Warm Colors: 31 Rooms That Showcase the Coziness of the Rich Tones
Autumn isn’t the only time to incorporate rich warm colors into your home (although it’s likely when those tones, looking their finest in nature, pop into your design dreams). Vibrant oranges, cozy reds, and sunny yellows infuse spaces with energy and warmth, two things that are always good to have in a room, no matter the season. For an instant and impactful transformation, pick warm paint colors or go the subtle route with warm-hue curtains, pillows, and upholstery.
Before we get to the pictures, a little crash course in color theory: Warm colors are specifically defined as red, orange, and yellow tones, while cool colors are blues, greens, and purples. Understanding the difference between warm versus cool colors can help you figure out color combinations and color schemes for your living space depending on the mood you’re going for. Warm shades can help make a space feel cozier, whether used as dominant shades in a room or as accents. To figure out complementary colors of the specific shades you’re looking at, look to the opposite side of the color wheel from the tone you’ve decided on.
We delved into our favorite AD–featured home tours to find the most stunning examples of these colors in action—in living rooms, offices, kitchens, and more. Read on to see just what impact the tones have on interiors.
Photo: Simon Brown1/31Add a warm shade to a palette of cool tones
In a Colorado home designed by London studio Salvesen Graham, pops of red add an unexpected twist to an otherwise straightforward palette of cool greens and blues.
Photo: Max Burkhalter2/31Use a buttercup yellow
While cool yellows and yellow-greens can be energizing, buttercup yellow has to be our favorite shade. Inside the Brooklyn town house of fashion stylist Alex White, these buttercup-yellow chairs look inviting next to extra-large windows, but the shade can play just as well in rooms that depend more on artificial lighting.
Photo: Haris Kenjar3/31Envelope your space in one shade
To unlock the full transformative potential of warm colors, try enveloping an entire room in one shade, as seen in this dressing room at a San Francisco home by Landed Interiors & Homes and William Duff Architects.
Photo: James McDonald; Styled by Carlos Mota. Art: © 2022 Robert Barry/Krakow Witkin Gallery, Boston. © Agnes Martin Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.4/31Play with pastels
If you want the comfortable playfulness of warm colors without getting too wacky in a space that is otherwise defined by neutral colors, consider choosing pastels. This nearly all-white Palm Beach living room by designer Mary McGee includes pops of pastel pink and yellow.
Photo: Dave Watts5/31Mix primary colors
While blue is a cool tone, a warm shade of blue can pair well with yellow and red. The deep blue-green tone of the kitchen cabinets in a home by designers Clarence & Graves looks wonderful with the mustard yellow walls and red-and-white Spalding Stripe wallpaper by Ralph Lauren.
Photo: Genevieve Garruppo; Styling: Veronica Olsen6/31Use marble to bring in color
There are infinite ways to add color to your living space, but the most luxe just might be a dramatic marble varietal. This custom vanity in a Manhattan loft by designer Paris Forino is a favorite and pairs well with the glazed zellige tiles and blush tadelakt-style plaster walls.
Photo: Douglas Friedman7/31Pair lemon yellow with raspberry red
Another favorite warm color combo? Lemon yellow and raspberry red, as seen here in the home of Susie Hilfiger.
Photo: Oberto Gili8/31Layer on the patterns
At the Greenwich, Connecticut home of Tommy Hilfiger, the living room’s labyrinthine plasterwork ceiling was executed by Hyde Park Mouldings. The George Smith sofa is upholstered in a Clarence House silk velvet with pillows of antique tapestry and a Scalamandré leopard print.
Photo: Miguel Flores-Vianna9/31Add a bold artwork
In the living room of a Long Island home renovated by designer Daniel Sachs and architect Kevin Lindores, an artwork by Philip Taaffe hangs above a custom-made sofa covered in a Lee Jofa print. The floral pillows are of fabrics by Madeleine Castaing and Braquenié, a Regency chair is upholstered in silk damask, and the cocktail table is topped with an antique Uzbek textile. The mercury-glass lamp was purchased at Christie’s.
Photo: Simon Upton10/31Choose a dominant color
In the guest room of a Hong Kong home designed by Mattia Bonetti, the bed (a Mattia Bonetti one-off) is positioned within a swath of red-orange lacquer that serves as a virtual canopy. The designer padded the headboard with the same gray leather used for the bedspread, and the lamps and custom-made nightstands are also his work.
Photo: Scott Frances11/31Stick to the same undertones
19th-century American Empire table and chairs converge in the dining room of a historic Louisville, Kentucky estate, updated by architect Joel Barkley and designer Todd Klein. The seats are cushioned in an Edelman leather. The peachy undertone appears in the wall color, the draperies, and the area rug.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn12/31Pair warm focal points with cooler accents
In a guest room of a Southampton, New York home by interior designer David Netto and architect David Hottenroth, the Le Manach cotton on the walls and headboard and the Rosa Bernal Collection fabric used for the pillow shams are both from Claremont. A Rose Tarlow Melrose House table lamp perches on a mahogany nightstand from Sutter Antiques. The warm reds and oranges are complemented by the collection of cool-blue books on the nightstand.
Photo: Roger Davies13/31Give taupe a try
In this Kelly Wearstler–designed living room in Bel Air, California, vintage wall lights salvaged from a Roman cinema flank the fireplace. The taupe leather sofas on either side of the room are by J. Robert Scott.
Photo: Simon Watson14/31Use blue as an accent color
In art dealer Dorothea Elkon’s Moroccan home, cedar cabinets and golden-yellow tile line the kitchen while blue china pops from the shelves.
