Is Red A Good Color To Paint A Bedroom? – If Not, What Are The Best Alternatives?

Last Updated on July 26, 2023 By Emma W. Thomas

Choosing red for a bedroom can be subjective. While red can create a bold and passionate atmosphere, it may also be too stimulating for a relaxing sleep environment. Consider personal preferences and the desired ambiance. Softer colors like blues, greens, or neutrals are often recommended for a more calming effect.

Why Is Red Not A Good Color To Paint A Bedroom?

Besides being a high-energy color, red is also highly hued, making it intense and emotional. Having a bedroom painted red can make you stay awake and alert. Additionally, the color represents blood, war, danger, strength, passion, desire, love, and courage. You would not want a color that is associated with raising your blood pressure in your bedroom.

 It is also mostly used in advertisements to evoke an erotic feeling through red lips, nails, and district lights. The color is also used in street lights as a warning sign indicating stop making it create an alert feeling unsuitable for anyone set to go to bed for a long day’s rest. 

What Other Colors Should You Avoid For Bedroom Paint?

Picking the right paint color is very important as it contributes to the general room’s design and affects the nature of moods and emotions. In addition, you must ensure your bedroom space serves its purpose of providing relaxation by steering its look and feel through the paint color you choose. 

Some of the colors to avoid include;

Orange

Orange is very bright and playful, making it ideal for a kids’ playroom or exercise space. A bedroom color should be calming, which is the direct opposite of orange. It is associated with boldness and high energy levels such that it would be difficult to get an ounce of sleep with an orange-painted bedroom. However, you can go for its softer shades that are less vibrant such as peach.

Yellow

Similarly, yellow is lively, and its vibrancy tends to stimulate the senses. Its sunny tone provides a cheerful wake-up tone to start your day and not unwinding the day’s hard work and tiredness. On the contrary, it contributes to your lack of sleep. When you decide to go for yellow paint for your bedroom, go for its muted shades. For instance, the beige color would do as it is not too bright.

Dark Brown

Mink and chocolate brown have gained popularity for home interiors. However, it would help if you avoided them for your bedroom as they add their dullness and heaviness into a room, making it confined and gloomy. Dark colors such as mink do not provide the right motivation and energy for you to wake up in the morning. They are considered to be lazy colors as they lack even a small ounce of energy. People who have their hearts set on brown paint for their bedroom should go for light brown shades that are cool, calm, and have an average energy level, not too much for sleep and not too little to motivate you to wake up.

Light Green

Some shades of green elicit tranquility, seafoam, hues of sage and tend to work well for a bedroom. However, some shades such as lime green are too bright, energetic, and vibrant. Such colors should be left for spaces that require more energy, such as playrooms or in the kitchen. 

White

Most homeowners go for white paint for their bedrooms. The color tends to reflect light making the room feel airy and clean. However, painting your bedroom walls predominantly white creates a cold and sterile look unsuitable to help you rest or get some sleep. It would be best to add some tan or beige tones to create a neutral aesthetic atmosphere. These colors are much warmer, relaxing, and serene compared to a cold boring plain white. 

Steel Gray

Steel gray is usually aggressive and cold, making it unfit for the bedroom. On the other hand, warm gray can help create a relaxing and soothing neutral space, which you need in a bedroom. You should avoid using darker shades of gray for better results to avoid invoking inhospitable moods, which could cause you difficulties getting some sleep.

Which Colors Should You Use To Paint Your Bedroom?

Colors and the amount of light in a room create some effect in any room, which determines mood and energy levels. You can add color through wall paint, artwork, bedding, or furniture pieces. Some of the best bedroom paint colors include;

Light Lilac

Even though the color busts with shades of lavender, it creates calm and serene energy in a bedroom. For a bedroom, the key is to stick to the colors of muted pastels. You can add some pop colors such as purple spectrums using artwork and make it more interesting with contrasting textures and finishes.

Blush Pink

Blush pink paint makes a bedroom whimsical. It appears exuberantly feminine and also a chic feel. The color is cool, relaxing, and warm, making it create a cozy feeling. It is a good choice, especially if you always come in tired and want to catch some sleep as soon as you get to bed.

Ice Blue

Just like the sea, a soft blue bedroom wall makes you feel like a breath of some fresh air the moment you walk in. It tends to add a dreamy and ethereal quality to every space in the room. It also provides a ton of versatility in the bedroom, making it a good choice. You can enhance the room by adding some matching beddings and an accent chair to complete an easy and elegant look that comes with the ice blue color wall.

Lemon Yellow

Unlike mustard yellow, it is cool and calm hence suitable for bedroom paint. It is important to consult the color wheel before deciding on the paint color you want for your bedroom. Doing this helps you avoid going for colors that will contradict your decorating process. It also makes it easy to find colors that complement each other, making even your shopping experience better. For instance, you can enhance a lemon yellow painted bedroom wall using some gray pieces creating a soothing atmosphere yet elegant.

Lemon yellow might be cheerful and vibrant. However, adding some pop of gray helps redistribute the warmth and energy, creating the perfect sleeping atmosphere and look.

Soft Black

In most cases, we tend to think that bright whites and crisps make a room open up but sometimes going darker can do the magic. Some inkier tones tend to amplify a small space. They also help in setting the right mood in the bedroom. For example, a soft black painted wall creates a special feeling and intimacy that lighter colors would never achieve.

What Should You Consider When Picking Your Bedroom Paint Color?

People no longer have their bedrooms as pure as snow as they used to. They used a single solid color for everything. Nowadays, people are experimenting with different paint colors and textures with diverse combinations. To achieve the perfect paint color for your bedroom, you should put some factors into consideration to avoid non-matching colors that may leave your bedroom an undesirable place to sleep. Some of them include;

Inspiration

You can avoid painting your bedroom in a color that is likely to mismatch by finding good ideas and inspiration from multiple sources. For instance, magazines have a wide range of devoted and classical designs and looking at the right grandeur. You can also login into a décor inspiration website with more than enough information to decide.

Your Bedroom Architecture

The first thing to consider before painting any color is the nature of your bedroom. Your paint should emphasize its architectural features by adding a personalized look. For example, if your bedroom has an odd nook or a slope in the attic ceiling, you may paint them in different colors and shades, provided they complement each other on the color wheel. You should pick out a color that matches your bedroom’s color palette of its space.

Your Bedroom Light Source

In this case, some of the things to look at are whether your bedroom has large or small windows, your location, and the type of lighting you use. For instance, bedroom paint colors for a beach house are different from those in a city. Having plenty of natural light encourages you to go for lighter shades to reflect better hence creating an airy feeling in the room.

Other factors you should consider are the bedroom size, current furniture, the amount of color you want, your bedroom uses, and the right shade from the color wheel. For example, some colors are too vibrant and energized to serve a bedroom paint, whereas others are too dark and cold.

The table below indicates some colors and the rooms they suit best;

Color	Room To Paint
Red	Kids playroom and exercise room
Orange	Kids playroom and dining area(it tends to enhance appetite)
Yellow	Lighter tones are good for bedroom
Black	Bedroom(enhances intimate levels)

Conclusion

Red is not a good color to paint a bedroom as it is associated with many unpleasant items such as blood, danger, and war. It is also a high-energy color and too vibrant, making it difficult to get some sleep. Instead of red as bedroom color paint, you should consider colors with calm and cool shades such as ice blue and light lilac. These colors are relaxing and soothing, making it easy for you to sleep restfully.

References:

https://www.bobvila.com/slideshow/7-paint-colors-to-avoid-in-the-bedroom-and-why-51048
https://www.homesandgardens.com/advice/color-you-should-never-paint-your-bedroom