Color Combo: Red and Green... for Spring!

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The obvious association with red and green as a color combo is Christmas, and not in a good way. Perhaps the colors make you think of cheesy dimestore wreaths and bows, or elves in jaunty little costumes. Well, the fact is that red and green are complimentary colors. They appear together all the time in nature—a strawberry, a poppy, a bottlebrush tree—which makes them perfect for spring decorating, not just for holiday cheer. Check out these lovely examples we found...

The key to using red and green without evoking Christmas is to play with the many variations of the two colors, pairing rust with sage, fuschia with lime, and so on. Throwing in colors that lean a bit closer to yellow and blue—oranges, pinks, turquoises—can also help the balance and create an interesting interplay of shades.

Those of you who are working on bringing in color for this week's cure might consider these warm tones together. If you're wary, try just an accent here or there, like a red print pillow on a green sofa, or a wall decal you can easily remove.

Also have a look at Heather's recent post on Red and Green in the Kitchen for more easy ways to make this color combo work.

Photos: Cookie (Sisters Gulassa), Living Etc, Katie Ridder, Cookie, Samantha Martin-Evans

Comments (6)

The bed in the third photo looks awesome.

posted by Where You Hang Your Hat on April 9th 2009 at 9:14am
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I love red an green together. You just have to be careful about the Christmas hues- all of these are wonderful examples of how to do it right.

posted by H L I on April 9th 2009 at 9:30am
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Yes! I love this color combination. I actually ended up with this without trying. I bought all my bigger things in soft turquoise and lime green shades (plus lots of plants) and ended up being very drawn to very red asian-esque accents and ended up buying a lot of plants with bright green leaves that wither had red on the leaves or bright red flowers.
It certainly doesn't look christmassy if one color clearly dominates, and you can use any red so long as you don't use a very crayola green.

posted by Nolann on April 9th 2009 at 10:34am
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Hmm I've actually been pondering this combo recently. My apartment is very much done with a red theme - studio with white walls, but bedspread is red, striped red/white rug, etc. I want to get one of those west elm mini parsons tables and my natural inclination is to go for white (hence why all of my other furniture is for the most part white), but I just love the wheatgrass color. this has definitely provided me with a little inspiration...

posted by Hartley from Kitchen Caravan on April 9th 2009 at 1:25pm
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Third photo of the bed--can anyone identify the big orchid-y print chair?

posted by lucitebox on April 9th 2009 at 6:36pm
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I am so in love with that turq. blue color of that dining room and have been looking for that EXACT shade!!! Can anyone tell me what brand and paint color that is?

posted by AivyPNguyen on April 13th 2009 at 10:19pm
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