I love the colour orange.  Orange is my new red.  So often orange is mistaken for the orange of the 70’s, an unfair reputation that has been hard to shake.  But look around; the orange of today is classier and more tasteful, seen in interiors ranging from traditional to contemporary.  A colour that was once so prevalent in pop-culture has now made a transition to commonplace; although there is nothing ‘common’ about orange.  Orange is a combination of red and yellow so it shares some common characteristics with those colours, but orange has less intensity and aggression than red as it is calmed by the yellow.  When red is combined with dark woods in interiors it often gives the room an identity of Asian-inspired or Zen-like, whereas orange has its own identity and speaks of your own personal style.  To decorate with orange or even to wear orange indicates confidence and a sense of playfulness.  The colour orange has been synonymous with autumn and if coordinated with too much black it reads ‘Halloween’.  But to highlight a neutral palette, add a splash of orange in any season and your room will read ‘current’.  Stay away from the complementary colours that sit opposite from orange on the colour wheel like blues as your room will start to feel Moroccan.  (Unless that is what you are after.)  I have a lot of orange accessories in my home; vases, cushions, artwork, throws.  But my favourite pieces of orange that I have are my two orange lamps.  The lamps were recently passed down to me from a favourite aunt who had them in her living room.  The lamps were part of an unchanged ‘70’s décor that was coordinated with purple and brown!  Truly a blast from the past.  I had always admired these lamps so after the passing (sadly) of this aunt these lamps made their way into my home.  The cousins had no idea why I would want these ‘ugly’ lamps and were about to throw them into the dumpster!  I like to think I saved a bit of ‘history’.  The original lamp shades were gold and almost 24 inches high, appropriate for a ‘70’s style.  I replaced the shades with white drum shades and voila, new, re-interpreted, up-to-date, contemporary lamps were born.  So if you are looking for a hit of something new “squeeze a bit of orange’ into your room!   

I love spring!  To me spring is all about colours. Bright colours.  At this time of year I notice that the sky is bluer.  A true blue.  I think colour is so impacting right now probably due to the fact that we have been living in the dullness of a long winter.  Whenever I spot a bright colour I am instantly boosted.  (Must try to bottle this feeling)  With that said I am changing the throw cushions on my sofa and adding pops of colour throughout the house.  This year I seem to have an affinity for yellow chartreuse.  Although I am noticing that pink (very vivid pink) is really hot right now with everything from home accessories to magazine artwork.  Pantone, (www.pantone.com) the world-renowned authority on colour, has identified Honeysuckle, a dynamic, reddish pink as the 2011 Colour of the Year.  I change my throw cushions often because I have many different cushion covers and I use the same feather pillow inserts.  I use IKEA (www.ikea.com) feather cushions and buy their covers or sew them myself with great fabric.  Also WEST ELM (www.westelm.com) sells the inserts and covers too.   Big change, little impact on storage.  Recently while travelling the public transit I noticed that the majority of people were wearing black, grey or brown.  From their coats right down to their shoes.  Very dull.  Which made me think, wouldn’t it be great to have a day where we all wore a visibly and vividly bright piece of clothing.   How very mod!                                                                                            Remember when you where a kid and you got a brand new box of crayons?  You would open that new box and all the bright colours were in the front row of the box and all the dark colours were at the back.  The yellow, pink, red, orange, lavender, citron, turquoise blue at the front and the black, brown, grey, hunter green, navy blue at the back.   So here is to spring and to all the front of the box colours!

West Elm

IKEA