Color for Living Room with Cathedral Ceiling

Today’s question in the makeover gallery is from a woman who say she likes reds and browns for her living room.  I want to make it modern and warm but I was afraid with the cathedral ceiling it will be overwhelming if I don’t pick the right color.  My rug is tan and the couch (which is gonna go soon is also tan). Thank you.

Here’s a picture of the room now followed by my advice.

Red is a wonderful color but I agree it could be a bit overwhelming if you don’t chose just the right color.  If you really want to go with red I would choose a color that is more of an earthy red such as EB 38-1 Cabin Red.  This color is part of the Eddie Bauer collection from Valspar and is available at Lowes.

Here is a picture I grabbed off the Valspar website to show you how this color looks.  As you can see it is not a bright, stop sign red but rather a red that looks like it has aged or weathered.

Still red covering the large wall space you have could seem a bit too much even it you like the color.  As an alternate I would suggest a natural soft green for the walls and then you could bring the red in as accents and accessories.

Here’s an example from the Martha Stewart collection. This collection is also made by Valspar and is available at Lowes.  I like MS266 Anjou Pear and as you can see in this picture it works very nicely with the red cushions, black trim and dark brown table.

This close up shows the colors in the fabrics a bit better.  The print may not be as contemporary as you might like but you could bring other accent colors in accessories that suit your style.  I just wanted to get you thinking about color options.

Another wall color that would work beautifully with the brown and red is MS285 Fountain.  This works well with dark brown and would make a nice background for red.

I’ll look forward to seeing a picture of your completed project.