Unexpected Orchid – Using Pantone’s Color of the Year in New Places
Hello again! I’m Dawn from DesigningDawn.com back again this month with another mood board for your decoration inspiration. Check out my board from last month here if you missed it!
If you’ve been paying attention to the blogosphere at all, you’ve probably already heard that Pantone’s color of the year for 2014 is Radiant Orchid. I’ve seen so many awesome roundups of how to incorporate orchid into your home, and even a beautiful one here on Remodelaholic last month from my mood board contributing counterpart, Sarah, that included some great tips on how to use a trendy color like orchid in your space.
Being a graphic designer in my offline life, I have a special affinity for everything Pantone. I also really love this color– I used it in my wedding way back when, and even have it incorporated into my own master bedroom. So I couldn’t resist the urge to add my two cents to the conversation. I’d hate for things to get stale though, so I wanted to approach orchid in a way I haven’t seen yet this year- and maybe in a space most people don’t think of.
It’s probably not too surprising to hear that Orchid, purples in general, can be one of those colors that might seem hard to incorporate into your decor. Especially if we’re talking about using it in shared family spaces. People tend to associate colors in the purple family with a nursery or little girl’s room, and it can be a difficult color to bring into adult spaces without coming across as overly feminine. This can be ok for a bedroom or similar ‘softer’ living areas where romance and femininity are more at home, but while I’ve seen a lot of examples of adding bright splashes of orchid to your living or bedroom areas (and even these might be a stretch if you have an masculine-y opinionated significant other) I’ve yet to see it incorporated into some less … ‘soft’ areas of the house. For example, the kitchen or dining room.
Today I’ve put together a little mood board doing just that. I call it ‘Unexpected Orchid’.
Using Purple in The Kitchen and Dining Room
This is my take on using orchid (and really using purples in general) in a kitchen/dining room space, without making it feel like granny decorated for you. In my opinion, the trick is making sure you have a good mix of modern and natural elements thrown in, along with some warm tones to mute the frilly-ness purple can introduce.
I think a lot of people tend to associate purples with satin or silk, floral patterns, and luxury. When you take orchid out of that context however, incorporating it through abstract art, acrylics or plastics, modern patterns, and updated silhouettes, it can quickly transition to a look that isn’t your grandma’s purple. To achieve that look here, I’ve used pops of purple on mostly harder surfaces, while mixing in a good amount of golds and blacks to tone it down. The addition of some more rustic wood tones makes the space feel warm and inviting, rather than overly fancy. I could totally eat (and probably spill) here.
I love how everything works together and could really see this not-too-girly-orchid working in a shared space. What do you think? Would you use purple in a kitchen or dining room? Or is it strictly a bedroom color? If you’d like to see all the sources used in this board, click here to jump over to Olioboard and check it out.
Thanks again to Cassity & the Remodelaholic team for having me here today. I look forward to being back again next month with more inspiration and another mood board for you! If you like what you see, be sure to visit me over on my blog, DesigningDawn, or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. Have a great day, friends!
-Dawn
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Check out the best purple paint colors for your home in our Color Files
or get more kitchen and dining room inspiration here.
Dawn is one half of the team behind the creative blog, AD Aesthetic. By day she works as the VP of Creative for a design and marketing company (getting paid to make things look good!), while by night she renovates her Midwest home, refinishes thrift-store furniture for fun, and works with her husband on raising two tiny humans. Dawn believes in the potential to design your surroundings and your life one day at a time, and lives by the motto, 'Make everything beautiful.' Get to know her better by visiting her blog, ADaesthetic.com, or following along on Facebook and Instagram.
Brilliant! Love the purple lucite chairs paired with the natural wood and graphite! Thanks for the inspiration!