Red can be difficult to choose. Red is strong and can overpower a room. Pick a tone too light and bright and you end up with walls that look pink. Clear, pure reds are very hard to find on a paint swatch. Red can lean toward blue and red can be orange.

I tend to prefer more earthy reds, like clay or brick. Benjamin Moore’s Audubon Russet from the Historic Collection is a complex, spicy tone that I have used successfully in many different spaces.

Today my clients were a couple planning to paint most of their large home. They decided they wanted red in the Kitchen before I arrived. I had to leave them with two swatches so they could place them around the room as the light changed throughout the day. After two and a half hours of color scrutinization, I said something about a color “speaking” to me. My client looked at her husband and said, “I understand now, honey. You aren’t color blind; you are color deaf!”