COLOR STORY: All About Orange

Ever notice how orange makes itself the center of attention, whether there’s just a little, like here…

Kit Kemp design | Simon Brown photo

…or a lot, like here.

Even a little orange in the garden marches toward the viewer. Use it at the back of the garden to make a far-off area seem closer.

In clothing, orange’s effect is the same. As designer Kit Kemp says, “Orange is the color that commands attention!”

I had an orange dress when I was 11. It was the first item of clothing I sewed myself. The pattern was perhaps even more wild than this dress–psychedelic swirls of mostly orange, accented with pink and yellow. I made it into a caftan-sort of dress with bell sleeves and a notched neck, and I paired it with an orange and yellow beaded necklace and pink fishnet stockings.

Yes, really. After all, it was 1967.

Writing about that dress as an adult, I noted orange was a color I wore before I realized I wasn’t supposed to stand out. Sad, isn’t it? We all should stand out in our own way, but sometimes elements in the world push back at us.

It’s jealousy, I think, when we are open, creative, exuberant, and others either aren’t or are afraid to take that risk. Their insecurity wants to quell us, which gives us good reason to use orange in our home decor and dress, to remind ourselves of who we really are.

Orange as an accent

To me, this vignette is all the more powerful because the use of orange is subtle. There’s just the lamp, but then if you look closely you see the wallpaper is filled with lemons AND oranges! It’s interesting the designer did not put any real oranges in the scene but did use lemons. That accentuates the orange color story in my mind. It’s often more powerful when used sparingly.

Like these orange chairs, bench and throw adrift in a sea of pale blue and white. They call you to come into this room and take a seat. Be part of the orange glow.

Or the orange framing of this headboard and the piping on the cushions. Come to bed, it says, don’t worry that we’ll keep you awake because all this lovely green will rock you to sleep and we’ll be there in the morning to get you moving again.

The orange pillows pull out the bits of orange in the backsplash in this kitchen. The neutral tones of the wood are a soothing backdrop and tie everything together.

The orange accent pillows brighten up an otherwise sedate bedroom and add to the vintage feel of the bedside table. But what I absolutely notice most in this room is the white bedside lamp that looks for all the world as if it’s holding open its arms in welcome. And I notice that lamp because of its orange lampshade.

A similar use of pillows here creates a completely different look when paired with moody blue walls and the purple ikat upholstered headboard.

Even just a drip-drop of orange can make a room…

…or a foyer. Okay, this cabinet is more on the salmony side of orange, but the impact is the same. I’m betting this faces the front door of the home, so the color says to the visitor, Come on in here, you’ll find us interesting.

After all…

Add a little more orange to create a frame

The orange upholstered chair, the orange-painted frames of the armchairs and the orange driftwood chandelier overhead form an inner frame of reception in this living room. I love that the mirror reflects the quirky chandelier.

In this living room, it’s the orange sofa and ottoman, working with the bright book dustjackets that draw everyone around the hearth, which is painted in a complementary teal–the design equivalent of a magnet.

Ditto this living room, where an orange throw pillow, chair and loveseat pull us into the fireplace, which glows with an orange flame.

The orange wallcovering used here to fill an arched niche literally surrounds the bed. The orange paired with purple in the upholstered headboard brings the backdrop further forward, while the orange in the throw pillows complete the frame.

Likewise, these orange bedcurtains and one orange throw pillow on white bedding surround you with a sense of wellbeing and joy. And the salmony settee completes the frame. I like that it’s in the same color family as the bedcurtains, but not matchy-matchy. The variation gives the room depth.

Orange all over works too

Orange wallpaper is a little like surround sound, don’t you think? Here the walls are cosseting the calmer bed.

I gotta say, I’m not a wallpaper fan for my own house, but I do love how this wallpaper is carried over into the fabric of the daybed. And the canopy lining done in orange gingham is perfection.

Notice here that the orange-on-linen headboard is the reverse of the linen-on-orange wallpaper, both accented by the ethnic orange coverlet.

Orange is everywhere in this bedroom–big and bold and happy–because…

So, so true

And who would know better than Old Blue Eyes? Dig that orange cardigan! I’ve read his whole house in Palm Springs was awash with orange, against the advice of his decorator. But Frank knew what he wanted, and he was writing the checks!

So here’s wishing you the hutzpah to do it “My Way” and…

Best,

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