I think to judge the colour against the woodwork you need to paint it right up against the wood - the white seperating the two gives a misleading impression I think

There are soooooo many reds.

But if you've narrowed it down to just the two shown, I'd go w/the bottom one.

Also, from the uneven tone of the paint swatches I'm assuming you applied just one coat. You might want to do at least a second coat to get a truer idea of what the finished room would look like.

I would use the bottom one as well. I like both, but think the top one might, at times, feel a little too bright, although I agree with stationaryfiend, paint it up against the trim with two coats to get a true idea of how it will look.

I have a very similar red in my dining room. That color red definitely darkens a room....a lot. We have white trim, white curtains, a white shag rug and white accent pieces and the room still feels dark. I love it for a dining room, because it feels "right" there, but I personally would find it too dark for a room I sit in all the time.

Of course, it's all personal preference, just make sure you're prepared for a very dark room, especially with medium toned trim, and dark furniture.

If I were to paint that room red, I would paint the wood white. If you don't want to paint the wood white, I would keep the walls very light (light gray, white, beige, etc). And go bold with accents (very bold rugs, pillows, etc)

I would probably not paint that room red. Red does not complement that tone of wood. Red would work better with a darker wood, stained mahogany. If you want to go dark and dramatic, i'd try blue, a lovely royal or navy blue, which would work well with the wood tones you have.

I like the top one better

I am leaning towards the top color but I would like to see two coats, right up to the trim and a pretty big section of it before I commit. The windowless kitchen in my condo was painted a tuscan red, had a hint of brown in it. I was always going to repaint it a truer red and had collected literally dozens of red paint samples when one day I realized it was a dark hole. Repainted apple green. So I am jealous that you have a room that I think is a pretty great choice for a red room. It will be worth your while to do a significant paint test because you don't want to redo this!

Consider a variation on the red felt in the pool table since that will be a big feature in the room. And put a cushion from the couch in front of the test section.

I have a very similar house just over the bridge in South Jersey- we painted our dining room "Saffron" by Martha Stewart- its a really rich reddish orange and it goes really well with the original walnut trim. I posted a pic of it here: http://119northhome.blogspot.com/2011/05/joys.html if that helps! Good luck!! :)

I lived in an apartment with much the same layout and used a red that was close to the bottom one. I would recommend that color, but not for the whole room, just one wall as an accent color. I think all three walls might be a bit much, and I think leaving the bay window white will look better and add more light to the room.

Even if you think you want to do all the walls red, start with just one and then step back and think about it - you might find that you want to keep painting or you might find that one is enough.

BTW it's probably going to take at least two coats over primer, possibly three, so consider that when choosing your paint. The samples you have painted above are only one coat and it makes the top one look much more orangy than it might with two or three coats.

My house had a similarly red room with natural wood trim when I moved in, and it felt very dark and oppressive to me. Now, part of that is because I like light colors in general, but even with several large windows in the room, the room never felt comfortable.

like the others I suggest you paint right up to the wordwork and paint the samples in areas of different light... live with it for a few days before you decide... red is hard to paint over!

I think this is a great red:

http://www.myvisuallistings.com/fsvtnb/55894

With respect to your yellowed trim, it is not the brightness of the red that you need to watch for, but rather, the pigments which make the red. A blue-ish red will not blend well with the yellowish trim, so should be avoided.

Given the differences in computer screens, it would have been useful to give us the name or number of the paints you are considering, and a shot of the trim would not have gone amiss.

Personally, my favourite red is this one (sort of an oxblood, which changes from bright to deep depending on lighting conditions because of the complexity of pigments):

http://www.coxpaint.com/store/cart.php?target=product&product_id=18737&category_id=255

I wouldn't paint the room red. I think that a navy blue would be a more original and striking choice. Blue would also go with the trim much better. Another choice might be a deep green. I feel like everyone paints their dining room red, you should strike out and be different!

You haven't told us how much light the room gets... For example, the link I provided is of a room with a south exposure and 12 foot ceilings, so it is not cave-like.

If you have a north or east exposure, I would hesitate painting the room a dark red... it could be cozy, or depressingly dark. (white trim really helps brighten things)

ask for advice and you get it! wow!

i think both reds are nice but i prefer the top/brighter one. the bottom one is a bit moody and could get dark while the top is cheerful and really RED.

