To ‘ginger’ something up a bit is to add a bit of spice–energy, heat, tension, life. A spice, the root of the ginger plant is mildly hot and used as a ‘lift’ in many sweet and savoury dishes from the Mediterranean, throughout Asia and the tropics.
As a colour, the warm, golden tones of raw ginger and ginger syrup are also lifting points as warm neutrals. This can be in paint, textiles or in the deep golden-ginger patina of mellowed woods.