Jennifer Forker
Associated Press

Step aside, orange. It’s yellow’s turn to shine.
The primary colors blue and yellow are muscling back into the forefront.

“Orange has started to run its course,” says Jack Bredenfoerder, president of Color Marketing Group.

As in the fashion world, with its punch of yellow in bangles, bags and high heels, the color often described as “sunny” and “energetic” is returning as a primary accent color in home design.

The yellow he sees stepping off the runways is the shade’s calmer tones, and combined with neutral colors. Yellow is especially attractive as an accent for whites, grays and black, although Bredenfoerder warns that too much black with yellow can make a jarring contrast.

Combining yellow with gray can create an air of sophistication.

Yellow has long been an accent color for blue, which is overtaking green as a principal color in the home. Bredenfoerder, who is design director in the Cincinnati office of Landor Associates, a design and branding firm, advises steering clear of traditional blues and looking for something new along the lines of an “intense, bright, ultramarine-type blue.”

With the changing seasons, now is the perfect time to think yellow, said Sonu Mathew, an interior designer with Benjamin Moore.

“You can use yellow as a bridge from the cooler colors of summer to the warmer colors of fall,” she says.

Give a room some punch with a yellow bowl, throw pillows, a slipcover or a bedspread. Or make it as simple as a bouquet of fresh yellow flowers.

Mathew even advises painting ceilings with a hint of yellow to create warmth.

As an accent color, yellow brightens a room, but a little goes a long way. The safest yellows are the creamy, calmer ones. Too much of a cheerful yellow can prove annoying.