I prefer the top red out of the two but I wouldn't paint all walls that colour as it's too in-your-face. Red walls, red pool table - too much! That room looks like there is not much light, probably a lot to do with the net curtains. Our house had them in every room and I took all of them down and it made such a difference.

If it were me I would just choose a gorgeous neutral colour and let the furniture and artwork and soft furnishings bring in the colour. Find some colours that complement the red felt instead. I'm loving red and aqua right now.

We were getting ready to paint a big long wall in our row house living room orange, and a friend of ours who's a painter/designer gave us brilliant advice: pick the color you like on the swatch and go TWO shades lighter. So I'd go with the top color.

Also, when you're trying a more "risky" color, get a big piece of plywood or wallboard and prime it and paint it with 2 coats of the color you're considering -- then you can move it around the room and see how it really looks under different light conditions. Gives you much more info than a foot square splotch on one wall.

I'd also look at some other reds with the same lighter value -- a brick red, maybe even rose. Depends on the tone of the woodwork and the floor.

I would opt to reject the red. It's too powerful for this space. A mid tone blue with a teal undertone would be a good marriage with this wood tone (yellow being the common undertone).

I'm in the process of doing my dining room a deep red (almost a blood red) and I have to say just from my own place, you need an awful lot of light to pull off this color. My place gets lots of light and as a huge window letting in light from the North and also light comes in from the adjoining living room which faces South. That being said, red is a very strong color and requires natural light to make it pop. If not, then it will create a cave effect because it will be too dark for the true color to come out. Just my two cents though, sorry.

I like the top red the best, it's more bright and cheery. Although, I do think you should consider royal or navy blue like previous commenters. That would look very pretty!

You may already have done this, but paint the inside of a shoe box with the sample colours, and see how it looks in the room. It will give you a better idea of how the colours look on all four walls, and in shadow. I prefer the top red, it's less dreary.

I'd probably go with a different color altogether, like a navy blue as others have suggested. But I don't think that red is a horrible idea if you go with the right one. I prefer the bottom one too, because it's not as bright, especially if you're doing all the walls and not just one. Good luck, looks like you have a huge support system here to help you out!

Alyssa
coolproducts.com

I admire your commitment, but my own sentiments echo some of the above comments. An entire room in red might be too intense. Have you considered using the red you finally settle on on just one wall? See how it goes, and then if you really want to do it, paint the rest of the room? The reason I say this is because red is the most difficult colour to install or remove. Both sides of the equation need a few coats to achieve good results.

Based on those two, I prefer the top one. The bottom one just feels too dark for me, and the room already looks pretty dark as is. Perhaps that is more the issue with the photo, and there will be much better lighting installed. Also looking at areas of it where it has almost two coats, it doesn't appear to bright at all.

The top red..it's brighter and might not make the space as dark as the lower one. Good luck!

I would go with the top one for the reason that once all the walls are painted, the expanse of red is going to appear darker. I would not do a blue as it appears to me that this is already a room that doesn't receive much light. I think blue would make it seem chilly and dark.

USE A TINTED PRIMER!!!!, no matter what red you choose. (Just trying to turn my own painful experience into someone else's gain.) Otherwise, you'll end up with pink walls until about the 4th coat.

I think the plywood, shoebox, and tinted primer ideas are all great ones!

Benjamin Moore's Vermillion is about the best red around - it has a touch of orange to it which will coordinate better with the woodwork than a bluish red.

That said - You've got to use a tinted primer and be prepared to still go over it w/ 2-3 coats to get a consistent color...
...you should never believe those ads that say "Paint and Primer in one" when it comes to red.

I'm in the blue camp -- navy, midnight, peacock -- but if you must do red, I think the bottom one will be less grating on you, and the more muted color seems more fitting to me with the period colors (which I think tended not to be as bright since they were using natural pigments).

I think the top red goes better with that wood trim. It's brighter and has more yellow in it than the bottom one. It compliments the trim better. The bottom red looks more of a cherryish to me, like it may have more purple in it. Dunno, I feel like it does nothing for the trim. However, I prefer vibrant pairings.

