Julie Terling was ready for a change, but she just wasn’t sure what she wanted.

She and her husband, Brian, and their 2-year-old daughter, Delaney, had been in their Bridgeville, Pa., home for nearly three years, yet the place still had that just-moved-in look, with white walls and neutral carpeting.

“It’s time to create my own style, but I just don’t have a knack for it,” Julie said. “I really want it to jump and be fun, especially Delaney’s room.”

Delaney has just moved from a crib to a big girl’s bed, and her mom was eager to personalize her new room.

Enter Tracee Murphy, a Mt. Lebanon, Pa., interior designer who specializes in color and in pulling looks together with furniture and accessories her clients already own.

“People can be terrified by color,” said Murphy. “They might like bold colors in their clothes but are hesitant to put it on the wall. I find inspiration in their favorite things around the house, tones they are already comfortable with, and go from there. Paint is so cheap, what do you have to lose?”

Julie and Brian wanted to tackle a kid-perfect room for Delaney, along with the family room that is open to their kitchen. The white-walled space was long and narrow and flooded with light in late afternoon.

“This is where we hang out,” said Julie. “This is where we watch videos, eat dinner, read, everything. I want it to be warm and inviting.”

Murphy went wild with sophisticated color treatments. In their open kitchen/family room space, she chose a dark terra cotta that gives the space an immediate warmth and energy, leaving the ceiling a stark white for an illusion of height. Knowing that the long wall with white doors that leads to the basement and a pantry would provide too much of a distraction for the room, she had the doors painted the same burnt orange, making the room appear larger.

Delaney Terling, 2, cuddles a stuffed animal in her newly remodeled bedroom in Bridgeville, Pa., that was painted in Spring

She kept the wooden blinds on the windows but pulled the wall color into the window treatments, which are a warm black with orange floral accents. To tie the kitchen and family space together more, she added black and white wallpaper between the wooden cabinets and the kitchen countertops.

“It gives the effect of tile but was much cheaper,” Murphy says.

Her accessories budget was small, only $300, but she found trendy-cool topiaries, picture frames and throw pillows at discount stores to add oomph to the space.

Murphy also moved their furniture around, opening up space in the room, and rotated the island in the kitchen to create a better flow between the two rooms. She pulled lamps and prints from other rooms in the house to complete the look.

“I was a little nervous at first, when I saw the paint chip,” says Julie Terling. “But it worked out so well. It’s stuff I never would have picked out myself; I just don’t have that kind of eye. It’s so warm and cozy now.”

Brian and Julie Terling's living room in their Bridgeville, Pa., home was repainted in Mayflower

Upstairs, Delaney’s room is fit for a princess, just as the purple, pink and mint-green rug in the middle proclaims. This is the rug that gave Murphy the inspiration for the room’s charming color scheme.

The walls are deep purple and are adorned with lovely murals of whimsical flowers and ladybugs, done by a local artist. The window treatment is a colorful awning, and Delaney had needed furniture since leaving her crib.

She now has a throne-like bed, an armoire and a playhouse that houses stuffed animals, toys and books.