Fragrant pomegranates, noble roses, juicy berries, hot peppers and autumn tree crowns - all this is red in its diversity. It may seem too aggressive for use in interiors. But we are ready to decisively argue with this outdated misconception! We invite you to figure out together where and how to use red and what to combine it with!
Features and effects on the psyche
Expressive red color is ideal for accents, contrasts and bright inserts. It motivates, encourages activity, invigorates and tones. At the same time, it instantly attracts attention and simply does not leave household members and guests indifferent. Red immediately sets the mood, creates a feeling of celebration and celebration, and sets the atmosphere in the room. Shades of different saturation and depth can be gentle and romantic, defiantly catchy or deep and noble. Such a room is always warmer and more comfortable, even if it is laconic minimalism or an elaborate classic style.
Combination with other colors
Red color in its pure form is practically not used, because such an interior would be too provocative or even vulgar. It can be muted with calm base colors or diluted with other bright shades.
Red with white
If you prefer fresh and light interiors, space and elegance are what you need. White mutes the flashiness and aggressiveness of red, and together they will fit into both high-tech and elegant oriental style. This is a completely self-sufficient combination that does not need to be diluted with anything else, but if desired, can be supplemented with black or dark brown.
Red with gray
Even such a rich, rich and maximally warm color can be made colder and more severe if you combine it with gray. Red gloss with steel and chrome looks ultra-modern and slightly futuristic. Deep shades go well with pale gray, and bleached pastels go well with graphite.
Red with yellow
If you constantly lack light, sun and positive emotions, feel free to combine red with yellow. They will need a neutral background - white, gray, milky, beige or cream. But this is one of the most cheerful combinations that can be found in the interior.
Red with brown
All shades of wood are one of the best complements to expressive red, because they are always appropriate. Light birch or oak look visually lighter, while dark walnut or wenge will fit into the most luxurious classic interiors. Depending on the chosen style, use contrasting elements, gold or a neutral base.
Red with blue
For several seasons now, the principle of original contrasts has been in fashion, which goes beyond the banal black and white palette. The red-blue combination is the most striking, common and applicable example in real life. At the same time, scarlet with ultramarine and coral with muted steel blue are equally good.
Combination options
Red, white and black in different combinations give completely different results
You can combine red with white and black in the following design moods:
- calm play of related shades and their smooth combination with contrasting compositions.
- The predominance of warm shades, which helps to create a cozy or romantic atmosphere.
- Dominance of cool shades, focus on brightness and elegance.
In an interior where there are red, black and white colors, red is usually the main accent and is placed effectively, in prominent places. Black and white are designed to set it off and, with the help of various compositions, create a certain mood, form an affiliation with any style.
Red attracts attention - so highlight the places you want to highlight them
When using white, you need to remember that in the interior it should reflect severity and purity, especially if you choose a bright, cheerful red shade filled with rich color. To visually increase the volume in the design of a small kitchen, to visually add freshness and majesty, you need to use a combination of white and red on the walls and ceiling, that is, veneer them with an aesthetic duocolor; it is advisable to use finishing if the kitchen has large dimensions.
In a small kitchen you can also use this combination, but in moderation
For optimal use of white, you can use the following options:
- The use of red and white for any finishing materials, that is, it is not only plaster or wallpaper, but also the design of tiles and decorative natural stone. In this case, black should only be used for furniture or decorative elements.
- The walls are white, filigree inclusions of a combination of black and red are possible, and the furniture is dominated by red, which can be neatly diluted with any of the remaining two.
- The use of patterned, often geometric combinations of red, white and black colors or their shades in many elements, for example, creating a stripe, ornament or exclusive pattern.
If comfort is preferred, then it is necessary to use as many white tones or light shades of red in the room as possible.
A majestic interior can contain colors in any quantity and arrangement, but harmony between them must be maintained.
If you complement the interior with patterns of darker shades on light ones or add elements with beige or brown shades, you can achieve significant contrast and the effect of an expensive appearance of the room.
If a bright atmosphere is created, halftones should not be used in the interior.
Halftones are not applicable here
It is necessary to use not only the richest, but also the deepest shades, which immediately attract attention and create a feeling of high cost and pretentious taste of the owners. You should not saturate the composition predominantly with black and red; you need to dilute the elements with white in time.
Also, red and black can be skillfully diversified with shiny white appliances, possibly interspersed with a silvery gray tint. If the interior is dominated by a combination of red and black, it is advisable to make the floor in appropriately bright shades of brown, possibly using parquet or laminate. You should not paint your kitchen red or, conversely, use too light colors.
Black can be replaced with gray
Bold individuals with excellent taste can allow themselves to highlight the main color and use it for 70% of the space, mixing shades, and sometimes leaving one bright tone. Such combinations often look great, as they do not allow the interior to be pretentious, but when chosen correctly, they reflect the wonderful taste of the owners.
Here is an example of renovating an achromatic kitchen, where bright red elements fit so well, watch the video:
Interior styles and red color
Despite all the complexity and ambiguity of the shade, red easily fits into completely different interiors. And the secret is extremely simple: natural colors are always universal in use and easily combined with each other. Therefore, the fashion for red never went away, smoothly moving from Victorian palaces to extravagant pop art, as if straight from the pages of comic books.
Modern style
On top of a neutral white, beige, gray or brown base, modern interiors always use bright accents. They just give the room individuality and reflect the inner world of the owners. Red color in all its diversity is one of the best options for a style that combines the main features of classics and minimalist futurism.
