In this photo provided by Burnham Design, bold red wallpaper and upholstery are combined with neutral colors to create a lively but cohesive design for this home office, created by Betsy Burnham of Burnham Design.

It might be practical, of course, to decorate your home with neutral colors and muted earth tones. No need to worry about colors clashing if most everything is white, beige and light brown.

But what if you’re a fan of vivid orange, lime green or a luscious shade of lavender?

These colors can be tricky to use successfully in decor. But you don’t need to avoid them, says interior designer Brian Patrick Flynn, creator of the Flynnside Out design blog. Just use them carefully.

“It’s a game of balance,” Flynn says. “Once you get that right, just about any color can be spectacular.”

Here, Flynn and two other designers — Kyle Schuneman of Live Well Designs and Betsy Burnham of Burnham Design — share advice on decorating successfully with even the most complicated colors.

Pick one wild shade

For a client who loved lime green, Schuneman covered one dining room wall with wallpaper that combined bright lime green with a muted sage green. He painted the other three walls in the neutral sage. That way, the client could enjoy a favorite color but the room didn’t feel overwhelming.

“There can only be one star in a room,” he says. “If you want a bold color, then you already have your star.”

Burnham agrees: “Orange next to screaming lime green next to fuchsia,” she says, “doesn’t belong in a grown-up space.” But fuchsia paired with olive green can look chic.

The same approach works for paler colors. Pastel pink used with pastel yellow and pastel blue creates an overload of sweetness. But Flynn has found that a light pastel pink can be gorgeous paired with a dark, calming navy blue.

Adjust your shade

When clients are considering a very bright color, Flynn often advises them to choose one “two shades lighter or less saturated than the one they’re iffy about.”

“Nine times out of 10,” he says, “they end up still getting the effect, but without the color becoming too saturated to live with.”

No matter what the color, all three designers recommend picking a shade that’s got some gray mixed in. For a living room done in shades of purple and lavender, Burnham chose a sofa fabric that was a mix of gray and purple, and used a white paint infused with a bit of gray on the walls.

“Gray has a way of calming a color down,” Schuneman says, making it “feel velvety and more soothing.”

Klein Blue, also referred to as electric blue or midnight blue, stands out in this playroom by interior designer Brian Patrick Flynn. When clients are considering a very bright color, the designer suggests choosing one that’s “two shades lighter or less saturated than the one they’re iffy about.”associated press