Red Color Palette:
8 Cheerful Interior Design Color Schemes
A red color palette is exciting and challenging: Red is an 'advancing' color that attracts attention and can easily dominate a room.
In addition to red color combinations, this page has 3 easy strategies for successful interior design color schemes with red. (More great color combinations here!)
Old Glory:
The Red, White & Blue Color Theme
Old Glory blue + white + Old Glory red + unbleached linen (écru)
+ rose madder + navy blue + smoke blue (+ white/linen)
↑ The secret with red, white and blue color schemes is to vary the colors slightly and surround them with natural greys and browns. You can achieve a 'tinted' look for the flag colors by using small-scale, blue-and-white or red-and-white patterns instead of relying exclusively on solid colors.
Best wall colors: White, pale blue, écru.
Best wood stain: Any.
Dark neutral grey + light grey + raspberry ice cream + blue-grey
+ deep cherry red + dove blue + sky blue + cranberry red + grey
↑ If you like a red, white and blue color palette but don't want to be limited to flag colors, do as the French do and just combine any blue & red hues that look good together, then use neutral colors as a backdrop.
Best wall colors: White, light grey, or a tint of one of your chosen colors.
Best wood stain for this red color palette: Rustic oak.
Ruby red + aqua blue + white + grey
↑ Ruby red/aqua blue is a highly popular wedding color palette. The warm, attractive ruby color is balanced by a cool blue that borders on turquoise. This is a delicious red color palette, but it doesn't really tolerate any further hues. You'd have to surround it with a lot of white & neutrals.
Best wall colors: White, pale grey.
Best wood stains: Dark hardwoods.
Coral red + tiffany blue + white + grey
↑ Along the same lines as the ruby/aqua color scheme above, coral & tiffany blue combine a warm, striking red with a cool but equally striking blue. And just like the former, this is a favorite red color palette for weddings.
Best wall colors: White, pale grey.
Best wood stain: Bamboo.
Extended Red-Green Complementary Palettes
Sage + dusty plum + pomegranate red + duck egg blue
+dusty turquoise + burnt orange + bay leaf green
↑ You don't need a lot of red in a red color palette. Here, surrounded by aged, dusty 'vintage' hues, a rich red hue takes center stage. The burnt orange is essential in this room color scheme - otherwise it would look too dark.
Best wall colors: Sage, duck-egg blue.
Best wood stains: Teak, oiled oak.
Pine + cinnamon + sage green + scarlet + Prussian blue
↑ The hues of a vintage Amish quilt: a red color palette that manages to be simultaneously bold and serene. It would be perfectly at home in a rustic chalet or log cabin. The complementary reds and greens are joined by a very unobtrusive dark blue. (Does 'cinnamon' count as 'red'? I think it does - it's a tone that sits somewhere between true red and reddish brown.)
Best wall colors: Pale sage green or a chalky white.
Best wood stains: Rustic pine, antique cherry.
Tomato red + cerulean blue + pacific blue + pale olive green + light neutrals
↑ Any interior color combination that involves large amounts of tomato red is, of necessity, completely in-your-face. You can lower the impact by choosing soft, greyed tones rather than fully saturate colors. Use the red in small proportion, mainly for accents.
Best wall colors: White, light grey, pale olive.
Best wood stain: Antique oak.
Mustard yellow + turquoise + burnt orange + verdigris + deep berry red
An upbeat, life-affirming 60s red color palette ;-) Lovely for a summer house, garden, back yard, veranda or deck. Also nice for giftwrapping, kitchen accessories ... anything really. Enjoy!
Best wall color: Pale mustard.
Best wood stains: Oiled oak or teak.
More Red Color Palette Ideas
On The Following Pages
(Click A Pic):
3 Easy Strategies For Creating A Red Color Palette
- Neutrals with red usually look great: Start with a purely neutral 'background' color scheme and use cool and/or warm reds as accent color. View an example here!
- Red-green complementary color combinations work extremely well. Red & green are nature's favorite colors, and it's hard to go wrong if you add a number of green tones to a dominant red (several examples above).
- Red, white and blue color schemes. It's done beautifully in France and in the USA - an easy recipe for decorating success (2 examples on this page!)
- Check out more red color scheme ideas here!
Here's some color scheme inspiration to buy:
- Understand the color wheel chart, and you'll see how great color combinations with red come together.
- Check out the four-primary color wheel for more interior design color schemes - it's different & inspiring.
- To cool down a red color palette, check out warm and cool colors.
- You'll get some of the best ideas for a red color palette from the French. And the Tuscans are great with earth tone color schemes! Get inspired by great color combinations in Tuscan art prints, and by colorful frugal French decor ideas!
- How to find the red color palette that really suits your space: Get the basics right with Interior Design Colors 101 and Choosing Paint Color 101!
- Neutral Color Schemes - The
Book:
Learn about using neutral color palettes in your home. Understand what makes neutral color schemes look their best, and what happens when you inject 'real' color into neutral color combinations. It's FREE!!
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