Color

Red 03

Red 01

Red 02

Red 06

Simply red &ndash; the color of passion, energy, warmth and excitement. Paint with red and it&rsquo;ll ignite your interior, no question, transforming it into a stimulating space whether you&rsquo;re thinking a feature wall pop or full-on ceiling to skirting scarlet. But what are the colors that complement red should you fancy mixing things up with another hue or two? Over to&nbsp;\nour color expert Sam\n&nbsp;who has picked out her top three palette picks for those seeing red&hellip;\nUnderstanding the color red&nbsp;\n\nColor theory\n &ndash; let's go. Red&rsquo;s the longest wavelength on the spectrum making it one powerful hue indeed. It commands attention and stops you in your tracks (ergo, traffic lights), causing people to react to it not just emotionally but physically too &ndash; red raises your pulse; it literally sets hearts racing so it&rsquo;s no wonder it&rsquo;s linked with all things amorous.&nbsp;\n&ldquo;Like every color, red&rsquo;s got its downsides. Pay attention to the shade and tone of your red to find out where it looks best.&rdquo;\nRed can feel aggressive and on the demanding side. It&rsquo;s no shrinking violet, put it that way. Be careful then with it in bedrooms where pillar box red is unlikely to give off the right vibe. Instead, an earthy red (&agrave; la&nbsp;\nRed 01\n) will be far more of a hit as it&rsquo;s dulcet rather than dramatic.\nOtherwise, let red&rsquo;s natural qualities loose in living spaces such as dining rooms (where it&rsquo;s liveliness can stimulate conversation) or high-energy spots like the kitchen. And when it comes to living rooms, where you&rsquo;re probably going to want a happy balance between cosy and laidback (for lounging out sessions) and both buzzy and welcoming (for when you&rsquo;re entertaining &ndash; remember those days?), run wild with red but one that&rsquo;s got softness baked in too (both&nbsp;\nRed 01\n&nbsp;and&nbsp;our l\night terracotta paint Red 03\n&nbsp;can take care of that for you).&nbsp;

Colors that go with red: black&nbsp;\nOut of the colors that go with red, black is one of the very best, hands down. If you&rsquo;re inspired by Japanese interior design, this color combination is a winner, though it was a big hit in the Art Deco era too where all things powerful and evocative received applause.&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;Sam says: &ldquo;Red and black have always been best friends. &ndash; they get on so effortlessly, so naturally. It&rsquo;s a color combination that fell out of favour for a while but to me, it&rsquo;s a classic pairing, and everything comes back around eventually&hellip;&rdquo;\n&ldquo;Red and black have always been best friends. &ndash; they get on so effortlessly, so naturally.&rdquo;\nIt&rsquo;s a color combination that fell out of favour for a while but to me, it&rsquo;s a classic pairing, and everything comes back around eventually&hellip;\n\nTo modernise this color coupling, you need to think softly whether that&rsquo;s on both shades or just one. So, go dusky on your red and maybe off-black on your black (\nRed 01\n and \nBlack 01\n, that&rsquo;s you). Or, try a wholesome, \nterracotta-like red like Red 03\n alongside velvety red-based Black 02.&nbsp; Don&rsquo;t rule a charcoal grey out either &ndash; \nGrey 07\n works a treat with either of our red tones (discover colors that go with grey here).

Colors that go with red: gold&nbsp;\nSticking with the classic theme, another of the colors that goes well with red is g-o-l-d. Erase images of gold lustre metallic paint all over your walls (unless you&rsquo;re completely courageous, in which case, hats off to you), and imagine instead golden sunbeam tones, courtesy of warm \nYellow 02\n. Be sure to throw in some brass accent pieces from candlesticks and light fixtures to brass-and-glass Deco coffee tables or cocktail trolleys.&nbsp;\n\n&ldquo;Grand with luxury feels, gold in the company of red is a beautiful color-way for dining in, elevating the experience to new levels.&rdquo;\n\nLike the notion of red and gold but want to tone down the luxe? Ochre yellows are your answer here to give rise to a scheme that&rsquo;s gorgeously rich and warming (read up on our round-up of uplifting colors here) , but mightily down to earth if it&rsquo;s got a heritage red for company too. Back to \nYellow 02\n in that case which, with either \nRed 01\n or \nRed 03\n, will give you the most color-rich yet grounding palette in town.&nbsp;\n

