ianRed brick walls have a certain rustic charm about them. You can’t help but vividly experience a sense of homely peace when looking at one.
However, red brick walls can be hard to pair with other colors because they have their own color. This is partly because red bricks are not entirely red. Some have some mixture of brown, while others have a mixture of orange.
Neutral colors are the best to pair with red brick walls. These are colors like black, gray, and brown.
If you’re not into neutral colors, you could also try colors with an earthy tone like green.
However, don’t select a color with too much red, as this can swallow the red brick color.
External Red Brick Walls
If you’re dealing with external red brick walls, you don’t really have that much space to play with in terms of painting. This is because painting over the red brick wall is a non-starter. This leaves select areas such as:
- The front door
- Raised porches
- Decorative posts and pillars
- Window frames
- Sliding
The color you choose for your external surfaces depends on your preference and what you want to achieve.
Here are some notable combinations you can consider for your red brick exterior.
a) Cool Gray + Hunter Green
Green has an earthy tone that goes very well with red brick. With this combination, you have both gray and green to play with, which is awesome because these two colors go well with red brick walls.
This color combination is great for red bricks that have an orange undertone. The cool undertones of both of these colors balance out the orange shades.
b) Sage Green + Taupe
Here’s another combination that has green in it. In this paint combination, the sage green brings out the red in the red brick walls without overwhelming it.
This paint color combination is perfect if your red bricks have more red in them.
Internal Red Brick Walls
If you have a fireplace, red brick accent wall, or even brick flooring, you’ll want to choose colors that complement the red brick.
Some of the places you can paint include doorways, walls, doors, and even the floor. You can choose more than one color combination in a room with red brick walls for extra spice.
Now that we’ve looked at some places to paint when dealing with red brick walls let’s consider some paint colors.
Best Paint Colors to Pair with Red Brick Walls
A) Neutral Colors
Neutral colors are the best to pair with red brick walls because they don’t overwhelm the red notes or make the red color disappear.
Let’s look at a few neutrals you can use with your red brick walls.
1. Black
Black goes with everything. And in the case of red brick walls, it’s perfect for making the red pop.
However, if you are using black in the interior of your house, use it sparingly to avoid making your space look smaller than it is – unless this is your goal.
2. Dark Gray
If you want a dark paint color but don’t want to do black, consider going with dark gray. Dark gray will darken the red brick wall but won’t affect the room’s perceived size very much.
3. Light Gray
Light gray is a great option if you’re having trouble choosing between white and black for the paint color.
Light gray does a great job of reflecting natural light compared to dark gray. Therefore, you can use it for your exterior surfaces if you want the red brick walls to have a bright and calm atmosphere that’s not too imposing.
4. White
White paint definitely brightens up the space. This applies whether you use it for your indoor or outdoor surfaces. In fact, if you want something simple and you don’t have time to experiment with various colors, you can go with white paint.
5. Brown
Brown is the color of fall, chocolate, coffee, and other warm things. However, using brown can be a hit or a miss regarding red brick walls.
Consider using wood if you want a safe way to use brown with your interior red brick walls. Alternatively, you could also use dark brown paint as an accent color.
For example, if you have a red brick fireplace, you can paint the wall behind it dark brown, and it will act as an accent color.
We advise you to use dark brown as an accent color because it’s just as dark as black. This can cause it to make your spaces look smaller than they are if used in more than one color.
B) Blues & Greens
Green colors fall under the earthy tones we talked about earlier, and how they do a great job of complementing red brick walls. Blue shades stand out and make great color options to complement your external red brick walls.
1. Olive
Olive is a great paint color to use as an accent color. Imagine having the wall behind your red brick fireplace painted olive. Wouldn’t it brighten up the place and add some life to the room?
This would be a great idea, especially if you want the fireplace to be the focal point in the room.
You can also use olive green as the color for your front door.
2. Dark Blue
Blues have a great way of complementing red brick walls. The contrast makes both colors stand out, and you get to appreciate the charm of the red brick wall.
3. Forest Green
Forest green is another paint color that makes your red brick walls look more alive. You can use it for your front door, doorways, window frames, and more.
4. Teal
Teal is a good mixture of blue and green. Therefore, you get both shades of blue and green in one color.
Consider teal paint if you’re unsure whether to put blue or green next to your red brick walls. You can also use this cool color as an accent color when using it on your interior walls.
You can also use it on your front door, like with the image above.
5. Cerulean
If teal feels a bit too dark for you, go with cerulean. Cerulean is softer than teal and the other colors above and can be used on your house’s interior and exterior walls.
You can use it as a great accent color for your fireplace by painting the wall behind it. The good thing about cerulean is that you can paint it on more than one wall without making the room feel smaller.
C) Yellows & Oranges
We’ve come to the fun part, where oranges and yellows come to brighten up the place. This is a good combination to consider if you have children in the house or just like the vibe of sunshine all year round.
Let’s look at a few of these colors.
1. Yellow
Yellow can really brighten up your interior, whether you use it as an accent color or spread it across the room or home.
You can use it in place of white walls if you’re really feeling adventurers. If you live alone and want to brighten the place up, yellow walls will do you good.
This is the case when you’re working from home and want to boost your creativity and energy.
Alternatively, you could also just use the color yellow on your front door. Your home will look inviting without you having to change anything else.
2. Bronze
Bronze is an amazing mix of copper and tin and gives off an affluent and elegant vibe. Bronze is the way to go if you want to make a statement with your front door.
Alternatively, you could also have bronze within the house, such as painting it on light fixtures that are against the red brick walls.
3. Orange
You can choose lighter shades of orange or darker depending on your preference. The one thing to note if you decide to use orange is that it can sometimes clash with the bricks.
This is especially true when the red brick walls have heavy orange undertones. Therefore, avoid using orange paint next to red brick walls with heavy undertones. You can go and buy some orange paint first and hold it next to your walls to see if they match well.
Alternatively, if you’re sure that your red brick walls have red undertones and not orange, you can proceed with the process.
Conclusion
Red brick walls work great with neutral colors and colors that have an earthy undertone. For example, neutral colors like white, gray, and black are the best paint options when working with red brick walls.
If you want to be a little more adventurous, consider going with the green & blues and yellow & orange color options we’ve outlined above.
