CROSSVILLE CHRONICLE Opinion   Dorothy Copus Brush "Random Thoughts" The color orange and The Color Kittens Orange has come into its own! Bright orange, Vol orange is seen nationwide, not just in Tennessee. Fashion gurus have decided orange is THE color for fall. You name it and you can find just about anything in orange from computers to can openers. Walk through the clothes departments and there it is again, that bright energetic orange. At the Furniture Mart in High Point, NC, one designer used orange walls to highlight his charcoal gray furnishings. Orange works well with khaki, cream, charcoal and navy. Even plum and green blend comfortably with brilliant orange. It is best to stay away from black unless you want to look like an ad for Halloween. For those more conservative customers toned down shades of orange are available. One expert explained why it has taken a long time for orange to become fashionable. He said, "Historically, Americans don't like orange." That is a dangerous statement to make in Tennessee! Speaking of color I imagine there are few grandparents who have forgotten how important the Little Golden Books were during their early parenting years. At our house The Color Kittens was a favorite, and I must have read that book many hundreds of times to our little brood of four. I enjoyed that little tale as much as the children because I am fond of color, the bolder and brighter, the better. Perhaps reading The Color Kittens so often had an effect on me because I went through a period when red became my passion. When my husband went off on a short business trip I got the four little people to bed that first night, and then I started painting the living room in the huge old house we were renting. The room was small but cozy. The walls were painted a blah neutral which did nothing to enhance the unbleached muslin curtains with wide ruffles we had made for the large bank of windows. Sunlight brightened the room during the day. I envisioned red as the color to liven up the room day or night. I worked through most of the night rolling and brushing on that beautiful red paint. The next morning I rehung the muslin curtains and they were just the right touch to soften the red. As I had painted furiously it did cross my mind several times as to what my husband would think. Now all these years later, I can't recall what he thought so I asked him if he remembered that paint job. His immediate response was, "Yes!" I followed up with the big question, "What was your reaction?" That he did remember was clear when he said, "I was shocked." I can say with a clear conscience his shock didn't last long because when we moved several years later the red room was still there. Use your browser's back button to return to the previous page