You get up feeling sluggish one morning. Dark and pessimistic. Someone peels an orange just beside you. What a pleasant odor. Suddenly things seem much brighter.
Do the blues hit you in the middle of the day? You have a glass of fresh orange juice and suddenly you feel lighter.
A depressing evening after a bad day. Dusk is fantastic. You take two minutes to contemplate it. The orange of the sky soothes you. You already feel better.
Orange is freshness, love of life and calmness. Three sensations that perform miracles in decoration.
The colour orange stimulates the senses without putting them into the overdrive that comes from red, while leaving the softness and serenity of yellow.
The ideal vivid colour, orange is a must for a room with citrus tones, along with citrus yellow and lime green. Add some red and you obtain a vintage effect that evokes the happenings of the 1960s.
No need to drown a room in orange to appreciate this warm colour, even though it does exist. We once saw a living room that was orange from one end to another. Projectors mounted in various places of the room mirrored shining halos on numerous glass surfaces. The effect was staggering.
If there is one colour that orange is very comfortable with, it’s white.
Imagine a completely white room with a touch of orange here and there. It could be a wall, a separation panel, a comforter, a headboard or a veiling above the bed, a curtain, cushions on the sofa, a couch, the back of a wall recess, cupboard doors. Add reflective surfaces and you have a room that bathes in light and joy of life. Very fine black lines traced on a wall make the room more sumptuous. Too bright? Add a wall of black stones or a darker floor covering. You want more warmth? A touch of brown or maroon will fill your need.
For a warm atmosphere, choose a dark wood ceiling and floor combined with orange walls. Orange is also hard to beat when you want to add a relief to dark wood furniture.
Stone wood and the colour orange may be the warmest trio you can find in decoration. Other spectacular trios include orange with magenta and violet, turquoise and yellow, turquoise and white, gold and brown, eggplant and anise.
Are you looking for a flamboyant duo? Try orange with violet. The shockwave will be deep. If not, combine orange with a garish blue and your room will swing with joy and fiesta, dear to the peoples of the South.
Seen in a workspace of a University of Montréal pavilion: orange panels on a wall facing a long stained glass window covering three quarters of a wall surface. Between the two are interposed light woods and a grey soil. Not only is the effect soothing, but the space is always clear, even in inclement weather.
It appears that creative people love grey as a dominant colour, given its neutrality. Nothing prevents them from mixing a little orange to their favourite colour to make it lighter. Orange and grey blend extremely well together.
It is said that orange in a bedroom creates a sensual atmosphere that favours conjugal longevity. Myth or reality?
Photos: iStockphoto