You know I think that “Color of the Year” proclamations by Marketeers are baloney — they are just trying to sell this year’s color to replace last year’s color. So, instead, I’ll point to a color from our mid century past that was pretty darn good enough all along: Retro Renovation First Annual Color of the Year: Orange. There’s plenty of vintage available in this color — give it a look and if you like it, snatch it up for a fraction of what it would cost to buy new accessories in whatever “today’s must-have color” is. Of course, my fundamental color advice is: Use whatever color you like. Colors are wavelengths of energy and affect people differently. Find the ones that tickle your electrons and don’t look back.
Why orange? Well, it’s just continued to grow on me these past 9 years of living in my mid century house. It is a color that plays very nice with others: Orange looks good with blue in a midcentury interior. Orange looks good with green. Orange looks good with pink — yes, it does! And with banana, of course. Orange you glad I said banana?
Orange is a dynamic color — often called “the color of change”. It can be brought into an interior pretty easily. All the photos above are from my living room — as you can see, I’ve brought in orange with textiles like my beloved vintage bargello needlepoint pillows. Oh – and I guess those 1960s chairs have a bit of orange in the upholstery. When I bought them at an estate sale, the chairs had slip covers on them. I peeked under and – bingo! – it was orange velveteen stripes for me! I also have some orange Stangl. Isn’t my vintage afghan gorgeous? All the handiwork that went into it — my! — and I got it an estate sale for like $10. These things are out there — they are Golden Treasures!
If you want to be more bold, orange can be used as a paint color to create a graphic interior: See these posts about the bowling alley countertop and this kitchen.
I also have spotted kitchen cabinets available in orange — see my post on these “Mod Squad” (as I call them) cabinet doors. If I had the house for these — I would do it in a heartbeat!
Of course, what’s good on the inside (of your house) is also fab when you’re out on the town. Maybe I need this 1960s vintage orange leather coat from Retro Genie’s after all.
Wonderful, I adore orange! Having an old home with a lot of wood (post and beam exposed ceiling and floorboards) orange does wonders. And it is the perfect pairing with my other favorite decorator color: Robin’s egg blue. I often feel like Mrs. Blanding in my favorite movie, “Mr. Blandings Builds a Dream House” when she is talking to the painters and asking for paint the color of butter and to match a piece of thread. “Red, not as bright as a Winesap, but closer to a johnny red” or some such.
One of my favorite chairs is a French Bergere’ covered in a floral on an orange background with robins egg blue and touches of pink!
A great color to start the new year.
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is one of my all-time favorite movies. Whenever someone I know gets ready to buy their first house, I make them watch it. Myrna Loy giving the painters her orders with all the vivid details, and the minute she walks away, they translate it to ‘blue, white, red, yellow’. Priceless. And the leftover piece of slate she asks be put down in her little back porch flower room so she’d “have a nice, dry floor” turns into a $1,500 cost overrun (in 1936 dollars) because they have to tear the room out and run plumbing for a floor drain—doesn’t that sum up the joys of remodeling!
That’s my favorite movie, too. My late husband and I always quoted the strangest lines from that film.
I keep hearing him in the back of my mind saying, “Tear it down,” when I look at old houses looking for my perfect mid century home.
I bet if Pam did a survey, she would find most of us are Mr. Blandings fans.
See this post: http://retrorenovation.com/2007/11/23/1948-was-a-very-good-year-awesome-retro-kitchens-and-cary-grants-dream-house-too/
Right now, I’m in the process of painting our basement family room orange! I love orange. It really fits our home and makes everything warmer, brighter and happy.
Excellent choice on the color of the year, Pam! I just bought an orange sofa for my family room. It was called “paprika”, but I suppose a swatch called “orange” might scare people away. Most of my walls are paneled in Philippine mahogany, so shades of orange are a very nice accent. I am using spots of orange throughout the main living areas to make everything look like it belongs.
I am even considering a salmon-y/coral orange as an accent color in my aqua kitchen. Do you think that would be too much??
I think the accent color for your kitchen sounds great! My husband really wanted the coral boomerang countertops in our kitchen, but I went with all aqua and then introduced the strong red as my accent. Honestly, I think you just gotta get a piece of the color, put it in there, and see how you like it…
I don’t think it will be too much. I just painted the bathroom Pearl Gray, and am hunting for coral tile (Salmon, I guess – kinda like that one Lite Brite peg that didn’t match the orange OR the pink!). Also the shelves I’m building will be painted coral inside (found 1950 knotty pine that a woman was selling. It’s going on the wall around them) and seafoam green shower curtain and bath rug.
