Just as a sweet summer orange revitalizes the body, touches of orange in the decor adds zing to a room. Orange is the new red and is fast becoming a popular accent colour with homeowners and designers.
Orange is not the first accent colour that may come to mind because it's a bold choice, but just look at how it makes the cabinets and accessories pop in our kitchen photograph (courtesy of CIL).No need for fancy tile work on the backsplash when you use a vivid colour like this in the kitchen. Even dark kitchen cabinets could look great with an orange backsplash and accents.
The eggshell finish on the paint does not reflect a lot of light like a shiny surface would, which makes this colour easy on the eyes. You want to be energized in the morning but not shocked.
Orange works well with the warm white of the cabinets, which are in a satin finish. The colour has depth and is definitely not flat. This CIL orange, called Exotic Bird, is a great choice on smaller areas like a backsplash or a focal wall.
I love orange for the kitchen because it's invigorating and energizing. Orange spurs on conversation and ideas and is fresh and zesty. If you have white cabinets, then working with a bright colour like this can take your kitchen from bland to bold in a few hours.
Adding a few orange accessories is a good idea to make the space cohesive. The wall colour doesn't have to exactly match the accessory colour either. As long as the colours are of the same intensity, then all will be fine.
Bring some of that accessory colour onto a kitchen table centrepiece, table linens or even in kitchen curtains. Don't overdo it though. Too many accessories in orange can start to look too kitschy. Just use enough accents to bring the colour around the room.
Orange can be paired with taupe, warm grey, warm white, black and even purple or red. Staying in the warm colour palette is a good idea. Cool grey, for instance, would look smart with warm orange. Take your colour cues from items in nature, such as the rich orange and pale yellow in a tiger lily, the deep orange-red and black of a poppy or the gorgeous, rich orange of a ripe pumpkin.
If you have natural wood flooring, especially in darker tones, orange might be a great choice for a wall colour. The dining room photo here is a testament to this. The homeowners painted the dining room niche in a warm orange tone, which looks great both with the dark flooring and the white dining suite. Wood has warm undertones, so colours such as orange can be stunning with a warm floor colour beneath.
Espresso or black furnishings can look dramatic with an orange backdrop as well, so painting an orange focal wall behind a headboard in the bedroom or in a dining room would be dramatic and rich.
Artwork with warm colour tones can really pop on an orange focal wall as well. Accessories can be displayed on dark, ebony floating shelves for a dramatic-look vignette.
So put orange on your list as a possible accent colour and give your decor a splash of colour. Orange you glad you read my column today?
connieoliver@shaw.ca
