Orange has its decorating day in the sun

This time of year, the word orange conjures up visions of jack-o'-lanterns and candy corn. But those who know color know this warm and versatile hue can play a host of respectable roles in your home decor year-round.

"It's funny to me how some people are so afraid of orange," says interior designer Libby Langdon. "But used in the right way, it can add a burst of energy to a room without being overwhelming."

Adds Keith Baltimore of Baltimore Design Center in Port Washington: "It's kind of like an ace in the hole. It's always dramatic when you use orange."

That's easy for the well-schooled in design to say. But for those less intimate with the color wheel, orange can be intimidating. Fear not: With a quick lesson from the experts, you can learn how to let orange take its rightful place in interior design.

First, decide how daring you are. "Either go with an accent or go bold with any strong color," advises Glen Cove designer Greg Lanza. For the fearless, orange may seem right at home on the walls, the upholstery, the carpeting or the window treatments. But not everyone has that kind of nerve. "If someone wants to tread lightly on the orange front and maybe not commit to furniture or wall color, small accessories are the perfect way to incorporate this vibrant hue into your space," says Langdon.

Next, look at the big picture. "Never select from a paint chart without pairing with fabrics or wall coverings. There are too many color mistakes made by starting with paint color alone," says Lanza. And "start slow," advises Baltimore. "I don't mind a large piece of orange furniture, but let that be it and work another palette with it. It shouldn't be all about orange. It has to have some balance to it. There's an elegance to orange, as long as it's done tastefully."

Finally, choose your hue and bring it home. It shouldn't be hard to find.

"It's very much in vogue, as it was last year in fashion. . . . It tends to trickle down to interior design," says Baltimore.

"There are definitely more offerings," says Jackie Jordan, director of color marketing for Sherwin-Williams. "In all the various stores, you see a lot more orange accessories than you have in the past. In the paint industry, we have a huge assortment of color and we have lots of oranges in the palette," she says.

Scary? Hardly. There's a reason Sherwin-Williams has a shade of orange dubbed "Emotional." Read on for a sampling of the many moods of orange.

Stimulating in the living room

Like an electric current flowing through the room, showy splashes of orange energize this 2004 Hempstead House designer show house in Sands Point, designed by Huntington's Eileen Kathryn Boyd. In Boyd's signature style, the neutral backdrop serves as a blank canvas on which color tells the story. In this room, which Boyd named "Day Dream Believer," orange joins hands with fuchsia to make a bright, bold statement. "It's very energetic, and it makes people feel good," says Sherwin-Williams' Jackie Jordan Boyd.

Intimate in the dining room

Designer Libby Langdon chose Mexicana, a rusty red-orange from Benjamin Moore, for the walls of her Sag Harbor dining room. The warm color tells dinner guests they're in the inner sanctum, inviting them to let their hair down, converse and indulge. "I find people love to eat in vibrant rooms, like an orange or red room," says Langdon, who appears on HGTV's "Small Space, Big Style" and does design makeovers for ABC's "The Rachael Ray Show."

Inviting in the family room

Orange walls envelope this Keith Baltimore-designed Manhasset family room like a warm blanket, creating a safe haven where boy and girl colors play nice. The chocolate-brown sofa anchors the room, allowing the hot pink to take flight, while the orange drops back to become almost a neutral. "Those dark colors are typically more masculine than feminine, so that sort of grounds it," Jackie Jordan says. "That makes it not girlie or kidlike."

Serene in the bedroom

There's a calming yin and yang to this Jericho guest bedroom, which was designed by Keith Baltimore. The dreamy sage on the walls is warmed by the rusty orange, while the softness of the velvet is offset by the headboard's geometric shape and dark frame. "Orange and green go together in nature," says Jackie Jordan. "An orange tree with a green background, a terra-cotta pot with green plants in it. You find it in nature, and it just goes."

Sporty in the teen zone

"Orange is a high-energy color," says Sherwin-Williams' Jackie Jordan. "It's great for a sports-themed room." Merrick-based designer Marlaina Teich took that theme and ran with it: She started with a fun basketball chair and ottoman, then carried the color through the space to pump up the game-day vibe in this teen hangout room in Merrick. "It is centered around basketball, hence the orange, but also the colors of New York sport teams," she says.

Cheery in the nursery

"The homeowners and expectant parents are a young couple who favor transitional design, and are not afraid of bright colors," says Kate Singer, who designed this room in Huntington. "After considering a few palettes, we decided orange and white was perfect for the cheerful and playful mood they were seeking for their baby girl's room." Here, orange provides "a warm and calming setting," explains Singer. "It is much less intense than red, and subdued by the cheerfulness of yellow - the two colors from which it is derived."