POP! With an Accent Color

Are you drawn to this dining room? People who study colors say that red works well in an eating area, encouraging conversation. Unlike some rooms that choose to paint the walls red, the color here makes a nice accent without overpowering the space.

Let’s take a look at how the owner took advantage of a love of red to move this room from dull to adventurous.

The floor and walls provide a good neutral background. By showing a touch of warm color on the light 24 inch porcelain tile flooring, the room avoids feeling cold. Porcelain tile is also a great dining room floor because it can handle any spills without staining, as long as you seal the grout.

The table and chair frames are not black but a rich ebony wood. This also adds warmth and provides the dark tones needed to anchor the room. The chairs are all padded, adding comfort if you want people to linger over a meal. However using leather makes them almost stain-free and easy to wipe down. Notice that the white side chairs have a slightly different back than the red ones. This adds an additional design touch to enliven a very simple room.

The red choices are all exactly the same hue, and carefully controlled to keep them from taking over the room. Red is such a vivid color that it would be easy to get carried away. But by having only the end chairs in red and just the row of three matching bowls on the table, the red is contained. The bright red abstract art piece also matches the hue but with some texture and color elements to keep it interesting.

How daring are you? Would you be willing to showcase your favorite color this way? Why not take a chance!