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Colour guides · Dining room · Red
Red is the colour of hospitality: it warms evening rooms, flatters faces by candlelight and gives dinners an intensity white will never have. The dining room — the evening room par excellence — is its natural ground.
From light terracotta to deep claret, here are ten Mylands reds for a table you linger at.
Updated September 2026 · by the Mylands France colour team
The short answer
For a dining room, the most flattering reds are the deep, earthy reds — Huguenot No.49, Arts Club No.281, Theatre Land No.282 — which light up under candles. For a brighter room, a terracotta such as Coral Orange No.277 or Lolly Pop No.275; for a red without the red, Covent Garden Floral No.270.
At a glance
10 colours
The bright coral
The lightest and most cheerful on the list: a candid coral-orange, the colour of a lollipop, that makes a festive dining room rather than a ceremonial one. It suits bright rooms, kitchen-diners, holiday houses. With pure whites and pale timber it keeps its freshness; with brass it turns chic.
Our tip — One wall or a painted sideboard in Lolly Pop, the rest in Cotton Street: the party without the fatigue.
The terracotta
An earthy red-orange, the colour of a terracotta flowerpot in the sun, from the archive. It is terracotta as it should be: warm without being loud, coloured without being orange. In a dining room it makes a noon room as well as an evening one, and it suits raw timber, linen and white crockery.
Our tip — Colour-drenched in Coral Orange with a Walbrook ceiling, a pale ochre: the Mediterranean dining room.
The vermilion
From the film-and-theatre palette: a vivid red-orange, the vermilion of lacquers and posters. It is the most saturated red on the list, and it doesn't go on four walls — it goes on a door, a sideboard, the inside of a glass cabinet, where it does the whole dining room on its own. With Pure White walls the effect is immediate.
Our tip — One element in Vermilion, everything else in white: energy, in measured doses.
The tapestry red
Named after the Mortlake tapestry workshops: a mid red, brick and rosy, tempered by a hint of grey. It has the patina of an old red — that of hangings, rugs, bindings — and it makes a warm dining room without being dark. Superb with dark timber and warm off-whites.
Our tip — Ceiling in Holland Park, woodwork in Mortlake Red too: the manor-house dining room.
The red without the red
A deep brown pink between old rose and brick, the colour of a dried rose — named after the Covent Garden flower market. It is the red for those who fear red: by day it reads as a warm, grave neutral; at night, under lamps, it lights up like a red without a red's force. The gentlest dining room on this list.
Our tip — Colour-drenched with chairs in Silver Bit, a pink-tinged neutral: pink and red, reconciled.
The lake red
A mid-deep red, candid and a little brick, named after the lake pigment from India that dyed textiles. It is brighter than Mortlake Red and warmer than Arts Club — a dining-room red with energy, that of a table where people talk loudly. It likes pale timber, ceramics and cream whites.
Our tip — Walls in Indian Lake, woodwork in Cavendish Cream: red and cream, the classic pairing.
The crayfish red
Named by Beata Heuman after the Swedish crayfish party: a deep, earthy red-orange, the colour of a cooked shell. It is a red of conviviality — it was conceived for a table — and it is warmer and more orange than the London reds on this list. Superb with the butter yellows and bone whites of the same collection.
Our tip — Walls in Crayfish Party, ceiling in Bone, chairs in Pub: the Beata Heuman palette at table.
The velvet red
The red of West End theatre seats: a deep red, raspberry and a little violet, tempered with grey. It is cooler than the brick reds on this list — a velvet red, not an earth red — and under lamps it becomes exactly what it promises: a stage curtain. The evening dining room par excellence.
Our tip — Ceiling in Limestone, woodwork in satin Theatre Land, candles: the curtain rises.
The club red
The red of the Arts Club door on Dover Street: a deep, candid red between brick and claret, without Theatre Land's violet or Crayfish Party's orange. It is the most classic dining-room red in the range — that of clubs, libraries, Georgian dining rooms — and it ages without dating.
Our tip — Walls in Arts Club, woodwork and ceiling in The Boltons, a pink-tinged grey: the club without the heaviness.
The deepest
A deep red between claret and burnt brick, named after the Huguenot weavers of Spitalfields — our darkest red. In a dining room it is the colour that visibly warms the air and makes dinners feel longer. By day it is restrained; at night, under candles, it lights up. Paint everything, ceiling included, or almost.
Our tip — Ceiling in Limestone to breathe, or in Huguenot for the absolute cocoon; woodwork in satin Huguenot.
A dining room is lived in mostly at night, under warm light — lamps, candles — and that is precisely the light that flatters red. Deep reds (Huguenot No.49, Arts Club No.281, Theatre Land No.282) that look grave at noon turn sumptuous at eight in the evening; they flatter faces, draw guests together and make the table look richer. It has been the dining-room colour of the English tradition for two centuries, and there is no reason for it to stop.
A bright dining room, or one also used at lunchtime, takes a terracotta (Coral Orange No.277) or a mid red (Indian Lake No.288, Mortlake Red No.290). An evening dining room, or a dark room, calls for a deep red colour-drenched: Huguenot No.49, Arts Club No.281. A north-facing dining room benefits from a warm, earthy red (Crayfish Party BH.19, Coral Orange No.277) rather than a violet red, which would look cold there.
Red likes warm whites and stones — Lots Road No.24, Cavendish Cream No.120, Limestone No.55 — never pure white, which makes it loud. It also likes a deep green somewhere (Sorrel Green No.207 on a door) and a blue-green (Eaton Square No.232) on a sideboard: the complementaries calm it. Apply deep reds over our dark red primer & undercoat — two coats are enough. See also our dining-room colours, our red schemes and all our reds.
Colour chosen, the surface remains. These are the Mylands finishes we recommend, room by room.
Walls and ceiling
Matt with Carrara marble: it is under candles and low lamps that it looks its best.
Every colour in Marble Matt Emulsion →
Colour drenching (walls + woodwork)
Ceiling, walls and woodwork as one, in dead matt: the most enveloping dining room there is.
Every colour in Multi-Surface Dead Matt →
Woodwork, doors and skirting
A painted sideboard, chairs, doors: a mid-sheen that catches the evening light.
Every colour in Multi-Surface Satin →
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