Red living room: design and decoration ideas

The living room is a place for active communication with the household or rest after a hard day. Guests are also invited here. It is the living room that in most cases becomes a place of celebration. On the shelves and walls, people place objects that prove professional and sporting achievements, memorable photos that guests would like to show.

When choosing a color scheme, red will be a bold option. Most people choose pastel colors and classic designs. Bright interiors are a bold decision that should energetically suit you. Interior design in this color may imply various solutions: modern, art deco, high-tech, urban style. To properly combine shades, textures and textiles, you need to feel the shape, dynamics of lines and the combination of shades of the red palette well. If the concentration and proportions are violated, you can get a very irritating effect, it will be impossible to stay indoors. If you have no experience in design, you should enlist the support of a specialist.

The psychology of red in the interior

If you have already thought about this color in the interior, then you have probably heard about the experiment with a red toilet room. At one enterprise, to overcome the habit of employees to use toilets for communication during working hours, psychologists suggested using red to paint the walls. After that, it became uncomfortable for people to stay indoors for a long time, and the problem of communication during working hours was solved.

But what about the living room? After all, the room should remain comfortable and have a rest and joint pastime. The red color in the interior of the living room will be chosen by people of an active, energetic disposition. It is important for them to surround themselves with other people, to arrange interesting leisure time for their loved ones. Psychologists believe that choosing this color for the living room is a way to emphasize prosperity and the desire for luxury.

In interior design, red is more often used as an accent, combined with neutral or calmer colors. This approach allows you to highlight the wall, furniture group, lighting, set the dynamics of the interior. Excessive amounts of saturated red can be irritating and even cause an attack of aggression. In the right dosage, this color will energize, warm, and maintain activity.

How to use red color correctly

We must remember: red is the dominant color. He is the first to catch your eye, because it is important to choose the right contrast so that furniture and textiles do not merge against the background of walls and ceiling. It is rare to find a high-quality monochrome interior, although the palette of red shades is rich in variety:

• delicate coral;
• carmine;
• crimson;
• sangria;
• ruby;
• garnet;
• massaka.

In this case, bright and muted variants of red shades can be combined, the texture is involved. For example, against the background of a matte surface, glossy accents, a velvet surface combined with scarlet translucent glass elements or the finest red organza.

Neutral colors are also used to create a balance: gray, shades of white, beige. Black combined with red gives a sharp contrast. However, this duet is quite successfully used in the concepts of Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The contrast of black and red is emphasized by the use of simple shapes and clear geometry. If more complex elements are used, an additional neutral shade is added – it restrains the activity of red and at the same time emphasizes its contrast with black.

When choosing the proportion of colors, it is important to take into account the degree of illumination of the room. The living room on the north side receives a minimum of daylight, here you will need to additionally illuminate the room due to light walls, gloss, chandeliers and sconces. Red in this case will become a “warming” element, adding active energy. But if the living room faces the south or west side, then the red one will have to be “restrained”, since natural lighting will be especially active. Combinations will help cool the red:

• with gray-blue;
• with turquoise;
• green;
• with a muted blue.

With high-quality lighting, the red color in the interior of the living room will help visually enlarge the room. It is worse combined with purple, since this color also includes a red pigment. Cold artificial light combined with red decor will be perceived as less advantageous.

If you want to include the green color in the interior most harmoniously, use plant elements. Green foliage is perceived in combination with red most naturally, such a contrast is natural in nature and does not cause conflict. Orange and yellow can add an energy charge to the red living room. This combination guarantees a positive atmosphere and powerful energy. However, the designers remind us that the dosage is important here.

The combination of red with shades of white, beige and milk is a proven way to create a light and airy interior in the living room. At the same time , the following options are acceptable:

• red furniture on a background of light walls;
• living room and accent wall in scarlet tones;
• light furniture against the background of red room decoration.

Additionally, you can emphasize red in the interior of the living room with the help of glass inserts, forged parts, mirrors, wood, chrome-plated metal. The choice of additional materials depends on the concept and the tools that the designer has identified for the implementation of the idea.

