Design in Depth: Color of the Season

By Stacy Kunstel

Pumpkins are one of the reasons I love October. I dread the cooling temperatures and the unstoppable march of winter, but I adore the warmth that the color and the food give to this time of year. Last week while shooting for New England Home on Nantucket, I saw this adorable window box at Bartlett’s Farm. Who could possibly go for traditional mums when your window beds could be filled with gourds and grasses.

Photo by Stacy Kunstel

In one of the houses (note that this is my unstyled photo) that we shot, a guest bedroom designed by Kathleen Hay had the most intense pumpkin-hued carpet, a homeowner request. At the end of the day, the carpet reflected off the white walls, warming the whole room with color.

Photo by Stacy Kunstel

Pumpkin can be just as beautiful in interiors as it is in fashion. On the website Fashion + Décor, launched last spring by Massachusetts-based Gretchen Aubuchon, you can search matching interiors and fashion by color. This pairing features Versace with Steven Gambrel.

Versace photo courtesy of Imaxtree; Steven Gambrell photo courtesy of Eric Piasecki, Elle Décor

While shooting interior designer Jim Gauthier’s New Hampshire vacation house for New England Home, I fell in love with the combination of plumy-dark brown paired with orange as you see in his dining room. It seemed counterintuitive to me to pair two dark colors together like that, but the effect is so comforting. Less traditional is the combination of pumpkin and pink, like in this rug I saw at the Los Angeles home of Hutton Wilkinson. So daring—like the designer himself!

Photo by Laura Moss for New England Home

Photo by Stacy Kunstel

I hope that you are able to make the most of this short, but beautiful season. I always look forward to the October issue of Martha Stewart Living for pumpkin recipes and a bit of humor!

Photo courtesy of Martha Stewart Living