I'm not sure how it would play against with deep red felt you mentioned. I would think the top red would play better with it than the bottom because it might look like you were "trying" to match it but didn't get it quite right. At least with the top red, it might be more obvious that you weren't trying to match it, and I think that's OK.

I meant to say that the bottom red might have a little bit too much blue (not purple).

Thanks for all the advice! I liked the top color as well. It is by Behr, called classic cherry - if you look it up, it looks a lot pinker on the swatch than it does when we painted it. We did try a few other shades of red, and they all ended up looking kind of like a "barnyard red".

The room gets great light, it also has 2 large windows on the right side - it just looks dim because all of the blinds were closed. We would probably end up doing white curtains to brighten it up as well. The windows on the right also have some beautiful stained glass that has these colors: light yellow, orange, red, clear, and light blue.

As far as the pool table felt goes, it will have to be re-felted when we move it into that house, so we can always change the color of the felt to be a different shade of red, or a different color all together (it is currently a dark red).

A navy or blue color could be nice, but my parents would never go for navy. They would probably go for a light blue, but I think we were going to do that for the bathroom, and I've also finally convinced them to try the red. I think if I were to bring up changing the color now, they would just get annoyed and paint it the same beige as the hallways.
I also agree that it would look better with a darker stain on the wood, and maybe when they see the painted room they will want to stain the woodwork.

Please keep the comments coming, and thanks so much for all of your input!

BTW: White trim & ceiling w red walls is a definite "No-No" - Too much of a contrast.

You need to go with something more mellow, such as a cream or ivory, to counterbalance the red.

That's a dark room and the top red is brighter. Go with the top.

I've never seen a red room that I have liked, it just too much. I would go for a light gray. That would look great with the dark leather couch and the red felt pooltable. I would paint that wood work it looks a little ruff and I would suggest maybe some of those black semi transparent roller shades. Good luck.

I realize changing the color on your folks might cause annoyance or conflict, but just wanted to share my experience. When I moved into my last house, the living room walls were painted a similar red to your first choice. It had a large front window, a lot of light and a vaulted ceiling, but it felt like a tiny red cave. I also had brown trim that I did not want to paint. When moving in, my husband and I were rushed so we painted it cantaloupe white, and it was a pain covering the red. Eventually, I painted it a grey-ish blue and I loved it with the trim.

If you go with red, don't just use a tinted primer, use a GRAY tinted primer. I painted my kitchen cabinets red, and used a white primer. It took four coats--just as someone upthread predicted. I also painted my home office red, directly over orange paint. I thought I wouldn't need a primer, since red and orange are close to each other on the color wheel. Nope, that still took three coats, and the red turned out different from the red in my kitchen (even though they were both Behr's Cherry Cobbler red). Then I painted my front door red. This time I thought I was smart and had the paint guy at Home Depot tint the primer pink. That only took two coats, but the red (same red) was a different color from both the office and the kitchen!
I later took a Color Theory class, and learned that you have to get a gray primer. It's the only way your red will turn out the same as on the paint chip in two coats or less. Red is just a hard color to work with. Which is why you've gotten so much advice to avoid it in such large swathes. ;)
As someone who loves red, I have to admit it's such a bold, deep, saturated color that you'll most likely tire of it quickly. Red is best appreciated and enjoyed in small doses. It also is a symbol of aggression in the animal kingdom, so it is definitely a stimulating color, not a soothing one. Something to keep in mind depending on what activities you plan on doing in the living room.

Biggest piece of advice I have for you: choose the best possible quality of paint.

Go with Fine Paints of Europe, or failing that, Donald Kaufman Colors, Farrow & Ball, Benjamin Moore or Pratt & Lambert. A room that handsome deserves a beautiful rich paint with high quality pigments -- something you won-t get with Behr (the ONLY company I have tried which has yielded consistently poor quality results). A gallon of high quality paint may seem expensive, but given the impact, is the most economical design change you can make to a room.

Red is a notoriously difficult shade to get right, and it really, really helps to have good paint (while I know that you only put 1 coat on your sample patches, that paint is obviously thin and streaky. It will take the proper primer and maybe 3 or 4 coats to get it looking right. It pays to do a proper test sample!)

