The Artful Life ~ Finding the Beauty in Every Day

She is notoriously difficult to work with, ask any decent painter or interior designer. She is high strung and demanding, can slide easily from dramatic to brash, requires skillful lighting and sophisticated companions to be at her best. She's a diva, and like the greatest divas she's well worth the trouble. Here are some ideas for bringing this gorgeous and temperamental colour into your life:

• If you're bold and want to put orange on your walls, pick the right orange! There are tooo many sad stories of people who wanted terra cotta and ended up with pumpkin, or wanted pale tangerine and ended up with insipid peach. Try one of these: Benjamin Moore Sweet Orange, Yellow Oxide, Ryan Red, Adobe Orange.
  
• The Italians know how to handle the colour orange. Follow their lead and use the earthy versions of orange: burnt sienna, raw sienna. Accent with stony blue grey, gold leaf, and glossy orange-leaf green.
• In a neutral or earthy room, try just a few orange accents:
  
• Use a dramatic piece of blown glass (orange is wonderful with light coming through).
  
• Upholster just one piece of furniture, like an armchair, perhaps in a pale greyed-orange velveteen.
  
• Drape a tangerine mohair or fleece throw on your neutral sofa.
  
• Get a couple of whimsical hand made throw pillows in orange.
  
• Fill a big turquoise ceramic bowl with tangerines, persimmons, or oranges. Throw in a few limes for beautiful contrast.
  
• Be very careful using orange if you have lots of wood (furniture, cabinetry, ceilings.) Many woods read as orange already, which you'll discover as soon as you put more orange next to them.
  
• Try using orange in your sunny, south facing rooms.
• Orange seems to love being with white, cool blue-greys, charcoal, cool neutrals, cool chocolate brown and cream plus a bit of pale celery green (very Japanese), or for the brave, turquoise or lime green.
• Orange does not love being with lots of "earth tones" circa 1975, black (except you know when,) or yellow (except on some occasions with pale pink to mediate.)
• Orange loves stainless steel.