Art Deco
A bizarre mixture of elegant neoclassicism and sensual modernism gave rise to the Art Deco style with all its consequences. It intertwines the heritage of cubism, geometric abstractions, exotic ethnic styles and futuristic trends. The complex and multifaceted red color could not be left aside along with snow-white walls, black leather furniture and gold details.
Classic style
English, French, Victorian, Baroque, Rococo - all these interiors can be combined under the concept of “classical style”. They differ significantly in details, but retain the main common features: symmetry, laconic forms, luxury of materials, precise composition and color scheme, in which red is firmly in the top five.
Loft
Bright and demonstrative accents look like home in the loft, because it is initially a deliberately rough industrial style with catchy eclectic details. Loft came to us from factories converted into creative workshops and exhibitions. How could artists deny themselves the pleasure of combining bare ventilation, clean brick and concrete, open communications and old iron with extravagant and flashy red?
Japanese style
The special aesthetics of Japanese style gravitates towards the same special harmonious contrasts. Red and black together with white or beige are a traditional combination for such interiors. The Japanese attach special importance to colors and prefer natural shades - brown, green, cream, gray. And on them with precise, neat strokes - a little cherry, burgundy and graphite.
Shades of red and their applications in various interiors
Red is one of the most fertile colors in terms of the number of shades.
Moreover, all of them can be used when decorating the interior of a room. It is worth considering that different shades will have different psycho-emotional and physical sensations. Therefore, you need to choose the color especially carefully.
So, for a living room in a modern style, red walls in the interior, made in the following shades, are suitable:
- scarlet red;
- cherry;
- burgundy;
- ruby color;
- red-orange.
Interiors in red colors - photo
The color red should be used in interior design carefully and in doses so that it does not irritate or disturb the nervous system. Scarlet is not the best choice for a bedroom or children's room, but it is appropriate in the dining room or living room. Less aggressive shades include coral, terracotta, wine, cherry - they are good everywhere!
Red color in the kitchen interior
There is an opinion that the color red stimulates appetite - and this is the trick that popular fast food chains and many restaurants use. The juiciest berry shades in the kitchen harmonize effectively with both wooden cabinets and futuristic furniture made of metal, glass or acrylic. Here you can safely use red facades or even paint the walls, as well as an apron over the work area.
Red color in the living room interior
A large and wide red sofa in the living room will become the real star of your apartment. Bright color posters will complement modern interiors from minimalism to pop art. A bold, invigorating color is ideal for a place where you plan to receive guests, organize holidays and parties, or meet for board games or pizza.
Red color in the bedroom interior
Despite stereotypes about aggressiveness, lovers of romance do not completely abandon red in bedroom design. Pay attention to softer variations: coral, geraldine or strawberry. And in classic bedrooms with luxurious carved furniture, gilding and a canopy, wine, cherry, burgundy or dark scarlet will fit.
Red color in the bathroom interior
There are few places where you can so boldly roam with any shades of red as in the bathroom. They don’t spend hours on end here, so even the juiciest scarlet or carmine won’t have time to tire you. But in such a bathroom it will always seem warmer - you will certainly appreciate it on chilly autumn evenings and frosty winter mornings.
Red color in the interior of a children's room
Children are very susceptible to any external irritants, so use rich red colors in strictly measured doses and carefully. Let it be bright posters, toys, bedding or accessories. Use not only red, but also yellow, orange, blue or green against the background of a plain light finish. Over time, such a room will easily transform and grow with the child.
Red color in the interior of the hallway and corridor
Excess red in a small room visually reduces and overloads the space - it needs to be diluted and balanced. At the same time, small accents will make a small hallway much warmer and more comfortable. Don’t forget about mirrors – they are especially relevant here and go well with red!
Red and black kitchen design
Decorating a kitchen in red and black begins with choosing a dominant tone. In the vast majority of cases, this role is assigned to the color red.
The drama and showiness of the red tone is emphasized by the black color that complements it, which gives the interior even more sophistication and originality.
When decorating a kitchen in red and black, it is not at all necessary to use only these two colors, since it will look quite aggressive. The role of the third color in such an interior is to distract attention from rich and deep tones and balance the color scheme of the interior.
An ideal complement to the combination of red and black colors will be light colors that visually expand the space and relieve the tension caused by the red and black color. It is enough to use them when decorating the floors, ceilings and walls of the room, and the drama of the kitchen will be diluted.
Warm shades of white will add warmth and comfort to such a room: pearl, cream, beige, tea rose and ivory.
A deep gray color will also perfectly complement the black and red interior, which will emphasize its style and uniqueness. But the pure white color of the ceiling, walls or floor will give the room excessive severity and formality, so it is not advisable to use it.
Advice! To soften the black and red color scheme when decorating such a room, use frosted glass, mirror surfaces, as well as marble texture.
There are many options for color combinations of red and black kitchen sets: you can use a combination of a black bottom and a red top, and vice versa, or a checkerboard combination, or you can make only the countertop or several parts in the interior black, which will give some restraint to the room. The most ideal option is considered to be a combination of black bottom and red top.
A kitchen in such colors does not need pretentiousness, additional decor or unnecessary details. Everything should be concise and simple: clear and strict lines of the facades, chrome-plated steel fittings, a minimum of decorative finishing.
In the design of a black and red kitchen, you can combine different textures. For example, if you choose glossy red facades, they will beautifully reflect the black elements of the interior, and vice versa, the reflection of red details of a different texture in the black glossy facade will add even more originality and drama to the interior.
Lighting also plays a big role in such an interior: the better the room is lit, the more restrained and cozy the room will look.
Kitchen accessories should be selected in designs and colors that will complement and harmonize with other interior elements. Kitchen utensils that have a strict design and color that is as close as possible to the basic tones in the room will look best.
