Spicy Dark Red Wall Color in a Mediterranean Room Color Scheme

by Peggy
(Portland, OR, USA)

Prior to its new paint job, this long, rectangular living room was a standard builder's white.

Because it is so gloomy in the morning, yet sunny in the afternoon, I wanted to find a wall paint color that would bridge time of day and seasons for a consistently warm and cozy feel.

Also, because many of the furnishings in my house are in Mediterranean-type colors (olive, warm gold, pumpkin orange, burnt sienna, and I just recently added some vibrant turquoise accents) with lots of rich wood furniture and trim, I wanted to accentuate those colors and textures but keep the walls excitingly neutral at the same time (if you know what I mean).

Somehow this lovely red did the trick!

I chose Devine Paprika for the living room walls. I love Devine Color paints because the colors are rich, deep, saturated, and cover consistently.

These walls took only one coat of paint, and the color covered well even though it was being applied over a white base.

Painting with a rich, dark color like this always requires extra attention to detail, particularly where there is a contrast between walls and ceilings or trim. So I needed to use a small artist's paint brush to fine-tune the edges.

To help pull the room together even more, I mixed a little bit of the wall color with a white base and re-painted the ceiling. The hint of color in the ceiling now mixes quite well with the tone on the wall.

I'm very pleased with the results. I achieved my goal of making this large room cozier and warmer, and I find that I can mix and match a variety of colors and decorations with the spicy red walls without clashing or conflict.

Especially nice is the way that the red wall color brings out the reddish tones in all the woodwork and enhances the warm atmosphere in the room.

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