Red Dining Room

Today's Washington Post Home Section has an article on Red Dining Rooms for the Holidays. As the author, Anne Kinderdine, says, red is a bold statement. The vibrance of a red room is undeniable. By the way, they missed a couple of my favourite reds, Pratt and Lambert's Algerian Red and Ralph Lauren's Hunting Coat Red.

It's funny, when I began to choose paint color for our dining room, my immediate thought was to paint it red, probably. Even though my children believed that I was spending hours Contemplating Beige. I was really thinking Red.
Then I began to decide that I shouldn't paint it red because, after all, I'd always had red dining rooms. Except, I haven't had a red dining room, ever. Okay, I came close with the paper on one breakfast area wall, and I've had a near occasion of red on a living room wall that was next to the dining room, it was Drop Dead Gorgeous but other than that, I don't believe I've had a red dining room. Wait, let me think. Nope, Never. Not even in the Show Houses I've done.
In fact, not only have I not had red, I've always had wallpaper. One was a pale peach pattern on cream and the next was an Historic Natchez paper. Charming and 'afternoon tea lovely', but not bold. Try as I might, and although red is my favourite colour, I just couldn't pull the paint gun trigger on it. Maybe because I already had two rooms painted red. I guess, even though I'd never had one, I was beginning to think of it, stunning though it is, as cliche. Another red side effect, overuse. But drama was needed.
When my daughter suggested blue I thought ugh! Eeww, blue, baby blue, again eewww. Don't get me wrong, I have seen many beautiful pastel blue dining rooms, but I wanted drama. More and more I began to be drawn to the idea of blue.