Finishing materials for the living room in red

Whether the living room will be perceived as spacious, bright and positive depends on the quality of the walls, floor and ceiling finishes. The interior in red tones requires a balanced approach. If we allow an “overdose” of color, the living room will be perceived as tasteless and even vulgar. The interior will be annoying, which is fraught with outbursts of aggression, conflicts and dissatisfaction with the surrounding space.

Red is the dominant color. The task of the designer is to make sure that clear boundaries remain in the room, and the space is perceived as dynamic. The surfaces should not merge with each other. The dark floor and light ceiling are a classic zoning scheme. The walls can stand out due to accent coloring, for example, three – in a light tone, one – in bright red. Or all the walls are painted in shades of red, and the clarity of the lines stands out due to the contrasting framing of doorways, baseboards and ceiling framing elements.

• If you are working on the interior of the living room yourself, then it is safer to use red accents on a neutral background.
• Finishing surfaces with a predominance of red will require more knowledge to get a harmonious result for perception.

The red color in accessories is a solution recommended for small spaces. An overabundance of this color in the interior of small rooms will easily make it “aggressive and oppressive”. In this case, it will be more difficult to maintain balance.

Modern finishing materials allow you to get a lot of interesting solutions for horizontal and vertical surfaces.

• For walls – wallpaper, colored plaster, panels, paint.
• Ceiling with various effects (matte, glossy, photo printing).
• Floor – tile, laminate, linoleum, self-leveling floor.

All these materials may differ in texture, shade, pattern. Smooth surface, gloss or matte, textured – depending on the lighting will be perceived differently.

Furniture and accessories

The interior is unthinkable without furniture, textiles and accessories. It is cabinets, armchairs and sofas, poufs that form a comfortable living room environment. Curtains, pillows, blankets, posters or paintings are complementary accessories that make the interior complete. A spectacular chandelier and lamps will fill the space with light, allow you to form zones and place accents in the room.

The red facade of the wardrobe will become a powerful color accent. It will stand up perfectly in a living room with light walls. A room with a dark base will also suit him, but you will need to take care of lighting so that the space remains visually free.

Soft sets of sofas and armchairs are presented in a huge variety of style solutions. The shape and upholstery create a different impression. Red will be perceived softly in rounded shapes and fleecy textiles. On the contrary, leather, lacquered details, clear lines set a more aggressive and dynamic mood.

Textiles for windows and decoration of niches, arches will allow you to dose red in the interior due to the density of textures. Rich jacquard, velvet, satin or the finest organza, light curtains – the impression will vary greatly.

Another way to bring red to the interior is chandeliers and lamps. Plafonds, lampshades, suspensions of red color will color the light, which will give the interior warm and passionate notes.

If red walls were chosen for the living room, then contrasting furniture and textiles will help soften the active energy of color, make the room cozy and airy. Light furniture is a classic option that will appeal to people of different ages.

Dark shades that go well with red:

• dark brown, shades of coffee and chocolate;
• gray, graphite, shades of asphalt.

Dark-colored furniture gives the interior more elegance and chic. So that the living room does not look too dark, take care of additional lighting, mirrors. Chrome-plated parts, glossy facades and panels can also be used.

Red living room in different style solutions

Do not think that using red as the basis for the interior will limit you. On the contrary, this is the case when you are given an unreal scope for creativity. The interior may turn out to be pompous, in the canons of the Empire, or it may turn out to be modern and democratic. Create a bright living room in the style of pop art or charge the concept of loft style with a drive.

• Classic sofas and armchairs made of leather in the English style look expensive, and modular frameless headsets are dynamic, allowing you to change the interior at least every day.
• Decorate the windows with heavy curtains, if you like classics, or Japanese panels, Roman curtains, when you need conciseness and functionality.
• A classic cherry-colored wardrobe or a modern wardrobe with a bright facade. Both options will become a bright accent.

The red drawing room has long ceased to be a privilege of clubs or houses of eccentric artists. This solution will perfectly fit into a city apartment or a country house. The interior in shades of scarlet and carmine is chosen by both single people and families with children. The main thing is to correctly balance the colors and choose the textures that are convenient for you. Then the situation will delight and give an energy boost every day.