Photo: Todd Eberle15/31Pair warm white with a bright off-white
The kitchen in Vidal Sassoon’s Bel Air retreat features a Saarinen Tulip table and chairs by Knoll and built-in cabinets by Neutra. The hanging cabinet and stool are by Jean Prouvé. The warm white floors contrast with the slightly off-white walls and the bright white chairs.
COPYRIGHT ©2011 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.16/31Combine black walls with accent pieces in warm tones
Abstract ’70s silkscreens hang above the sofa in Richard Lambertson and John Truex’s Manhattan apartment. The walls are painted in Tanner's Brown by Farrow & Ball.
Photo: Joshua McHugh17/31Embrace warm yellows
In the butter-yellow living room of this upstate New York farmhouse renovated by Alison Spear, custom-designed sofas covered in a Scalamandré cut velvet join circa-1920 Louis XVI–style chairs. The vitrine holds antique miniature family portraits.
Photo: Nikolas Koenig18/31Spice up a neutral space with pops of red
The living room in this Stephen Sills–designed Colorado mountain house features an armchair and ottoman of his design, both upholstered in a Ralph Lauren Home red leather.
Photo: Scott Frances19/31Pair warm tones with natural materials
In this Aspen, Colorado ski house by Studio Sofield, an Ansel Adams photograph hangs above the living room fireplace. A Takashi Nakazato ceramic vessel on the hearth holds an ikebana sculpture (branches and an old wasp’s nest) created by William Sofield, who also designed the floor lamp at left for Baker Furniture. The rug is from Beauvais Carpets.
Photo: Matthieu Salvaing20/31Use art to bring in color
A Rosemarie Trockel wool tapestry hangs in the dining room of fashion editor Giovanna Battaglia’s Stockholm apartment.
Photo: Roger Davies21/31Tie your textiles together
Paintings by Thomas Hart Benton flank a Steinway baby grand in the living room of the California home of philanthropists Joan and Sanford I. Weill, which is also outfitted with cocktail tables designed by the house’s decorator, MAC II. The large space’s area rug matches the tones of the throw pillows.
Photo: Roger Davies22/31Pick bold paint colors
A Spanish Colonial–style residence in Pebble Beach, California received a sumptuous makeover from the design firm JP Molyneux Studio. In the living room, orange walls set the tone. Lanterns by Delisle hang from the ceiling (painted by Frédéric Monpoint), and a Rafael Coronel artwork is mounted opposite a Quatrain mirror. The twin Knole sofas are covered in the same vintage Rubelli fabric used for the curtains, the armchairs are Louis XIV, and the carpet is an early-20th-century Kashan.
COPYRIGHT ©2015 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.23/31Pair primary colors with secondary colors
Shades of orange and red accent the sitting area of jewelry designer James Taffin de Givenchy’s Manhattan showroom.
COPYRIGHT ©2015 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.24/31Install an eye-catching colorful artwork
This historic Boston townhouse decorated by Wells & Fox features a Christopher Wool painting. The custom-made armchairs in the bay window are clad in a Claremont fabric.
COPYRIGHT ©2012 THE CONDÉ NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.25/31Pair orange with brown for a satisfying warm color palette
The living room of designer Tino Zervudachi’s Paris apartment is decorated with doors painted in a faux-tortoise pattern, cognac-color silk curtains with brown velvet trim, and a pair of 1940s Jansen armchairs. Between the windows, a sculpture by Luiza Miller stands in front of a gouache by Joseph Beuys. The orangish red of the fireplace contrasts with the blue artwork and pillows.
© Roger Davies 201226/31Offset cooler colors with warmer colors
In the living room of this Miles Redd–decorated California home, a trumeau from John Rosselli Antiques hangs between windows curtained with a Lee Jofa silk. The stoneware table lamps are by Jasper. The fabric on the chairs and the love seat at left is a Kravet print, the brown-and-beige throw pillows at the right are made of a Clarence House velvet, and the sisal is by Patterson Flynn Martin.
Photo: Roger Davies27/31Use color to create a jewet
A soft terracotta fabric warms the walls and windows of the jewel-box dining room in fashion designer Giorgio Armani’s Switzerland home, which features an Armani/Casa table and carpet.
Photo: Michael Moran28/31Segment your space
The halves of this kitchen and dining space couldn’t be more different from each other. Bulthaup cabinetry, Corian-top islands, and a Smeg range define the kitchen in a Manhattan apartment by Shelton, Mindel & Associates. The industrial light fixtures are from Ann-Morris Antiques, the orange globe lamps are from Hemisphere Gallery, and the prints are by Anish Kapoor.
Photo: Durston Saylor29/31Use unique patterns
Brazilian rosewood warms the library of a Manhattan penthouse by MAC II, which also features an André Sornay octagonal mahogany end table, Jacques Adnet armchairs, and a low table by Dominique. An Art Deco–style carpet created specially for the room adds loads of personality, as does the irregular striped couch. The slender fireplace bricks are antique, found in France.
Photo: Roger Davies30/31Consider how your material palette pairs with your color palette
A Louis XVI chandelier crowns the living room at a 1920s San Francisco–area home renovated by Douglas Durkin. The gilded finish pairs particularly well with the yellow tone on the walls and drapes. The space is appointed with a Durkin-designed ottoman by C. Mariani Antiques and a custom-made rug by Beauvais Carpets. A Brunschwig & Fils fabric curtains the windows.
Photo: Roger Davies31/31Go subtle
In the kitchen of a California home by Ehrlich Architects, a wall and counters of pale onyx are complemented by Varenna by Poliform cabinetry. The seats of the barstools by Roche Bobois add a subtle pop of color. The ovens, cooktop, and warming drawer are all by Miele, and the sink fittings are by Dornbracht.
