DESIGN DAILY: How to Decorate with Orange Walls?

The juicy orange walls of this Antonia Hutt dining room have been on my mind ever since we posted it in Met Home’s story Mad about Saffron. And if a paint can stick in my mind that long, I think I need to buy it by the gallon (I have an email into the designer for the exact paint number; I’ll keep you posted).

Warm hues are said to cater to our social side and in a kitchen or dining room, stimulate appetite and conversation. I am not 100% sure this is true but with an orange this warm, this inviting--it just might be. So I think I am going to give it a whirl on our new kitchen walls. I love it--and I better because a color this strong will undoubtedly resonate throughout the surrounding rooms.

So that brings us to the next question: If our saffron kitchen opens up directly into our living room, do I carry the color through or give the other walls breathing space?

I think the living room’s palette has to at least reference the adjacent kitchen with complimentary colors. This space below by Jonathan Adler may just be the palette I am going for--browns, greens, creams, and few touches of orange in a rug or pillow to connect the space.

But I am also batting around the idea of painting the back wall of the living room a few shades softer, in a color like this Martin Senour “Zinnia Orange.” It would create a continuous flow between rooms and on just one wall, the color is surprise rather than an expected matchy-matchy paint job.


We start painting in the first week of August, I’d love to hear your thoughts!