“Vivacious, enticing; a provocative go-getter; a bit exotic, but in a very friendly, non-threatening way.” If that description sounds like an upstart wine label’s new Riesling or a TV critic extolling Zooey Deschanel’s virtues, think again. Those are the descriptive accolades the corporate authority on color science and technology, Pantone, has chosen to promote its official color of 2012, a deep red-orange shade called tangerine tango. » Continued on the next page
You thought there were mere fads in color?
More like a pronouncement.
Every year, Pantone issues its color of the year. Past shades have included honeysuckle (2011), turquoise (2010), mimosa (2009) and blue iris (2008). What these colors-of-the-moment represent, metro Atlanta designers said, is the direction consumers can look for the home design market to take in the coming year.
Pantone has already circulated images of a CB2 parlor chair and chest of drawers and a Crate & Barrel arbor bench in tangerine tango to whet consumer appetites for the poppy pumpkin deluge to come.
This year’s hip shade was already well known to designers, who have been using it for some time in interiors both traditional and mod. New York-based interior designer Christiane Lemieux is the founder and creative director of DwellStudio, which features a line of home products at Target and is known for its signature use of bold color.
Lemieux recently spoke on interior design trends at Atlanta’s AmericasMart. While in town, she also discussed the virtues of orange. “It’s always been one of the most successful colors for us in our line. If we do white bedding with orange accents, people love it. People always gravitate toward the orange pillow as accents in their interiors,” she said.
“Orange makes people awake and happy. It’s different than red and it’s different than yellow, because red tends to be much moodier and yellow — people associate it with the kitchen,” said Lemieux.
“When the Pantone color comes out, what you’ll start to notice is that orange is going to be everywhere,” said Cristi Holcombe, owner of the interior designer company Charm Home.
Holcombe attributes the rise in orange, even before that Pantone announcement, to the widespread influence of nationally known designers and orange cheerleaders such as New York’s Amanda Nisbet and Little Rock’s Tobi Fairley. The rise of mass-market high-design meccas such as CB2, Z Gallerie and West Elm also has popularized the vibrant hue.
“Orange is the new turquoise,” Holcombe said of that so-2010, overplayed blue.
Holcombe loves the versatility of the color, which can change the mood of a room according to its companion colors. “I feel like it can really make a space warm and cozy. It’s a warmer toned color, so it’s always going to make it feel more warm. But if it’s paired with the cooler colors like greens and blues, it does make a space feel more happy and young,” Holcombe said.
The Sandy Springs designer recently incorporated orange into a model home project, using a neutral color palette of charcoal and taupe as a kind of blank canvas to set her orange accents against. It’s a good strategy for homeowners who don’t want to overpower a room with the color.
That neutral backdrop highlighted bright red-orange accessories such as an orange and white rug from Global Views and Duralee curtains from the Thomas Paul line.
For vivid pops of color, Holcombe sourced glossy bright orange accessories and pillows from Z Gallerie, HomeGoods and Pier 1, frequent go-to stops for orange items.
She is also fond of using orange in children’s rooms, where it is a fun alternative to the traditional, gendered pink or blue. “It’s a good color to start out with, but then as they get older into the teenage years, it can still grow with them,” said Holcombe, who used orange bed linens and pillows paired with grasshopper greens and fire engine reds for a little boy’s room in Norcross.
Buckhead interior designer Carter Kay, owner of Carter Kay Interiors, is also a tangerine fan, though she more often uses the shade within a more traditional design scheme.
“I think it adds depth and vitality to a room,” said Kay, who set deep orange details such as a cheerful throw, silk curtains and orange-accented pillows against a palette of dove gray and creams for a Buckhead client, with elegant results.
“If you’re confident with the color, it can become the base of your room without taking over,” affirmed Kay.
In a few months, Kay will be redoing her own screened-in porch by painting her wicker furniture a dark obsidian brown and redoing her upholstery in a textured orange. “I think it will be really fun — great during the winter and really happy in the summer,” Kay said.
The only challenge with orange is reluctant homeowners intimidated by orange’s attitude.
“I think it takes a confident person to have that strong color,” Kay noted. “It can be more subtle, or it can be the star of the show. We try and read our client and see how much accent of that kind of color do they need to have, should they have and do they want to have.”
Sometimes, clients need a nudge toward orange.
“I say, ‘What colors are OK to use, and what colors are not OK to use, and they’ll go, ‘You can use anything but orange,’ ” Holcombe said with a laugh. “I think they’re scared because it is such a bold color, and they would never choose it on their own.”
“I just don’t think they understand where orange can take them and what it can do for their lives. It’s an amazing color,” Holcombe said.
