Take a dip in the color pool, whether you're ready to take a dive or still hanging onto the ladder.

Cocktail Hour
After living most of the past year with two very contrived color schemes, Gregor decided it was time to send the walls in the background and bring furniture and accessories forward.

Reflecting the autumnal hues outside, the room's light caramel walls are safe, traditional, and formal. The overall style hints strongly of ritzy, blue-blood Boston. "It's more uptown, more sophisticated," Gregor says. "It's cocktail party time."

The light caramel walls are not very noticeable. "You don't leave this room remembering the color," Gregor says. Because the furniture and accessories become more important, Gregor paid greater attention to combining items, sometimes in unexpected ways. The mantel arrangement, for example, appears almost like an architectural extension of the fireplace.

Cool Pool
As a frigid Boston winter progressed into a sticky summer, Gregor didn't want heat both outside and in. So he did an about-face and painted his living room a saturated, bottom-of-the-pool blue. Though all his furniture remained the same, the room suddenly switched from an edgy hot spot to a laid-back lounge. "It's very calm," Gregor says, "like you're waiting for something to happen."

The crisp blue-and-white wall combination connotes casual style, so Gregor continued the theme with white accessories. He added even more interest with texture, such as the waffle-weave throw on the sofa and the waffle-weave pillow on the fireside chair.