I was just in a friends' house who similarly LOVES color, and yet all her major big -ticket items were very neutral. A lot of limestone, beige countertops, etc. BUT her paint colors were bright, her lighting choices were colored glasses, her bathroom had accent tiles of bright sea creatures and the sink bowls were color. She also has a lot of artwork on the walls, so the basic impression is COLOR, without it coming from the expensive permanent features. It CAN be done!

I'd think about it a room at a time.

I don't know that your current problem -- green marble tile all over the place -- is the same as having say green granite countertops in the kitchen. Even with an open floor plan, you can decorate each room individually as long as some elements tie it all together.

I have cabernet cabs, green granite counters, butcherblock island top, beige tile floors and backsplash, paperbag tan walls and cream trim in the kitchen. The adjacent living room has the same wall and trim color with dark wood floors. The adjacent dining room has the same colors as the living room with a terracotta color below the chair rail. It all works well together.

If you like color, have some fun with it!

So, you like a lot of color--nice!. The rest is unclear. How do you feel about light-dark and saturated color-pastel color contrast? Do you like to contrast one bright color against another? Or do you prefer to set a bright color against a background that sets it off, as described above and with neutrals? Or do you actually prefer not that much light-dark contrast, such as a bright medium blue wtih a bright medium green with a bright medium red? A nice neutral background calmly showcasing colorful items is a wonderful look (for me), but it doesn't work for everyone. Is it for you?

I also love color, but my experience in 39 years of marriage/keeping house is that the big ticket items should be fairly neutral, and color added elsewhere. There are loads of ways to bring in colors you like. Walls can painted over and over again, but you're not going to rip out the kitchen and start again every time.

I think that people who like color - especially people who like color - also like to change their colors, and that becomes impossibly expensive with the big ticket items.

Who says neutral has to be colorless? Who says only beiges and browns are neutrals? IMO almost anything that comes from the earth is neutral. That means all granites and all wood tones, as long as they are not painted, are neutral. This includes deep reds, greens, yellows, golds and purple (amethyst).

I did my kitchen in dark cherry stain and peacock green granite, which has bursts of green, gold and black. The knobs and pulls are ORB. The nearby family room has dark brown leather sofas, dark cherry wall unit and matching tables. BUT... there are large bright green throw pillows, a huge multi-colored abstract painting on the wall with burgundy, green, gold, black and silver, and there are sage green curtains. Lots of color, yet it's all neutral, expecially the big ticket items. I can change the color scheme by changing the wall hangings, pillows and curtains. Also, the furniture and cabinets are traditional style, yet the wall coverings, pillows and lamps are contemporary-and it all works beautifully!

Start thinking "out-of-the-box" and don't be afraid of color. Just be careful when considering pastels, like pinks, blues and oranges, which aren't necessarily neutral

I Love color. My kitchen is reflecting this. The granite we chose is both neutral and colorful. The paint colors are definitely vibrant (my SIL calls it our ice cream kitchen). The cabs are rather neutral (a bit more so than I would have liked) but the backsplash and floor will also have their own touches of color.

I like to think that the basics are colorful, but yet workable with lots of possible schemes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our kitchen WIP

Thanks for the great ideas, everyone! Rosie - those are interesting questions that I'll have to think about for a while...

I think maybe I'm just panicking with all these big-ticket items looking so neutral. I'm sure I'll be much happier once I can get to the details and add color to the rooms (hey, maybe I shouldn't worry about any of this until after the drywall goes up? - LOL!)

In the meantime, I'll have to console myself looking for color to add, like these:

Think about how awesome those lights would look above a white countertop! I love colour too, but the magazine pictures I'm always drawn too are where the colour is allowed to dominate the room. Like when the walls and furniture are white but the floor is painted bright orange.

Yes, and note how well they accent that bright yellow...

Yay, Susan4664...Neutral does NOT have to be blah or some shade of beige!!!! Blacks, reds, and as Susan said, all sorts of natural colors will work as a neutral. I'd consider your green to be a neutral in your house and work off of that. Lots of great combos work with green...Eggplant and other purples, burgundy/cranberry and other reds, all sorts of interesting browns and golds. Don't be afraid to have some green in your counter, if that's what you're drawn to --it will connect with the floor and that's a good thing. Clashing, though, would be bad. If you're not a beige person, I wouldn't go that way. It might even seem like you're trying to decorate in spite of the floor instead of with it. A neutral is something different colors can go with well, but does not have to be lifeless to do so.

DonÂt be so hard on yourself, if you like color you should have color. WhatÂs the point of building your dream home and not being really excited about living there? Neutral is different things to different people. For example, my last two homes have had terra cotta tone tile or real terra cotta clay and oak floors (some oak look pergo in kid areas). That is neutral to me because I like medium yellow, muted orange, and a little bit of purple and red walls. Most of my curtains are a raisin color. My couches are rich camel colors or ox blood; I have a mix of woods light and dark, wall tapestries of different colors, paintings with bright colors, area rugs and some modern pieces thrown in because the color works with everything else. I say if you compromise with your husband on some things try to get your way on the floor, countertops and wall color, you can work with everything else, that leaves a pretty big list for him to pick out his idea of neutral.

Another thing you can do is make yourself a swatch book. Any bits of wall paper you have, fabrics from your furniture, etc., put in. Where you don't have swatches take close up pictures. Not room pictures, but full frame swatch pictures. Paint in backgrounds of your wall paint and put in your swatches. This is for ALL your colors, not just what can be seen from the kitchen. Take your swatchbook shopping with you and look for colors that go with your pages. That should make shopping for neutrals a lot easier because you'll be able to see how they set off your colors instead of just feeling lost in a sea of boring sameness.