How orange can light up your home

The Backgammon pattern blends orange with black, grey and cream, and is picked up in soft accessories (wallpaper approx.

€65 p/roll, cushions from approx. €35 at www.minimoderns.com)

Be brave and give orange a go with another striking tone. (Dulux paints €53.99 p/5ltr at Pat McDonnell Paints and B&Q)

Introduce a statement piece of furniture finished in orange, and accessorise with flat yellows and blues for an updated ‘70s look (Alfie sofa €879 at M&S)

Tempted by orange but not to sure about making a commitment? Try a temporary orange cover on a sofa (Lycksele sofa cover €60 at Ikea)

Eyes have been watering since colour supremo Pantone declared orange to be the colour of the year in 2012. While we were still adjusting to the near-demise of neutrals, and squinting at the arrival of vibrant indigo and acid green, orange seemed to push us a bit too far.

Here we’re not talking about an orange that re-introduced the earthy terracotta tones of the ‘90s, bringing warmth to rooms dulled by cool northern light, but the orange of iced-lollies and tangerines.

Now we’re heading into the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness which has endorsed orange as its signature colour thanks to our American cousins’ approach to celebrating autumn, Halloween and Thanksgiving.

It might seem a little early to get into the subject, but even now there’s a bite in the air after dark and it won’t be long before we’ll swop barbecues for pumpkin pie to comfort us through chillier days.

For fashion fiends who must have the latest, orange is a way of tapping into the in-vogue look of the 1970s, you’ll find plenty of it in vintage shops and at car boot sales, particularly in kitchen accessories, tablewares, vases and fabrics. But if you want something new, small kitchen appliances like kettles, toasters, blenders and mixers are now widely available in orange. So too are tablewares and orange tinted drinking glasses, though you might want to dilute these with white linens or intersperse them with white wares.

Orange is a visually challenging colour to have in your home, so think before you get happy with the paint brush, and consider which particular orange is right for your space.

In bedrooms, opt for a pale tint like peach, apricot or warm pumpkin as deep orange hues have an association with stimulation which is not what you want in your place of rest. In deeper and brighter hues, orange is a fun and lively option for kitchen and living area walls. It also works in dining rooms where it’s said to stimulate the appetite, but do resist giving the orange treatment to an entire room unless you are an extraordinarily confident decorator and have a stock of white and minimally chic furniture and accessories with which to cool it all down.

Orange was a popular colour in bathroom suites of the 1970s, but went spectacularly out of fashion as did the equally popular avocado. Hard to fathom that orange is making a comeback, but at the rate interior styles change, you need a timeless suite you won’t be tempted to rip out at significant expense, which is probably why white came back in fashion.

On bathroom walls, orange can bring warmth and life to this typically chilly room and will off-set your sparkling white suite. But, if you want to use a deeper orange, make sure you keep one or two of the four walls white, and avoid orange on walls behind and opposite the mirror as your complexion may take on the sun-bed look.

* Next week we’re looking at the return of velvet