I think orange and aqua/turquoise will look killer!
Lynne! Orange and Turquoise? ABSOLUTELY wonderful together.
I love orange, and was so taken with the Orange Jacket that I magicked one up out of the Ether for myself- I found it at the Savers the day after you posted this one. I danced with joy in the aisles, and in fact just wore it in San Diego for a NY weekend, and was literally stopped on the street by people who were so excited to see an orange leather jacket they could hardly contain themselves.
I’m not sure how to embed a photo in a comment here, but here is a link to the orange gloriousness. I keep my hair orange, too, because why not? The colour makes people so happy. I am overjoyed that you have chosen it as the Colour of the Year.
Link:
http://katemckinnon.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/orange-jacket.jpg
You might also be interested in the photos in this post- I was just in New Orleans, photographing doors and paint colours on houses, and in this post are deep burnt orange stairs, with a hot lime green door, and one of the most mindbending pink doors I have ever seen. It makes me want to paint something, anything, that colour of pink immediately. Because like you say, orange and pink together…bliss.
http://katemckinnon.wordpress.com/2010/12/28/a-lovely-day/
I actually emailed Jeannie yesterday — she is holding the vintage orange jacket for me!
Orange is my favorite color right now and I think a better question would be where don’t I use it! I’ve got an orange accent wall in our living room behind our 60′s wall unit, we have a 60′s orange wood chair with fake leather cushions (the $8 garage sale purchase that started it all), as well as pillows, art and vases all with orange. Did I mention the orange knife block? The orange canister set? And yes, we’ve got orange with robin’s egg blue in the kitchen and avocado green in the living room. It’s such a fun color!
I was going to say that the only place you’ll find orange at my house is in my pink bathroom. I have orange and yellow touches in there which look good. The rest of my house is in harvest gold/green/blue/red, and orange doesn’t seem right with that scheme. But then I walked into my light blue kitchen and spotted a bowl of oranges on the counter. That was a nutritional choice, not a decorating choice, yet the orange really does go well with the wood cabinets and the blue walls. Since red is only used in my house in pillows and dish towels and such, now I see that maybe I can trade the red out for orange without much expense, and have a fresh new look. Fun!
Great post, Pam, and so nice to get some peeks at your living room. You clearly practice what you preach!
I love orange to accent my mainly blue, aqua, chartreuse and olive living room furnishings. My orange pops include a wonderful 60s lamp with a base that looks like orange melted lava, and a bunch of those huge plastic grapes. I also have a small orange resin cube table that looks sort of like a die but hollow. It’s very mod.
Love orange! But alas, my decorating style is more 20′s, 30′s, and 40′s….orange wasn’t big during those years for the most part, so it doesn’t play a factor in my home decorating, which leans more greens/reds/pinks/golds.
Instead: I have an orange car and an orange motorcycle! I don’t think I’ll ever have a car that is a different color…..mine is NEVER lost in the sea of white / black / silver / grey cars at every shopping center parking lot
Dang – I guess I’m not really thinking very clearly yet today…..no really bright orange in my house, but yeah, I guess my entire bedroom is gold and coral, and my favorite antique china lamps in my bedroom have orange hand painted flowers (along with some purple/lavender flowers) on them. Duh! Not enough coffee yet I guess.
Our house was ALL orange growing up, orange carpet, couch, wallpaper, drapes, chairs…you name it…orange. I don’t think I could go back!
I have an orange butterfly string art in the living room and the dresser in my son’s room has bright orange drawers. Since it is white I cut up a vinyl shower curtain with mid century colored circles on a clear background to cover the top and keep it white longer. I have also attached 2 fabric shower curtains to my vertical blinds in the living room. I found the same pattern in outdoor fabric pillows. Perfect to throw on the couch! I have mini designer chairs on top and salt and pepper shakers on the ones in the kitchen. The secret is a little fun-tac to keep them in place!
We painted our family room orange in 2004 and people thought we were crazy. We LOVE it. Red couch, oak hardwood floors. Now we are painting our new basement chartreuse (SW0073) and I’m looking for an orange shag rug to throw down next to the red couch.
