How to decorate with orange? Pair it with these unusual colours
Wondering what colours pair with an orange scheme? Whilst cool shades can work brilliantly to temper the inherent warmth of orange, outside-the-box thinking can result in some showstopping interiors. From a 1980s party pad to the home of a bauhaus legend, these homes from the archives show the endless colour combinations when decorating with an orange scheme.
Orange and blue by a Bauhaus legend
Haus Auerbach, the landmark home of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, was restored by Barbara Happe and Martin Fischer. During the restoration process the couple rediscovered Gropius’s intended colour scheme hidden beneath layers of wallpaper – but it wasn’t the primary-hued palette we often associate with Bauhaus. Rather, it was an unorthodox yet nuanced combination of orange, blue and pink, with the paint applied in playful, abstract blocks of colour.
Rust and deep plum in a 19th-century apartment
Norway-based stylist and consultant Dagny Thurmann-Moe of Fargestudio looked to both sides of the colour wheel when devising this home’s punchy scheme. Whilst one end of the home is a sea of cool greens, blues and teal, the other is a rich combination of rust and berry shades. ‘I wanted to create contrast,’ says Dagny, ‘so I shifted the degrees of warmth between each adjoining space.’
A cobalt and tangerine clash in Madrid
Blanca Rosa Gutiérrez’s studio made a bold move when renovating this home for clients in Madrid. They removed the internal walls and instead used paint colour to zone the space, to dramatic and chromatic effect. A large orange box acts as divider and storage, while bold blue defines the kitchen.
A salmon and teal affair in this Melbourne home
This home in Melbourne is made up mostly of white walls – except for this explosion of colour in the snug. The salmon-coloured sliding doors give way to a rich teal green, creating a totally unexpected colour combination that was inspired by designer Mardi Doherty’s trip to Palm Spring’s Modernism Week shortly before this project began.
The burgundy and terracotta colour blocking combo
When choosing the palette for this holiday home in Barcelona, the owners looked to the apartment’s original art nouveau floor tiles for inspiration. The rich, earthy terracotta in the kitchen was the starting point, with a deep burgundy on the ceiling emphasising the home’s ornate mouldings.
Peach and grey in Fabian Freytag’s Berlin apartment
Inspired by the laidback vibes of the Ligurian coastline, but located in Berlin, the mix of peach and grey in designer Fabian Freytag’s home is a suitable combination of industrial and upbeat. The kitchen features ‘Purbeck Stone’ on the floor-to-ceiling cabinetry and ‘Faded Terracotta’, both by Farrow & Ball, with the latter used throughout the apartment.
