Wednesday 1 January 2014

How To Use Colour More Effectively: Red

Let's welcome in the New Year with a new series of colour studies. We're often asked for tips on how to introduce particular colours into schemes so we hope you'll find it useful to hear our hints and tips to use when planning for projects in the coming months.


We're kicking off with RED
Loud, proud, warm and inviting. 
Red invites, welcomes and intoxicates. 
This is because red is what's called an advancing colour, meaning, in essence, that it appears to move towards you. 


The image below of our range of Sanderson paints shows what we mean in a visual context:


Most of the shades fade into a pleasingly harmonious background, while the varying shades of red seem to lunge forwards.

Farrow and Ball Ringwold wallpaper

The outworking of this is twofold. On one hand, a space painted red can appear smaller, yet on the other, it can create a feeling of cosiness; for example the bath, below, painted in Little Greene's Atomic Red, adds personality and spark in the otherwise neutral bathroom.


Red is a shade to be embraced but only with this knowledge.


From Farrow and Ball's Brinjal, a deep aubergine, to Little Greene's Firefly, an intense pillar box scarlet, there's a red for every taste, which is just as well because it's the perfect shade to brighten up an otherwise dull space. 


And front doors? If your home is feeling a little unloved, a little cold, then try painting your front door in a shade such as Sanderson's Firecracker, or the rather more majestic Paint and Paper Library's Plum Brandy.


Just look at this dramatic transformation:


A glossy tomato red such as Farrow and Ball's Blazer will turn your entrance in a space to love. You'd hardly believe it was the same door! Yes, without red, the world would indeed be a duller place. 

Will 2014 be the year you embrace your inner red?! 


Images via: Little Greene, discover southwest, Sanderson, Farrow and Ball, Easy Living, Little Greene, Little Greene, London Doors,  Perlucida

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