Now here’s the real question… how do YOU pronounce it? OR-ange or AR-ange? (I’m an AR-ange girl myself.)
OR- ange, like Oreo…but I am from the left coast. HI TINA!
yes, i pronounce it like MbS aka Marybeth
I love our burnt orange color in our kitchen! Here is a link: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_a-w-K3ysFI4/TD0KAC22oyI/AAAAAAAAH08/5qs3mbdPf6Q/s1600/IMG_5067_kitchen.jpg
ooooh, love your stove, too, Kristin! what is it? a chambers? what year?
Did Chambers ever put the broiler in the center like that? I am a new convert, so I don’t know all their models.
ORANGE was Frank Sinatra’s favorite colors. Catch some of his old movies. You will see lots of ORANGE!!!!!
Orange is the Color of Every Year!
Oh, orange is such a good color, I have liked it for years and painted the door in my kitchen orange, orange daisy pyrex bowls. So glad you’re getting that orange coat Pam, it’s good.
funny, when I saw those chairs at the beginning of the post I thought, “oh, I love those chairs, hmmmm, where have I seen them? I know I’ve seen them.” then I started looking into the pictures more and realized they belong to you!! they are good chairs.
Doug Wilson from Trading Spaces has an orange and brown room in his book “Doug’s Room, Transforming Spaces…’ the orange walls are layers of tissue paper, creating blocks of a sort….the orange color values are great!
Orange is my favorire color ! I have always played it safe and painted with peach tones but this year I have decided to take the plunge. I’m creating an orange “girl cave” in our den. I even have orange sheers for the windows. I know orange is not everyone’s cup of tea but it just makes me happy!
Yippeee! My favorite color from about 6th grade through high school! I had this fabulous orange and gold Mediterranean style bedspread on my antique cherry bed.
My bratty sister used to come into my room when I was a senior in high school, sit on my bed and sigh, “I can’t wait until next year when this is my room. I’m going to decorate it the way it SHOULD be.”
Yeah, yeah, and now her house looks like all the other houses in Plano, Texas.
Pam- I just have a question I was hoping you could help me with?. We are building a pool house. I want to use this color scheme:http://retrorenovation.com/2010/09/15/13-pages-of-youngstown-metal-kitchen-cabinets/ image #9. I have ordered aqua boomerang formica to go on the Homart cabinets I found. How do I figure out what color that orange is (I really like that) & also the yellow?
Thanks, Nancy
Hi Nancy, you emailed me this before… sorry I did not get back to you. But, I had started pursuing the question. I emailed California Paints, given their extensive 20th century palette, and here is the reply:
Hi Pam,
Great to hear from you. What a wonderful color scheme and post. I would recommend Tangerine Burst for the orange and Suntan for the yellow. Tangerine Burst is from a 1930 wallpaper but was also found in Moderne interior decorative finishes. The color was often paired with warm beiges or contrasting gray in interior decoration.
I’d be happy to send Nancy our 20th Century Colors of America color card and additional information. Just let me know how I can help!
I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
Best,
Lindsay
Lindsay Thibeault – Marketing Coordinator
California Products Corporation
ummm, i can’t find my california paint chips (you’ve seen the photo of my office) or i’d go look…argh
Hi! I love mid-century and I’m so excited to have found this web site. I love orange and have been using in the house for the last several years. I was introduced to the fifties look through my husband 20 years ago. We have had many a fun road trip looking for anything deco through googie 50′s. It pairs great with danish modern too.
We have turquoise and orange for our kitchen. I chose the Sherwin William’s ‘Holiday Turquoise’ to offset my beloved ‘Tangerine’ Kitchen-aide mixer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blazink/sets/72157615070449400/
I also painted my living room in Sherwin William’s ‘Stirring Orange’, it is a very nice mellow orange with a touch more yellow than red.
I love that orange is the color of the year! I can’t wait to see what else pops up in orange on this website!
I totally dig orange. My parents’ house in the ’70s was very groovy. An orange halfbath, the family room had little square orange table with black legs, black short-fur davenport with long fur hot throw pillows in bright pink and orange, a side table with sliding doors painted purple and orange. It was a happenin’ place. We recently redid our entire living room because we never used it. My vision was a cross between ’60s mid-mod cool and a little ’70s wow. A nice slightly spicy orange did the trick nicely. Photos shortly after new furniture arrived are here.
