Orange … it is positively on fire this year! Everywhere you go, every shade or tint of orange imaginable is popping up. Hollywood is in love with orange, and so are the fashion and paint industries. But why this all-out, full-scale love affair with orange? Very simple. First, orange is an extremely versatile color. Second, orange can be found in one form or another all over the natural world. It shows up in every season, from the vibrant flowers of spring, to the dynamic sun of summer, to the stunning leaves of fall, and even in some trees in those cold winter months. If you’re thinking of doing some house painting in New Jersey, whether on the interior or exterior, you can’t go wrong this year with a shade , tint, or tone of orange. What’s that? You didn’t know there was a difference between a shade, a tint, and a tone? Let’s further explore the difference between these, as well as the many variations of the color orange that can liven up any area of your Summit County home.
Hues, shades, tints, and tones
First, in the world of colors, orange is what is known as a ‘secondary’ color. On a 12-part color wheel (sectioned in the order of a rainbow), red, blue, and yellow are the primary colors, meaning that no other colors can be mixed to result in these. Secondary colors result from mixing two primary colors, i.e. yellow and blue make green, red and yellow make orange, etc. Secondary colors fall in between each primary color combination. Tertiary colors result from mixing either one primary color with one secondary color or when mixing two secondary colors. These are found between primary and secondary colors on the color wheel. Many people don’t realize that hue, shade, tint, and tone all mean something different. A ‘hue’ is a pure color, and the words ‘hue’ and ‘color’ can be used interchangeably (although the word ‘color’ is often used for any of these words). A ‘shade’ is a mixture of a color with black, while a ‘tint’ is a mixture of a color with white. A ‘tone’ is a color mixed with both white and black. In essence, it has been ‘grayed’ down. So what tints, shades, and tones of orange are there? The answer … limitless!
Your kitchen and orange
Of course, everyone’s taste is different. If you’re someone who likes a bright and lively kitchen, Sherwin Williams’ website names some of their more energetic oranges when kitchen painting, including mandarin, navel, and carnival. Using one of these on accents or on a focal wall is often enough to brighten up your kitchen. On the other hand, if you prefer a more subdued form of orange in the kitchen, Benjamin Moore’s website agrees with you, as they have designated some of their favorite oranges to be on the more muted side. Bronze tone, soft pumpkin, Etruscan, and Persian melon are some of their softer orange colors that can look fabulous in a kitchen.
Your bathroom and orange
Bathroom painting is a different story altogether. Bathrooms can take just about any shade, tint, or tone of orange, as long as they’re blended well with bathtubs and showers. Sky blues and teals tend to go well with rusts and golds. Oranges that are more on the pure side tend to go better with vivid colors of bathroom fixtures. Additionally, the bathroom tends to be smaller than any other room in the house, and smaller rooms can feel even more cramped when painted with darker colors. If your bathroom’s small, try a lighter orange tint, such as apricot or marigold. White trims in the bathroom are very popular this year, and this combo goes well with just about any variation of orange. Remember, though, not all types of paint work in the bathroom. Because of the humidity this room sees, conventional flat paints are a no-no, as these bubble and do not resist mold well in the face of moisture. Always be sure to use moisture-resistant paints in the bathroom. Satin and semi-gloss paints are fine. The rule for the bathroom is the higher the gloss, the better the mold repeller.
Your bedroom and orange
Bedroom painting is a great project to experiment with muted oranges. Terracotta goes very well with blues and creams, while deep and bright oranges look great with vivid pinks and even greens. Apricot, winter white, and velvety chocolate are gorgeous together in a bedroom, especially when combined with lacey bed linens and window treatments.
So, now that you know just how artful orange can be, think about adding it to your next house-painting project. Whether you use it in the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, or any other room in your home, orange will make your house stand out from every other house in your neighborhood. Contact a skilled house painter in Summit for more information on the amazing diversity of the color orange.