Colors that go with red: beige\nStaying on that earthy note, one level down from warm yellow leads you to beige &ndash; a beauty of a neutral that&rsquo;s been enjoying a moment for a while now and is a trend set to continue well into 2021 (get the 2021 color trend lowdown here). White of course suits red &ndash; look at any red breton stripe top or better still, a bowl of strawberries and cream for reassurance), but, like black, it provides a crisp, stark contrast. Beige on the other hand still cuts through red&rsquo;s presence, but quietly, calmly.&nbsp;\n\n&ldquo;Adding beige will tone down red and give balance, making this a combo to invite over to your place safe in the knowledge they&rsquo;ll hit things off&rdquo;\n\n\nBeige 01\n and \nRed 03\n equal color couple goals. It&rsquo;s the sort of palette that will make your shoulders drop an inch or two the moment you&rsquo;re in its company.\n Red 01\n is another perfect partner for our softest beige, so go for this as your color scheme if you&rsquo;re tempted by a bolder red &ndash; it&rsquo;s a seductive scheme for a bedroom without being so vibrant it&rsquo;ll keep you up all night (\nfor more bedroom color inspiration, head this way\n).

Ready, set, paint the town red and don&rsquo;t look back. \nShop the full Lick palette here.\n


Annem is 31 years old and works for PlayStation, but also runs her own cheese business &ndash; hence her memorable Instagram username - \n@ahousebuiltoncheese\n.\n&nbsp;\nShe lives in North London with her husband Mike and they own a 1930s semi-detached, which required a lot of love and renovation when they bought it back in 2019. Sadly, in January 2020, a huge water pipe burst meaning they couldn&rsquo;t move in until all the damage had been repaired. This meant they were only able to officially move in last September, but we are so glad they are finally settled and able to begin enjoying their home renovation journey.\n&nbsp;\nAnnem has chosen to share the recent makeover of their home office, which has become a busy hub of activity as they now both work from home. It was important to create a space that allowed them both to comfortably work alongside one another, as well as create a large storage space for all their books and files.

Before the IKEA Billy bookcase hack\nAnnem described this room as bland, confused and small &ndash; telling us that the previous owners had placed big, bulky items in this space and it really didn&rsquo;t do the room justice. They were ready to give it a brand-new look, and ensure that the design suited their new-found WFH needs.

Planning & inspiration\n&ldquo;Since buying the house, we knew that we wanted a wall in the office to be made entirely of bookshelves. We scaled Pinterest and found a lot of built-in bookshelves painted the same color as the walls, and knew we wanted to recreate the look. In terms of color, our old flat had a rusty red piece of space-themed artwork, so we may have subconsciously fallen for this color because of that!\n&nbsp;\nWe chose \nRed 01\n, as it&rsquo;s a gorgeous rusty red with chocolatey notes! I couldn&rsquo;t think of a better room to get snug and read a book in&rdquo;.

&ldquo;We chose Red 01, as it&rsquo;s a gorgeous rusty red with chocolatey notes! I couldn&rsquo;t think of a better room to get snug and read a book in.&rdquo;

"We wanted the office space to be cozy and warm. Many hours are spent in here so we wanted to move away from the look and feel of a corporate office space as much as possible. Natural textures, plants, throws, artwork, family photos, soft lighting etc.&rdquo;.