I forgot to mention in my post yesterday morning that my front door is painted orange. I don’t know how I let that little fact get by, because that orange front door was one thing that made we want to buy this house!
Pam- I would love to receive the color card & information from Lindsay as I cannot find the colors she suggested.
Thanks so much!
Nancy
Who knew I was choosing the color for 2011?!
nancy, can you call california paints directly…
Thank god for orange! Deliver me from greige!
We put orange in a few years ago, and haven’t looked back: http://www.flickr.com/photos/foliosus/sets/72157603703997028/
wow, foliosus, you got you some orange and with an avocado wallpaper focal wall, too! is that an avocado fridge? can i feature these on the blog some day soon?
What a cool home you have! Love all the orange and the great wallpaper in the dining room…and oh yeah, really love the yellow dinette set!
Orange has been *my* color of the year for as long as I can remember. Thankfully I realized it’s not such a complement to my skin and have switched from orange sweaters to vintage orange chairs. I have at least 6, most of them velvet. They look gorgeous in our 1961 mini-ranch, thankfully! I blame my parents for this deep-rooted love of orange: my childhood bedroom was delightfully decorated in brick orange shag carpet with bright yellow walls and brick orange, bright yellow, and kelly green ABC wallpaper. It obviously left quite an impression.
I have always loved orange and the same friends who can’t understand my fascination with a pink bathroom, can’t understand my fascination with orange. I have avocado painted walls in my living room with orange in my furniture and a few accessories. Where I really get to show it off is in one of the bedrooms dedicated to all things Harley Davidson. Both my husband and I ride Harleys and anyone who knows Harleys knows they’re all about orange and black. Up until moving into our 1954 ranch two and a half years ago, that was the only place I could get away with an orange room. Now I’ve thrown caution to the wind and drug that orange right on out to the living room and never get tired of looking at it!
I have an orange design dilemma.
My hubby and I are in the process of creating a TV/media room in our upstairs sunroom, on a fairly tight budget. Although our home is vintage 1913 craftsman this room will be decorated totally in the MCM. I will decorate with vintage Platner coffee and side tables (thanks mom!), the ubiquitous flat screen housed on a large Ikea wall unit and the walls, drapes, shag area rug and L shaped sofa will be in neutral beige tones or warm grays. The fun begins with the orange and pink accent colors inspired by the iconic 60′s movie poster from “The Endless Summer”
http://www.squidoo.com/endless-summer-posters-prints
I’m normally not afraid of color. I’ve got a red/green/white vintage style kitchen, a lot of bold color throughout every room in the house but I’m a bit afraid of orange. This is a small but bright room, where I’ll be spending a lot of time. Do I want to keep the accent colors to throw pillows/afghan, the framed poster and various nick nackage or do I really need/want a big pop of orange? I’ve got my eye on a fab new orange plastic Eames arm chair as I need the extra seating. I do have a vintage neutral colored upholstered “shell chair” (another style Eames but it’s gray/beige. Thanks again mom!) . I could use that neutral chair and buy the shag rug in orange. Which would save me some $$. But the rug would be an even larger pop of orange. I could also buy a very similar knock off “Eamish” style pastel pink plastic arm chair (which is a little bit cheaper than the real Eames) but isn’t such a strong color.
http://www.yliving.com/herman-miller-eames-plastic-armchair.html
Oye how much orange it too much orange?
That Endless Summer poster is terrific. I don’t know that there is a way to help online. It seems like you have a great design sense — you are very attuned to each element of the room. In general, I would say, layer your orange a bit at a time … until you get it right. Then, take one thing out. Just like that old saying about accessorizing. My question about the Eames chairs — are they sufficiently comfy for a TV room? In my house, we all settle in like bona fide vintage couch potatoes — we need our comfy cozy, heck, I’m on the floor with pillows – which would mean: shag rug there for sure! Good luck, send me a pic when you’re ready for prime time.
