Tomato Red Color Palette

May 21st, 2010

As much as I adore design magazines and blogs for inspiring images, sometimes the perfect color palette can hit you over the head when you look at a beautiful photograph or piece of art. 

As a self-confessed image junkie, I frequently change up the background image on my computer as an ever changing reflection of my current interests or as a reminder of a wonderful experience I had.  Yesterday I was looking for old photos of a close friend, which required digging through my electronic photo archives.  I think we should ALL remember to do this periodically because there are gems hidden in such places.  I stumbled across this photo taken by Dan Buettner, the owner of the Lake of the Isles showcase home, on one of his research trips. Appropriately, it’s one of the featured photos in his kitchen. 

But looking at it blown up on my computer screen, that tomato red against the beautiful color and texture of the woman’s hands blew me away.  All the rich earth tones offer such a warm color palette to work from. 

So how would I use it?  The tomato red works well as a bold but approachable element on a large piece of furniture.  Various shades of brown from light golder brown to deep chocolate would be used on everything from floors to furniture. Hints of green from the tomato stem and the black of the dirt under her finger nails would balance out the room in accessories and other accents. Perhaps painting the trim in black as a surprise (usually seen in cooler color palettes against whites and grays).

Here are some other examples in all different types of rooms. 

Sometimes the red is on a major piece of furniture.

Other times, the red works as a strong graphic statement through wallpaper.  

Or red can be used as an accent against the natural wood tones of a beamed ceiling or a backyard patio. How great is that red umbrella?! 

How would you use tomato red in your home? A cozy enveloping dining room with deep red walls?  Red accent pillows on a couch for a tiny pop?  How bold would you go?

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Picture credits: Top composition, clockwise from upper left: Patrick Connor via DesignSponge, unknown (possibly InStyle magazine), unknown (possibly FLOR catalog), Katie Kirk via DesignSponge, Traditional Home magazine 4-09, unknown.

Bottom composition, clockwise from upper left: Cookie magazine, Cookie magazine, Otto Baat Design via DesignSponge, Apartment Therapy, and unknown (possibly NY Times).

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Tags: ASID Showcase Home, black, brown, green, Red

This entry was posted on Friday, May 21st, 2010 at 2:56 pm and is filed under Color Pulse. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.