How to: IKEA Billy bookcase hack\n\nMake sure the wall you&rsquo;re putting the bookshelf again has the skirting removed. This is so it&rsquo;s flush with the wall. If you can do this carefully, you can re-use it later.
\nGive the Ikea furniture a super light sand and a wipe, and then apply two generous coats of Zinsser Bin Shellac Primer, letting it dry between both coats (read our guide on \nhow to prime and paint wooden furniture and other surfaces\n).
\nOnce primed, leave them to dry for a few hours, or even the next day, so you can get painting. Use a roller to get a nice smooth finish. Apply 2 coats of paint, ensuring you let it dry between both coats. You can also use a spray gun to do this part, so if you&rsquo;ve been thinking about buying one &ndash; now might be a good time to invest!
\n&lsquo;Curing&rsquo; time. Make sure you give avoid assembling for a week to ensure the paint has enough time to fully dry and adhere.
\nAssemble, push against the wall and figure out where you&rsquo;re putting it.
\nIf you realize you have seriously wonky floors, then on the bottom of each bookshelf, attach kitchen cabinet legs. These can be adjusted/turned to get the height you want. (Full disclosure: Annem and Mike did all the assembly themselves but asked a local joiner to assist them with this so they didn&rsquo;t get it wrong). Now that they've seen how it&rsquo;s done, however, they reckon they could do it again themselves! It really depends on your level of DIY skills.
\nUsing a laser guide, adjust the kitchen legs until the height is level all the way across.
\nCut out some MDF to fill the gap on the front base of the bookshelves. If you have gaps either side you can also use MDF to hide it. Apply the MDF using some glue and if you want, nails. At this stage, you should also secure the bookshelves to the wall. Ikea give you the brackets to do this at the back.&nbsp; You should also drill the bookshelves together so they are flush and neat.
\nOver the MDF, apply the skirting board making sure it&rsquo;s straight and level. If there is a gap at the bottom, don&rsquo;t worry &ndash; you can caulk it and then paint over so it&rsquo;s barely noticeable.
\nAnnem and Mike purchased some decorative molding from Wickes which they cut and placed at the point where the Billy bookshelves meet. This gave it a lovely built-in, custom look!
\nCaulk the molding and skirting boards, as well as filling any holes from where you drilled in. Once dry, paint the skirting and the molding, as well as any touch ups if you&rsquo;ve chipped anywhere!
\nGive it a day to completely dry out, and then start styling your bookshelves!\n

Establishing the IKEA Billy bookcase budget\n&ldquo;The inspiration images we found for the bookshelves appeared to be custom made and built-in; but after enquiring about costs; many carpenters quoted us no less that &pound;1800-&pound;2000. Woodwork is an art form, so I appreciate trades being paid for their craft but unfortunately when you&rsquo;re renovating a rundown house from the ground up, you have to compromise and prioritize your budget. Instead, we found and purchased some &lsquo;Billy&rsquo; bookshelves from IKEA; which set us back about &pound;300&rdquo;.\n\nAnnem spent between &pound;500-&pound;600; which included the bookshelves, as well as the necessary tools and products. This kind of project can differ in costs depending on the number of bookcases you go for, teamed with the type of finish you desire.\n\nThis project cost them a quarter of the fee quoted by joiners, and we think they did an incredible job of building their very own dream bookshelves!

Annem&rsquo;s experience with Lick\n\n&ldquo;The Lick paint went on beautifully in this room. It was thick, had great coverage and has so far been pretty durable! In terms of choosing the color, our advice would be to really try to think about how you want to &lsquo;feel&rsquo; in a room. Warm, cozy, productive, energized? Everyone&rsquo;s idea of what these words mean, may differ; so, focus on the environment you want to create and then maybe shortlist 5 colors you feel do that for you. The Lick team have also been super communicative with their customer services, so if you&rsquo;re really struggling to make sense of your shortlisted colors, you can seek advice.

Seeing&nbsp;\nRed 01\n go on for the first time in this room was my favorite part of the whole project. I&rsquo;ve never lived in a house with a color this rich. It was one of the first rooms we painted and I thought I might cry. It was so beautiful!&rdquo;

Annem&rsquo;s DIY advice & tips\n&nbsp;\nThere are some tasks during big renovations that you have to call in the experts for. When they&rsquo;re in your house don&rsquo;t be afraid to ask them a million questions and get advice, like I do. You never know what you&rsquo;ll learn, and it&rsquo;s a good way to gage whether you can try your hand at it yourself again, in the future\nSpecifically, when transforming furniture, be prepared for how much time it can take between priming, sanding, filling and painting. It&rsquo;s not a quick job. It requires patience, but it&rsquo;s super-duper satisfying when you see the final result\nI don&rsquo;t always love the DIY process, but it can be extremely rewarding when you&rsquo;ve worked so hard to achieve the look you wanted. I would encourage everyone to give it a go at least once!\nFeeling inspired to do some DIY? Check out this \nIKEA malm hack\n and get upcycling!

