Decorating with Orange, an Instant Pick-Me-Up
Orange infuses any room with energy
Slide 1 Of Decorating with Orange, an Instant Pick-Me-Up
True to its name, orange in all its incarnations has a Vitamin C effect on home decorating. It refreshes and revitalizes. Whether it’s a rusty burnished tone or a cleaner tangerine, orange infuses any room’s design with energy.
When coupled with crisp white and dove gray, a bright orange looks fresh and modern, as in this ballroom designed by Kelley Proxmire. The orange-and-gray chinoiserie fabric adds humor among the graphic tangerine patterns that cover the club chair and sofa pillow.
Photo: Gordon Beall
Interior design: Kelley Proxmire
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Classic Patterns in Orange
Salmon and tangerine mix with bold plaid stripes, zigzags, and floral prints in this showhouse guest room designed by Debby Gomulka. The modern textiles cover period furniture pieces for a fun and relaxed juxtaposition. Gold details, like the ornate stenciling on the ceiling, highlight the warmer tones in the fabrics and bring out the orange hues.
See more of this showhouse on the following slide.
Photo: John Bessler & Peter Rymwid
Interior design: Debby Gomulka
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Pair with Cool Complementary Colors
Orange appears on pillows and window treatments in this showhouse sunroom, which is swathed in soft turquoise and graphic stripes. The deep teal of the garden stools and painting on the far wall add weight to the palette, allowing the orange details to pop against the airy blue and white tones.
Explore the rest of the 2013 Adamsleigh Showhouse here. [7]
Photo: John Bessler & Peter Rymwid
Interior design: Bradshaw Orrell & Randy McManus
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Orange Goes Rustic
Orange takes a sophisticated turn with rust-colored velvet and tawny browns in this fireside sitting area. The warm palette for the Napa Valley Showhouse room was inspired by the surrounding vineyards at harvest. “Our palette is congruent with views of the rolling hills right outside,” says designer Annie Bowman. A backdrop of cream and tan lets the orange tones command the room’s hues.
See more of this showhouse on the following slide.
Photo: John Granen & John Merkl
Interior design: Annie Bowman with Lorrie Merck & Angle Dunkelberger
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Introduce Orange Outdoors
Vibrant tones can amp up the energy when introduced outdoors. The terrace is appointed with burnt orange outdoor fabrics from Sunbrella, which are complemented by pillows in distinctive brown, orange and yellow patterns. Textural details in deep browns ground the brighter elements of the terrace’s palette, allowing the orange hues to take center stage against the beautiful backdrop.
Tour the rest of the Napa Valley Showhouse here. [14]
Photo: John Granen & John Merkl
Interior design: Annie Bowman with Lorrie Merck & Angle Dunkelberger
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This rec room’s orange chairs (a cross between warm amber and apricot) in durable Ultrasuede keep up the energy from the pool outdoors.
Interior design: Heather Dewberry and William C. Huff Jr.
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Painted Finishes with Punch
A hot color trend in decorating for several seasons, orange comes into its own this year. Tangerine, one of the hue’s prettiest interpretations, was named Pantone’s 2012 color of the year, pumping up credibility for the entire color family. All variations of orange are appearing not only on a burgeoning number of fabrics and accessories (the usual suspects in color trials) but also as a finish on major furnishings. The orange table shown here is from Leekan Designs.
Tip: Give a shout-out to a high-impact color by limiting its use to one key furnishing.
Interior design: Tara Guérard
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Team Tangerine with Turquoise
That same tangerine at the apex of this year’s decorating color constellation takes on a whole new light when paired in a palette with turquoise. A traditional-style vintage chair gets a burst of boldness re-covered in tangerine linen, with its legs painted turquoise. The result? Brilliant.
Interior design: Tobi Fairley
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Pick Your Own Orange
The shade of orange these homeowners chose is on the subtle side of the color’s options. But even in an accent role as fabric covering the sofa’s decorative pillows, orange is the power player in the otherwise neutral room’s design.
Tip: Any color shaded with brown becomes less bright, more neutral.
Interior design: Heather Dewberry and William C. Huff Jr.
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Add an Orange Area Rug
Soft dove gray walls accented with ivory millwork create a soothing envelope of interior design just waiting to be enlivened with a zest of orange. The geometric area rug in front of the fireplace introduces both a yellow-orange and a reddish-orange into the palette. Then the two hues are repeated on a big throw pillow on the nearby chair.
