How to Match Burgundy Rugs & Beige Furniture With Wall Paint

Here's an example of a beige sofa in a decor with warm neutrals.


Over time, you may have accumulated some items in colors that seem hard to coordinate with wall paint, such as beige furniture and burgundy rugs. Before painting your walls, take a moment to analyze the colors, keeping in mind that color perception is affected by all the colors in a room, not just beige and burgundy. To choose wall and accent colors that tie beige and burgundy together, you need to correctly identify the undertones of beige and burgundy.


All colors have undertones, and beige and burgundy are no exceptions. It's easy to identify the undertone of a saturated color such as burgundy. Burgundy is a cooler, bluer red than tomato red, which is a warm red with an orange undertone. With neutrals, such as beige, it's harder to identify the undertone. If you have trouble identifying your beige sofa's undertone, hold another beige object, such as a beige shirt, against the sofa's fabric; unless the shirt happens to be an exact match, the undertone of the sofa will be more evident.

Taupe and Burgundy

Taupe, which has a red undertone, is often described as beige. If your sofa appears pinkish by comparison with your beige shirt, it's probably light taupe. Consider painting your walls dark taupe, using textured, tan blinds to relate to the orange undertone of wood floors. Burgundy linen throw pillows would relate to your burgundy rugs, but for a sophisticated look, use one solid burgundy rug, providing one expanse of saturated color among neutrals.

Tan and Burgundy

If your sofa appears more orange than your shirt, it's probably tan. Since warm green is a complement, or color wheel opposite, of burgundy, you could paint your walls a warm green-gray, using slightly darker green-gray curtains. On your tan sofa, you could intersperse solid olive-green pillows with pillows in a burgundy and tan pattern to relate to your rugs.

Umber and Burgundy

If your sofa appears green by comparison with your beige shirt, it's probably raw umber, a brown with a green undertone. Light umber furniture provides an opportunity to include coral, a trendy hue. You could paint your walls in umber, including accents in dark olive, light coral and burgundy. Alternatively, aqua or turquoise accents would enhance a range of raw umbers and burgundy.

Beige and Burgundy

If your sofa appears yellow-green by contrast with your beige shirt, it's a true beige. Beige is a hybrid neutral, providing an opportunity to use a complementary or analogous color scheme. In the complementary approach, beige is treated as a light green-gray base. You could paint your walls a medium green-gray, using beige curtains and a variety of warm green-gray, olive green and burgundy accents to relate to your rugs. Or, you could use beige as a creamy yellow base, formulating an analogous color scheme with a range of ochres, browns and yellow-greens, then enlivening it with burgundy accents. While burgundy is cool in undertone, it's still red and, therefore, stays on one side of the color wheel as part of an analogous scheme.

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