Decorating with Orange

Sunkissed oranges are not only for picking, they can also be used in decorating. Today's orange color is the latest trend for decorating your home or office. Orange happens to be one of my newly found, featured favorites to decorate a room with.

Certain hues of orange tend to bounce around a room. Breathing new life into old furniture or hardwood flooring. Decorating in orange is not that difficult. It can be as simple as buying an orange area rug, and placing it under your dinette set. It can also be as easy as purchasing fresh new place mats, and bright orange napkin rings. Whatever you do- decorating in orange does not have to cost a fortune. One thing I have noticed since I starting decorating in orange, is that my kitchen and hearth room area became more inviting. I was happily surprise at how much more inviting, and warm my kitchen felt after including just a few orange accents.

Another aspect about the color orange, is that rooms decorated in orange, have a designer’s feel and touch to them. Not only does it look expensive, they feel expensive as well. Orange has a way of bringing out an appeasing energy, in a normally dull corner or large room. It is a fantastic color to coordinate with other colors, such as mochas, tans, grays, blacks, and sage color rooms.

In my own home, I started using the color orange in my son's room. His bedroom walls are a dark, charcoal gray. For his flooring, I was able to purchase a maple hardwood, made by Hartco Flooring (a division of Armstrong flooring). The flooring has a nice butternut colored stain. His ceiling is painted in a light, mocha gray color that is accented by a brushed nickel ceiling fan, with butternut stained blades.

My first thought was not to go overboard with too many orange accents. Therefore, I strategically positioned orange highlights on his computer desk, nightstands, along with an Texas Longhorn area rug. His bedding is a light denim color, and instead of throw pillows (which he hates), I bought him burnt-orange sheets to use as the accent for his new, light-denim, bedding.

I have also included orange accents to my otherwise, hum-drum kitchen and Hearth room area. Some of these accents include, a orange LeCruet teakettle, an orange area rug underneath my dining room table and chairs, dark orange colored salt and pepper shakers, and an orange espresso maker. My walls are a medium pea green color. While my cabinets are off-white, with coffee color glazing highlights. I used commercial stainless steel appliances, and a dark granite counter top. Out of everything that has been purchased for this kitchen/hearth room area; I’m always complimented on the orange accents found in the room. Many people give me compliments how much they loved my kitchen. However, I am usually told that it is the orange accents, which complete the room, and how it would not be the same without them.

Facts and trivia unique to the color orange:

1. In the early Christian church, orange was a symbol for earthly fruits and glory to God.
2. In the marketing and advertising industry, the color orange is used because it represents freshness in people's minds automatically.
3. Foods of the earth that are orange are:
   

   apricots, mangoes, oranges, peaches, carrots, pumpkins, yams, and saffron.

4. In FengShui orange is an Earth Element. It is recommended when decorating with orange to use it sparingly, in order to promote warmth and friendship in a given area.
5. Psychologically, the color orange is said to give a person more energy and promote creative motivation.
6. The Engineering industry is also represented by the color orange .
7. The color orange stimulates hunger.
8. The color orange is the largest known color and food properties used in international cooking: Orange Chicken, Orange Beef, Orange Juice, Orange Sorbet, Orange Roughy, etc...
9. Research suggests that more than 70% of the US population consume orange juice.
10. Brazil is the largest producer of oranges in the world.