Unexpected Red

Have you heard of the decor philosophy, Unexpected Red? Well, if you haven’t, it is the theory that a little bit of red is a great thing to do to your poor home. As you can already tell, I am a bit unsure I like this philosophy.  Here are some examples I found of the Unexpected Red trend:

 

 

 

 

Frankly, these feel a bit anemic to me. It looks like red tried, gave up, and passed away. In these examples, red is not really serving as part of the decor. It seems just to be added in as a kind of exclamation point instead, and feels out of place, as if the designer was really on the fence about using it and so only committed to one red item.

Red is a color not often used in decor, and there are reasons for that. It is bold, it is daring, and damn, it doesn’t play nicely with others! To be honest, red is an amazingly vibrant color, which is why I guess they theorize that one should use it sparingly. But, of course, if you already don’t know, I feel quite differently. I feel that if you want to use red in your decor, you may as well go red or go home!

 I mean, red is red, so why not just use it like you’re decorating satan’s lair?

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Yes, why not splash it all around like you are living in a Victorian bordello? What the heck? Red deserves respect. Red gets offended when you try mix it with other colors or to minimize it. 

Honestly, if you want to try the Unexpected Red design philosophy, while not having Red get mad at you, you should probably just pair it with white. Yes, mixing red with white is like mixing it with nothing, and red will play nicely for you. It will end up looking harmonious, like this:

 

 

What do you think about the Unexpected Red design philosophy? Would you ever use red in your home?