Could You Sleep in a Red Bedroom? How Every Design Psychologist's Worst Nightmare Became the New Cool Color Scheme in Interior Design

Red bedroom with red wallpaper behind bed, red curtains, and red and white artwork hung over bed, sculptural white table lamps on either side of the bed dressed with white sheets, three bronze cushions, two decorative green cushions with swans, and a red and white blanket over the end of the bed.

Time for a bedroom makeover.. How about red? The idea feels wrong, doesn’t it? Like you’ll be going to sleep in a fire engine or a letter box — neither very conducive to a good night’s rest.

Red is classically bright. Bold. Audacious and vivacious. Not exactly the bedroom color you typically want to open the door to at the end of a long day. Color psychology cites red as a romantic, passionate shade, but also as stimulating and exciting, a hue able to increase the heart rate and evoke a sense of urgency. It’s also a signal for danger, and — strangely — can even increase appetite. Sound like bedroom material? No, it doesn't.