I need advice on how to decorate a house with orange carpet?

Question

I know what you're asking yourself "Why orange?! EWW!"

Well to make a long story short, my sister and I are college students who are fed up with dorm life, so we decided to rent a house (unfortunately it's the only house available a week before school, so beggars cannot be choosers).

Every single room excluding the kitchen and bathroom have a hideous orange/burnt-orange carpet (I'm not sure which one it is so i put both).

What colors and themes can we use to decorate it?

Please note that I would like to avoid putting pictures of carrots and tomatoes on my wall (that was my mothers suggestion...)

I would like advice on colors of rugs, curtains, furniture, etc.

and possible themes I could use.

Everyone keeps telling my sister and I to use our own personal style, I consider myself to have a conservative yet fun style, but it doesn't include orange (can you tell this is traumatizing me? lol)

Any help at all would be wonderful and I would really appreciate it!

Answer 1

That color was popular in the late 60s and early 70s along with avocado green or gold appliances. You could try for a retro look.

Here's a link to some decorating ideas I found that work with orange.

http://www.homeabc.net/Decorating-Remode...

Answer 2

You can either work with it or ignore it completely.

Working with it:

I like the idea the other answerer said of other earth tones like the fall foliage look. Some other ideas could be to paint the walls a fresh white and hang up a bunch of contemporary abstract art that contains orange for a modern gallery look.

Ignore it:

Hang up some black and white photos/paintings and ignore the orange completely by covering it with a larger black and white area rug. This allows it to just become a "back-drop" almost that shows off all of your black and white accents instead of showcasing the carpet

For more tips read:

How to Decorate Around Colors that You Hate

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Hope this helps! Good Luck!

Answer 3

this widget lets you put in a orange carpet and then try some different things out.  kinda a trial run  www.clearspring.com/widgets/489878cc47b5...    

Answer 4

That's got to be really old carpet.  Orange would traumatize me, too.

First, stay away from black, or it will look like Halloween every day.

The answer is to decorate with subdued earth tones, such as browns, beiges, tans, golds, creams/off-whites.

If you can manage dark brown furniture, it would tone down the icky orange.  Lighter colors will make it worse.

If all else fails, shop for a room size rug to cover the part you have to see most often.  Or, see if you can find a huge remnant you can just throw on the floor.

Answer 5

I know what you are talking about. We had that when we moved into this house. Dad couldn't get new carpet just yet,so he got some wallpaper with (looks like palm leafs) similar colors. Some of the long leafs are rusty orange with wisps of light silvery blue also.The background is light rusty orange.Very light. He only put that on one wall and the rest he painted off white. Looks so good,it is still here today. That was thirty years ago and I wont let my husband change the wall paper.We have changed the carpet however! We have a very pretty blueish colored sofa and blue chairs in that room.Now,instead of wallpaper( it is not easy to put up,is also expensive) use cotton material,some liquid spray starch and water to put it on the wall. You can get many more patterns it is easy to put up,and you can take it down and wash it even. It just pulls off the wall with no residue left on the wall to see. Perfect for renters. Then you can use just about any type and color of furniture because for some odd reason,it does go together. Dad was an interior designer and could make any color scheme look good. And he did! Byee ( Love you Dad,wished you were still with us! Thanks!)