Dh says it makes him feel like he lives with a serial killer!

[Pippyls67]

I want to paint my kitchen red. Tried a tester pot and Dh says it looks like I’ve committed mass murder and not cleaned up after me. I think it’s jolly. Very old house, quite dark though with low ceilings and exposed beams, stone walls etc. Maybe it could he construed as ‘spooky’. Depends on your take on it I guess. I really want a deep rich colour feature wall. What colour would you go? Should I stick to my guns (excuse the pun) and stay with the red? Edited to say yes to first couple of replies- you’re right, I must consider him too. He’s not prepared to suggest a colour tho as he got free reign on his own study. Just comments unhelpfully. He’s very old tho so he says he’s fully entitled to be curmudgeonly from time to time. So up to me. Maybe on reflection this is why I want a jolly colour. Or Oh my God, stream of consciousness thinking now, am I trying to bait him for mild entertainment???? No - I’m old too - but I’m not that cantankerous. Ahh the fun of being a pair of retirees.

My kitchen is painted red with black flooring and appliances. I love it and everyone that visits says the same. Be bold @Pippyls67 I spend a lot of time in my kitchen and it's a nice calm place
Definitely stick to your guns, you'll only regret it if you feel forced into chosing another colour. If your OH had free reign In his study then go for it, if you don't like it, it can be easily painted over 😉

If your home is gloomy though, red doesn't really brighten it up. Red sucks the light from the room and it becomes darker. I painted a room red once, and painted it a lighter colour almost straight away. Massive mistake and hard to rectify. Took ages to paint over.

My dining room has been painted with F & Bs shade 'Blazer' for over 20 years now. It's a very old house and red is a traditional colour for dining rooms. However, I wouldn't want this colour in a kitchen, as it would be too overwhelming. Why not consider rich deep terracotta shade instead, or even a shade of orange? I don't follow home decor fashions as they inevitably date your home/interior and we must be alike. Reds and oranges have not been fashionable for some time now but I care not a jot. Go for a colour that makes you happy, but do consider your t'other half 😁

I have red in my kitchen but it’s a red sparkle wet wall on one wall. The rest of the walls are white and I have black worktops with black Lino. Red can work but not too bright and maybe in small splashes .

I’ve lived in 2 houses with red walls. Unless the room is very large don’t do it. Gets very oppressive and not jolly at all. All my walls are white now and colour comes through paintings and accessories - cushions , etc

Indeed! Quarry tile floor and smallish windows. There’s a whiff of dungeon about it - metaphorically speaking of course. I can’t unsee the shackles on the wall you’ve planted in my head now! There used to be meat hooks in the ceiling of our ‘dairy’ (utility room) once. That’s creepy enough! I didn’t want to ‘Hammer house’ the kitchen - more “Nanny McPhee’ it - if you see what I mean. It’s a fine line tho I see! 😆

We live in a similar sort of house, lots of exposed granite, beams, wooden / stone floors and low ceilings….i think red would look awful so I’m Team Husband on this. But (and this is a big but 😉) I am colourblind so cannot always be trusted to pick good colours. For that reason we mostly stick with whites and creams on the walls in our house, apart from our bedroom which has a very smart dark wall (I would say it was dark grey, my husband claims it is navy) and the playroom which is full of colour. I like white walls with exposed stone or brickwork as the stone provides the colour in the room. Could you find a compromise with either another dark colour or a very bright colour if it’s just the red your husband doesn’t like?

I was all with your DH on first read, but then saw the photos Comff posted, and really liked the second one, and I get your concept totally if it's like that, however, ultimately you do both need to at least like it a bit, you can't have such a key room in your house that one of you hates.

Try a warm and rich green instead ?
Red is a very difficult colour to get right , can look like a bloodbath or nursery school primary colours , or it can look cheap .
I always compromise with my husband because it’s his house too and I don’t want him to hate it .
Right now our walls are a soft white because that’s how the house came and it’s tricky to find the right colours 😕 the furniture and soft furnishings we moved with are soft warm blues and greys with a touch of light wood .
We are in a new build house which is large with high ceilings , it was one of the last to be sold so everything was already chosen and fitted 🙁

Ahh @Pippyls67 that's tickled me! Why don't you lean into it and go full dungeon/crypt

We have a partially "red" kitchen, it's F&B Radicchio but it's complemented by a lighter colour and units I really like it but I would never have chosen it, it was here already

Some paint companies have free software where you can add their colours to pics of your room. Then screenshot them. Maybe try this? Also Google 'red kitchen walls' and select images to see if there's anything similar to what you want to do or different shares of red.

House and garden UK has an entire section on cottages and very old houses with kitchen spaces such as you describe. It would be worth a look at those design and colour choices.

REDRUM REDRUM :) My mums house had many red painted walls internally - a deep moody heart blood red. She liked it and had red ornaments / vases that type of thing, but the colour was very dated and imposing. It stood out as well. After she died in order to get the house ready to go onto the market it was painted off white and took about 4 coats to cover the red. It was so much lighter and less claustrophobic. So I am not keen on red as an internal room colour. But thats just me.

But as for you, I think you need to find a colour you both can live with. Green / light brown and red go together well. You could always go green or beige in the room then add red injections of colour on eg curtains (red and beige checked curtains are nice and were available at Dunelm, cushions (eg red check matching the curtains) and maybe red flowers or wall pictures etc. So you get the injection of red which is warm and cosy without overwhelming the room with the colour. Best of luck !

We’ll now that’s very atmospheric. I really like the patterned door curtains with it. Your dresser is the colour of my cabinets. I’m wavering now between a deeper red like that and a rich happy green like maybe ‘breakfast room’ which was suggested here. It’s fab seeing it in real living spaces so thanks. So many lovely suggestions. I’m going to buy a basket full of tester pots this weekend!

Dh is being full Victor Meldrew and saying only magnolia will do for him. I’m still going ahead with a bit of colour tho, as he evidently doesn’t know what’s actually good for him. So say our grown up children on this subject too - so that’s encouraging. He’s got ceremonial swords from some old war and vintage inherited blunderbusses in his study ffs!! Little me says nothing! So it’s happy splashy painting for me this weekend. I really am hopeful he’ll like it eventually.

How much time does your husband actually spend in the kitchen?🙄

Well this is it - next to nothing really by comparison to me. We have wood burners in other rooms so the kitchen’s quite cold by comparison. It’s not particularly welcoming I think.

Having had a red kitchen, you don't want a red kitchen.

I imagine it would be rather like being in a womb....

If he wants a say in the kitchen color, he better match your time over the stove! Otherwise, his opinion is about as welcome as pineapple on pizza—controversial and unnecessary. Bugger off, chef-less critic!

I like pineapple on pizza.

I've looked online at your granite colour and it varies quite a lot from beigey to pretty dark. How about https://www.littlegreene.com/blush or https://www.littlegreene.com/ashes-of-roses, depending on the granite colour? The Ashes of roses is warm but not too dark. They have great reds and pinks.

We had a 80s house that, when we moved into it, had bright red walls in the kitchen. The floor was black and white chequered tiles so it kind of worked in a 50’s diner sort of way. After a year or so we painted it sage green, but after a while I missed the red so I ended up repainting it the same shade of red because it actually felt right. No regrets.

My DH is colourblind, he's got no idea what the colours that I choose actually are, but he's bothered by the depth of colour i.e. dark vs. light.

I know somebody who had a bright red ceiling in her otherwise pale kitchen. It looked a bit overbearing! Her new kitchen has black units - a bit much for me I'm afraid.