Red wallpaper

Red wallpaper sets the temperature of a room before the furniture is back in place, and the shade you pick decides whether that warmth reads as comfortable or as loud. This collection runs from smoky oxblood through clay-toned terracotta to a clean vermilion, gathered from European houses including Casamance, Cole & Son, Texdecor and Vescom. Duties and taxes are included in the price shown, and every order ships from the Netherlands.

Warm reds and cool reds: read the undertone first

Two reds that look alike in a catalog behave differently on the wall. A red with orange underneath it (brick, rust or clay) settles next to oak floors and warm white trim, and it keeps its body in a north-facing room where daylight stays thin. A red pulled toward blue, such as oxblood or wine, turns cooler and more formal; it sits better against crisp white or near-black woodwork than against honey-colored wood. Held up against our orange wallpaper, brown wallpaper and pink wallpaper, the tone you have in mind tends to place itself.

Finishes and textures in red wallpaper

The surface does as much work as the pigment. A matte paper red swallows the light in the room and stays quiet even at full saturation. A woven ground scatters the color across fine horizontal fibers, so the wall reads as cloth rather than paint; that is the effect in our textured wallpaper. Vinyl-faced reds carry a slight sheen and can be wiped down, which is why they end up in stairwells and kitchens.

Rooms where a red wall earns its place

A powder room is a sensible place to begin: small, lamplit, and nobody stands in it long enough to tire of a saturated color. A dining room comes next, because red flatters faces and candlelight. An entryway or den can carry red on all four walls when the ceiling is high; a primary bedroom asks for something backed off, such as burnt terracotta. In a breakfast nook a pattern lands better than a solid, since the lighter ground breaks up the intensity. Where the architecture already carries the room, a plain wallpaper in red is enough.

Hanging red wallpaper on American walls

Deep reds show whatever is behind them, so fresh drywall needs filling, sanding and a primer coat; a patch that disappears under white paint will telegraph through a dark red. Rolls here are European rather than the American double roll, often 33 ft (10.05 m) long and 20.9 in (53 cm) wide, while textile and wide-width qualities follow their own dimensions, so check the size on the product page. Buy the whole quantity at once, because red pigments are mixed per batch and a roll ordered later can land a shade off. Hang a sample on the intended wall first and look at it in daylight and after dark.