Interior design: Kerry Howard
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Jonathan Adler Goes Orange
This keeping room is quintessentially traditional with beautiful small-paned windows that rise up two stories to meet the high ceiling. Streamlined wing chairs, antique bricks on the fireplace, and classically carved cupboards all contribute to a soothing neutral design. Now look underfoot. A Jonathan Adler area rug with eye-popping orange circles is the life of the decorating party.
Interior design: Kerry Howard
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Splash Color on the Cushions
Traditional architecture imbues this kitchen with irresistible classic charm. The best designs, however, tend to be those that embrace juxtapositions. Proof that opposites attract: The room’s refined millwork gets a counterpoint of modernity with metal chairs padded with tie-on vibrant orange cushions in a Holly Hunt fabric colored “Sunset.”
Tip: Increase the visual interest of your decorating by coupling traditional architecture and furniture with tensile modern touches.
Interior design: Mark Williams
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Exotic Upholstery Serves Up Orange
For his art-filled entry hall, this homeowner designed a daybed from gorgeous wood turned in a classic traditional shape and then upholstered it with alternating strips of exotic kilim rugs colored in bold, bracing orange. The snippets of orange kilim plus an orange accented pillow add more than color. They add character.
Bed design: Steve McKenzie
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Orange Appropriate for an Oasis
Orange accents in a bedroom can provide a vital visual wake-up to a deliberately somnolent space. This room’s pale neutral walls and bedding plus understated turquoise curtains and pillows seal a soothing design. The tangerine chair and smaller accents of orange deliver just enough pop for the room to feel fresh, but still serene. So rest easy, orange fans. It’s OK to go to bed with the color you love.
Interior design: Tobi Fairley
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Decorating Pick-Me-Up: Instant Orange
Empowering your decorating with a kinetic quality can be as easy as opening a single can of colorful paint. The dynamic design shown here is due to a mélange of mismatched frames all painted a delicious tone of tangerine.
Tip: Increase the impact by blanketing an entire wall with the orange-painted frames.
Interior design: Tobi Fairley
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Sitting Easy in Orange
A single upholstery treatment can be a traditional design’s most inventive element. This Victorian Hagan wing chair sports two fabrics—Lee Jofa’s durable “rusty orange” corduroy for the front, and a lavender-and-cream by Designers Guild from Osborne & Little for the back. The fabrics’ contrasting warm and cool colors make the design temperature just right.
Tip: Nailhead detailing imparts traditional style to any furnishing.
Interior design: Melanie Elston
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An Orange Entrance
Flex your color muscle at the doorway between two rooms, painting one deep pumpkin orange and the other a pale peacock blue. The contrasting colors clearly define the two spaces as separate, and the change of color temperature from warm to cool ensures a change of experience in each climate.
Interior design: Melanie Elston
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Orange Paint on Traditional Wall Paneling
For a homeownerwho insisted on “no beige allowed,” a warm pumpkin paint slathered over traditional grid-paneled walls was just the design ticket. The cozy color creates a family room that’s a delightful cocoon and constant inspiration for kids of all ages.
Interior design: Melanie Elston
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Color Confidence
The traditional architecture of the family room’s paneled walls assumes a character bursting with brio when the walls are painted pumpkin. Paradoxically, the wall-to-wall application of the rich color is less jolting than a soupcon of orange on only an accessory or single furnishing. Instead, the effect is soothing, like settling in to watch the sunset.
Interior design: Melanie Elston
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Dynamic Decorating Palette
Orange accents join with lime green to add citric flavor to a basic black and white palette in this multifarious family room. The traditional shape of the Jardins du Jour ceramic table lamp has more dramatic impact in unexpected orange. A throw pillow covered in China Seas’ “Turtle Batik” further weaves accents of orange into the design.
Interior design: Tobi Fairley
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Decorating with Orange Refreshment
Among the most comfortable seats in this family room is a traditional wing chair covered in a fresh mango-colored linen by Designers Guild from Osborne & Little. White welting adds definition to the citrus solid. The orange chair is situated beside a lime-green stool to maximize the palette’s freshness.
Interior design: Tobi Fairley
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More Color Ideas
See more color ideas—including the drama that red can add to your decorating. Take a look at our presentation of The Power of Red [72].