Decorating in Orange

Orange is a great color with which to enliven your home decor. Orange represents the 2nd chakra in the Indian view of the spiritual body, and supports fertility and pair bonding. When you introduce orange to your room's decor, you bring in the energy of potential and fulfilment.

Shades ranging from pastels like apricot, to earth-tones like burnt orange, give you plenty of options with out having to resort to Halloween colors. Orange looks lovely when paired with violet, like California golden poppies and lupins growing side by side. These colors look wonderful together in draperies, carpet with floral motif, bedspreads, and on throw pillows. A violet bedspread with orange accents, and an orange fan backed chair with violet throw pillows would look especially pretty. Burnt orange goes well with sage and khaki green too.

Burnt orange on a wall in a dark and oddly shaped room can make it feel less gloomy and cramped, and more womb-like and cozy. If you don't like the particular shade of orange at your disposal, just add a layer of burgundy colored paint, with a sponge, on top of the orange layer allowed to show through. Alternately, you can add a lot of white paint to the orange while still in the can, and turn it into a pastel apricot.

In Feng Shui, orange and red represent the fire element, and belong in the fame and reputation zone of your home. You can find this zone using the Feng Shui Bagua. Orange and red colored objects can be added to this place in your home as accent pieces, or as frames for displayed diplomas, certificates, and awards, or as scarves and mats at the bases of trophies. In the kitchen, a stack of nine very pretty oranges is auspicious, and brings prosperity.

Orange makes a lovely drape in sheer organza or cotton, because it softens the tones of harsh glaring daylight. It is also perfect for a room with a gloomy blueish quality, transforming the ambient light to a warm glow, and helping to put you in a good mood.

In a room with sand toned decor, orange accent pieces make lovely focal points. An orange blown glass vase, orange translucent lamp shade, or an orange and brown throw pillow, can set off a room's sand toned decor.

Many Persian and Turkish carpet motifs have orange accents. These can be repeated in tapestries and pictures hung on the wall to complete the orange decor theme.