Pam,
Re the comfort level; we’re only seating myself and my husband most of the time. I’m planning on purchasing an L shaped sofa for the two of us to share. Plenty of room for both of us to stretch out and room to seat 4, possibly 5 if need be. The room is small, only 9′ by 14′ and we’re not planning on using it much for entertaining. Mostly it’s for the two of us to cuddle up and watch the tube. However, I do have room for a chair and wanted to have the extra seating just in case. And I’m totally in love with this chair. I’ve wanted one since I was a kid. It feels almost like a piece of sculptural art to me. Yes, they aren’t super comfortable. I wouldn’t want to watch a three hour movie while seated in one. At some point I will replace it when I inherit my mother’s Eames lounge chair/ottoman. Now that chair is super comfy. Another reason to think about the chair in orange; what am i going to do with it when I do obtain an replacement? It really won’t work anywhere else in the house. The old form over function, heart vs head , pretty vs practical dilemma. So I’m going to take your advice and start with a bit of orange and then see where that leads.
I’ll send pics when we’ve got it done sometime this Summer.
What timing! Most of my life I hated orange. I like color in general but I really couldn’t stand orange of any sort. Sometime about 9 years ago, orange started growing on me, I think I was pregnant with our first child and your tastes can change unexpectedly. Gradually orange started creeping into my wardrobe in the form of pumpkin and spice and tangerine. It joined the partnership of dark greens with light blues. I knit myself my first pair of socks last year out of yarn I dyed myself – sort of a burnt orange color. Just before Christmas my kids asked me what my favorite color was, they are always asking, and I finally said orange!
I have yet to put orange in the house but I have the fabric – a bit of orange is going to make a splash in our all white bathroom. And I have seriously contemplated putting up orange slice wallpaper inside my dark kitchen cabinets.
p.s. When I was about 10 I had a neon orange coat with bright white fake fur trim. I’m sure I hated it but I have to remember it fondly now, seeing the leather one above!
I spent the holidays in Mexico City and was blown away by the colors. Basics like towels come in incredible shades of pink, red, and orange, shades I’ve never seen in the U.S. The most perfect burnt orange ever.
I wonder if it has something to do with the bright sun — the further south you go you need strong bright colors or else they wash out???
The light is definitely different there. I passed on the colorful towels because I was worried that the colors wouldn’t look as fabulous up here in San Francisco. But they were wonderful eye candy!
Mmmm orange. Great pick!
We cannot get enough. Painted the entire house orange. Some neighbors love it, others not so much. To each their own.
Orange house! http://twitpic.com/3n25k2
Well, it’s nice to know that even if I am a preservationist, I’m still ahead of the curve!
I painted my back hall entry “Mimosa”. This incidentally is the part of my 1930′s house that I believe was added in the 1960′s and I’ve decorated it with that in mind.
http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/ff26/lilyofthefoxvalley/Clark%20Street/?action=view¤t=IMG_4863.jpg
And, I found a vintage pair of Ethan Allan chairs at ReStore which I had every intention of recovering – until I got them home. I think they look grand! I think the lady kind of questioned my taste because she said “Those orange ones?” when I went over to pay for them. $15 each!
http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/ff26/lilyofthefoxvalley/Clark%20Street/?action=view¤t=IMG_4721.jpg
I love orange! When we moved into our latest home, perhaps inspired by moving to the Netherlands and their official House of Orange, we ended up using quite a bit of orange in our decorating. The guest room on the top floor got some orange on the beams and trim and door, etc. http://www.flickr.com/photos/abnetsel/3303992752/in/set-72157605367443247/
We also painted one wall in the living room the same orange. It goes perfectly with our yellow sofa and the brown and orange fabric I found at the local fabric market. http://www.flickr.com/photos/abnetsel/2722789546/in/set-72157605367443247/
I´m so glad a friend posted a link to your site. It´s gorgeous and full of inspiration!
You know, I don’t have any orange in my home, but after seeing this post, I sure think I should. I did just pick up some adorable vintage orange juice glass with little oranges printed on them and they make me so happy. I think you have to smile when you see an orange room… I’m craving this color (and a glass of OJ)!
Best news this year! You mean my orange/yellow speckled counter that DH has been wanting to trash for 10 years is in? Yea!
orange-yellow speckles sound quite fabulous to me!
Darn it!! Just last summer (after 35 years) my children finally talked me into changing my kitchen color away from ORANGE to taupe. My daughter convinced me, “taupe goes with every thing, Mom.” I had changed many colors in my kitchen over the years because Orange does go with everything, but I’d always kept my favorite color — Orange. Needless to say, I am not happy with taupe. It may go with everything, but ‘taupe everything’ is not near as bright and happy as “orange everything”. I’m sending a link to this post to my daughter!!!!!! Please keep showing us the wonderful color combinations that go so well with ORANGE…..