2012 Color of the Year

Just a few days ago, Pantone, the color authority for the design world, announced it’s 2012 Color of the Year: Tangerine Tango.

  
 

                                 

Here’s what they say about it in the press release:  “Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.” (read the entire press release here.)

Dramatic? I think maybe that’s an understatement. So what’s the average homeowner to do with this? Where -- and how -- could you use such a color as Tangerine Tango?

My immediate thought was in a powder room, a small bath with little or no light, so that the color itself would illuminate the room. Picture it with a dark espresso vanity, a light golden granite, and lots of bright silvery-chrome fixtures and accents. Add a crystal chandelier and it would be like being inside a very special jewel box. Or, in a more modern setting, I could see it as an accent wall in a family or media room, with all the other walls painted a cool grey, and a huge white leather sectional anchored by a graphic black and white area rug. Want something cozier? How about a den or library with rich, dark chocolate brown walls, a deep cushioned sofa you could sink into, and Tangerine Tango layered -- as trim on the mocha-colored natural silk draperies, in the pattern on the throw pillows, picked up again in the vibrant yet soothing tonalities of the Gustav Klimt print on the wall. Lovely.