stockbridge

14Longmeadow Public Schools

15Westborough Public Schools

16Dartmouth Public Schools

17Natick Public Schools

18Quincy Public Schools

19Shrewsbury Public Schools

20Lynn Public Schools

21Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District, Wilbraham

22Manchester Essex Regional School District, Manchester

23Marshfield Public Schools

24Reading Public Schools

25Revere Public Schools

26Sutton Public Schools

27Hingham Public Schools

28Brockton Public Schools

29Methuen Public Schools

30Winchester Public Schools

31Foxborough Public Schools

32Braintree Public Schools

33Mendon-Upton Regional School District, Mendon

34Tewksbury Public Schools

35Amesbury Public Schools

36Fairhaven Public Schools

37Medfield Public Schools

38Andover Public Schools

39Norton Public Schools

40Marblehead Public Schools

41Bedford Public Schools

42Southern Berkshire Public Schools, Sheffield

43Woburn Public Schools

44Uxbridge Public Schools

45Chicopee Public Schools

46Burlington Public Schools

47Hull Public Schools

48Haverhill Public Schools

49Groton-Dunstable Regional School District, Groton

50Lenox Public Schools

51East Longmeadow Public Schools

52Fitchburg Public Schools

53Monomoy Regional School District, Chatham

54Hatfield Public Schools

55Canton Public Schools

56Swampscott Public Schools

57Danvers Public Schools

58Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District, South Yarmouth

59Nashoba Public Schools, Bolton

60Millis Public Schools

61West Bridgewater Public Schools

62Ayer Shirley School District, Ayer

63Easthampton Public Schools

64Plymouth Public Schools

65Needham Public Schools

66Hanover Public Schools

67Gateway Regional School District

68Littleton Public Schools

69East Bridgewater Public Schools

70Cohasset Public Schools

71Stoughton Public Schools

72Rockland Public Schools

73Hopkinton Public Schools

74Millbury Public Schools

75Masconomet Public Schools, Boxford

76Weston Public Schools

77Amherst-Pelham Regional School District

78Maynard Public Schools

79Freetown-Lakeville Regional School District, Lakeville

80Clinton Public Schools

81Whitman-Hanson Regional School District, Whitman

82Lowell Public Schools

83Mansfield Public Schools

84Westfield Public Schools

85Scituate Public Schools

86Wakefield Public Schools

87Taunton Public Schools

88Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District, Southwick

89Lexington Public Schools

90Georgetown Public Schools

91North Reading Public Schools

92Wareham Public Schools

93Wachusett Public Schools

94Tantasqua Public Schools

95Hopedale Public Schools

96Medway Public Schools

97Grafton Public Schools

98Belchertown Public Schools

99North Andover Public Schools

100 Norwell Public Schools