Orange!

Orange is my favorite color. When I was 3 or so, my mom let me choose a new paint color for my room, and I chose orange, so it was also my earliest design decision. (Years later, I again had an orange bedroom in our row house in Brooklyn. After three tries, I still remember the name of the perfect orange shade: Benjamin Moore's Burnt Pumpkin.) Orange is also my husband's favorite color. My engagement ring? Yup, orange, a beautiful mandarin garnet. So it was exciting to hear that, according to Nate Berkus's show today (via my mom), the must-have color for 2011 is orange or rust. Check, and check.





The office chair, new vintage coasters (a birthday gift from my brother and sister in law), and living room rug were just the orange things I could see from my vantage point of the hallway between living room and office. For rust I would need to go down the hall to the lacquered tray in the kitchen, and then on to the rust flowers on the bedding in the master. I also happen to have a pair of rust ceramic lamps that I am selling right about now. Perhaps I should keep them.

Much has been made in the blogosphere about the pantone color choice for the year, which is hibiscus, a bright, cheerful pink. How will this play out in the home decor aisles of Target and Home Goods? Surely I will be tempted by hibiscus, which, for a couple of months, will seem fresh and new. But my heart belongs to orange, whether anyone else is with me, or not.