As for the comment that white trim doesn't work with red -- well, that really depends on the shade. An orange-y or brownish red, or a the DKC/17 shade I suggested, does indeed look better with creamy or ivory trim, however, an apple or cherry red can work well with white (again, depends on the shade of white too).

I know that you want to keep the wood trim, but looking at the knot holes and filler indicates this wood was never meant to be without paint. Something to bear in mind...

When I was in college, I painted our living room a deep rust/orange. The color looked great. It was also a very engaging color, not one that was conducive to relaxing. We were in college, so it was a fun/social room. I never found myself reading or hanging out in the room by myself. I would think about the purpose of the room. A red dining room, where you may have a few dinner parties, could be fun. A red room where you want to 'wind down' after a long day at work could be a unnerving.

The top one.

The top one seems to have an orange tint and the bottom one a bluish tint. I prefer
paprika reds. I would say the top one, but slightly darker.

This red thread got me curious. Check this out: http://www.housebeautiful.com/decorating/colors/shades-of-red

I recommend Million Dollar Red from Benjamin Moore. I painted my living room this color and it looks great with my gumwood trim.

Good luck with the choice. I'm also renovating a (West) Philly house (a twin) and there are just so many choices! - Kelly

Neither. Don't do red.

I second the comment about choosing a good quality paint! Six years ago I decided to quickly slap a coat of cheap white paint over the unattractive mauvey pink in the bathroom of my new condo. Small room, I can repaint if I find a color, no need to splurge here, right? Wrong. First of all, a bathroom has lots of nooks and crannys and things to tape around. Second, cheap Walmart paint in a humid environment will crack after one year and reveal the coat underneath. It looked like some strange fungus. Lesson learned. I repainted with a high quality white. No regrets.

Okay, I've had more thoughts about this, and so am back...

Red is a gorgeous, dramatic colour. No doubt about it. It creates a lot of energy in a room; frankly, too much energy for a living room. I once knew a couple who painted their bedroom red... they had the worst divorce of anyone I've ever met. I don't know too many people who have painted their even a feature wall in their living room red, much less the entire room. The one example I can think of is Princess Margaret's son, Viscount Linley, who painted the living room of his apartment (when still a bachelor) a colour similar to DKC-17 (which I note the House Beautiful article identified as one of *the* best reds) -- a red with some brown in it, so it is not quite so on-edge as brighter shades.

And that is the problem.

You say you want to paint your living room a bright shade of red -- but that is not the sort of shade that works well in a living room. It is too keyed-up, and can be irritating instead of calming and supportive, which is what you want in a living room. That is why you see red in dining rooms and hallways and not living rooms; red just doesn't belong. And if you are going to try it, you should go with a more liveable and easy-going red, like DKC-17.

My advice to you would be to look instead at dark grey. Look at the picture of the post on top of yours: it is stunning. It is rich and dramatic, and if you click on the associated house tour (with that bar cart), you will see just how well it marries with a leather sofa and wood.

Here is another example of how stunning dark grey looks -- and is the shade I recommende for your living room: Farrow & Balls "Down Pipe".

http://abigailahern.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/in-style-in-turkey/

If you go with Down Pipe, it would be particularly stunning if your floors were just oiled (not varnished or coated with polyurethane).

Google the colour and see what it looks like in different rooms; I think it might be what you are looking for.

Good luck!

red really is oppressive. I'd recommend a light salmon, kinda like this: http://www.porterhousedesigns.com/colorsizzle/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/southernaccents.jpg

or pretty much anything from this palette would work: http://www.materials-world.com/paint-colors/pratt_and_lambert/color/pratt-and-lambert-color-01.htm

The problem is, now that I am reconsidering painting it red due to the overwhelming negative response, I cannot bring up the idea of a different color.

The renovations will take several years longer to complete than expected, and so my parents are not going to want to go through the process of looking for another color and painting swatches and buying more paint - they'll just paint the room a light beige (since we already have several gallons of that left from painting the third floor).

I'd do the lower. My bedroom in high school had that color wood trim and I painted three walls solid red and the fourth red with a white grid pattern (thank you trading spaces).

I suggest painting the wall around the windows red first and decide from there whether you want the entire room red or just one wall red.

A pop of color adds so much without being scary. Also, that light beige would probably be complementary to the bottom red.