We&rsquo;re loving all things 70s when it comes to decor at the moment. After a seriously long Pinterest and Instagram deep dive into 70s interior design, we wanted to share some of our fave ideas with you.&nbsp;\n\nDiscover 8 ways to bring 70s interior design to your home.\n2021 rising trend: 70s interior design&nbsp;\n\nFrom hippie boho to disco glam, 70s interior design is making a big come back in 2021. This style of decor is very relaxed and fun and includes a mixture of textures and patterns, such as rattan, velvets and furry rugs. Color-wise, you&rsquo;re looking at a mix of bold and vibrant colors to reflect the glam disco vibes of that period, with more soothing blues and whites stemming from the chilled out, hippie side of the 70s.


How to bring 70s interior design into your home\n\n70s interior design idea:\n \nuse retro paint colors\n\nBring that 70s feel into your home with your choice of paint colors. From the oaty \nWhite 05\n and \nmint Green 08 pain\nt to the fiery \nOrange 02\n and \nterracotta Red 03\n, 70s retro colors combine vibrant and playful tones synonymous with disco culture with the earthy, relaxed colors of bohemian living.

70s interior design idea: create a wall mural\n\nLet your creative spirit run free with this collection of fun colors. They are all designed to work in harmony and would look wonderful together if painted on a wall as a mural.\n\nCheck out \nhow to create a wall mural on a budget\n for some inspiration.

70s interior design idea: choose natural materials like rattan\n\nThe 70s saw many people opting for more natural materials such as rattan and earthy woods in their homes. Bring a little of the outdoors in by choosing furnishings made of these materials.

70s interior design idea: opt for floral and geometric wallpaper\n\nFloral and geometric prints saw a huge surge of popularity in the 70s. Introduce this trend into your space with just a few rolls of \nprinted wallpaper\n.

70s interior design idea: add a splash of boho decor with Macrame\n\nA method of crafting that involves using knots to create various textiles, Macrame grew popular in the 70s. This trend reflects the more boho side of 70s interior design, so add a few Macrame items such as wall decorations, hanging baskets or plant holders to inject that hippie 70s vibe.

70s interior design idea: play around with textures and patterns\n\nDon&rsquo;t be afraid to get playful with your choice of textures and patterns by introducing unique materials such as velvet sofas, headboards and furry rugs into your space.

70s interior design idea: connect to nature with dried fern or palm leaf fronds\n\nWe&rsquo;ve all seen the impact that indoor plants can have on both the look and feel of an interior space. When it comes to creating 70s decor, reach for plants such as dried fern or palm leaf fronds. Not only do they make a big style statement, but they also help you bring a little more of that outdoorsy nature vibe into your home.

70s interior design idea: go bold with animal prints\n\nAnimal prints were hugely popular in the 70s. Add this trend into your home through your choice of upholstery, cushion covers, throws, or even \nanimal wallpaper\n.

Painting with red will add vibrancy to your space, no question. From burnt umber reds to peachy terra cottas, we're guaranteed to have something to keep your walls happy. Our red paint is pigment-rich, eco-friendly and available in a matt and eggshell finish.

Red paint

Paint samples

Terracotta paint

Orange paint

Pink paint

Red 03

Red 01

Red 02

Red 06

You might also like

Teal paint

Blue paint

Purple paint

Black paint

Sage green paint

Yellow paint

Beige paint

Grey paint

Brown paint

Getting started

3 colors that go with red

Get inspired by this IKEA Billy bookcase hack

8 ways to bring 70s interior design into your home