Why interior designers love burgundy – and how to use it in your home

Burgundy is dominating catwalks and cushions alike; here’s how to decorate with it

As the leaves turn with the change of the season, we naturally find ourselves drawn to autumn colours, but this year, one shade is dominating catwalks and interiors alike. Burgundy is everywhere, and with good reason: it’s rich, warm and comforting; it’s familiar yet intriguing; and interior designers love it. Just ask Charlotte Boundy: “As I write this, I am wearing a burgundy cardigan, next to my wine-coloured suede handbag, sitting in my rather small office painted in Deep Reddish Brown by Farrow & Ball,” she says. “In short, I am obsessed with this colour!” 
If you’re tempted to lean into the trend but don’t want your home to look dated by next season, there’s good news – it’s going nowhere, thanks to its solid credentials. According to Rosie Welburn, a designer at Soho Home: “Burgundy is a classic colour that ties back to nature; it’s a naturally recurring hue found in berries and autumn leaves, which gives it an enduring appeal.” It may be particularly en vogue right now, but it’s a colour with staying power. Here’s how the experts use it.
Burgundy is a historical colour, found in traditional paintings, which means it instinctively works in old houses. “As someone who creates traditionally decorated country house style interiors, I take inspiration from everything, from antique textiles and artwork to ceramics,” says Boundy. “If you look back at Old Master paintings, these wonderful dark moments that appear on some of the most famous pictures are often captured with the use of a burgundy pigment – it creates depth, it’s attention-grabbing. And in the same way, I feel this colour lends itself perfectly to country house-style interiors.”
Interior designer Christian Bense has found that clients who might previously have been reluctant to embrace bold tones or strong colours become positively enthusiastic about burgundy. “I have found, particularly when designing more classic or traditional homes, there is only a certain tolerance clients have for colour or vibrancy before the scheme feels too contemporary,” he says. “Burgundy seems to sit within that tolerance quite well, and provide a juxtaposition of colour without a space or a scheme losing its classic timelessness.” 
It’s not just a colour for period properties. As the latest collection from Soho Home demonstrates, burgundy is surprisingly versatile – and where Soho Home goes, the rest of us tend to follow. As Welburn explains, “Trendy shades include deep burgundy, dark maroon, deep wine reds, and black raspberry, all of which bring a rich and luxurious feel to interiors.” 
Bense believes it’s linked to the ”unexpected red” theory, where an unexpected pop of red – say, on a lamp or a candlestick – makes a room feel somehow cooler or more expensive. “I think that burgundy sits as either a precursor or a more subtle continuation of the same theme,” he says. “It provides the unexpected pop you’re after, in a more sophisticated, grown-up way. It elevates a space without shouting, in the way a standard red might.”  
Drenching a room in a deep colour such as burgundy is especially effective when decorating small spaces, such as bathrooms. Claire Sá, co-founder and director of De Rosee Sa, has recently designed three burgundy bathrooms in west London, with painted walls, wall panelling or textured wallpaper. “It’s the sort of colour that works if you just commit to it and apply it throughout the space – floor and ceiling included,” she advises. “While some may see it as a bold choice, the powder room is the perfect place to carve out a design statement away from the rest of the home.” 
Bense has also recently colour-drenched a downstairs loo in burgundy, but he has words of caution: “Keeping with the ‘unexpected red’ theory, I think that the more modern or current uses of burgundy all share a less-is-more approach. That’s not to say that it should only be used as an accent colour within a room, but once we decided to colour-drench that downstairs loo, we had to consider carefully how much of the colour was to be found throughout the house thereafter. In that case, it was just a single moment; a punch of a deep burgundy in an otherwise neutral, pared-back home.”
The key to making burgundy work is choosing the right finish. Using a lacquered finish on woodwork, as Boundy has done in her home office, offers a reflective surface to bounce light around the room. In contrast, Bense panelled and painted the downstairs loo in his client’s house (in Plum Brandy by Paint & Paper Library) to capture subtle highlights and lowlights, which gave additional texture and depth to an otherwise rich, quite dark colour. It’s these thoughtful finishes, particularly in high-gloss and lacquer applications, which give it a fresh and contemporary feel.
If you are more inclined to burgundy as an accent colour, there’s good news – it’s happily fickle and will rub along nicely with a range of shades. “Pink is a great complement to burgundy, creating a fun contrast,” says Welburn. “Other colours such as soft neutrals, gold and deep greens can also enhance its richness.” Sá favours similar jewel tones such as deep blues and greens: “They complement the richness of burgundy, and metallic accents add a powerful contrast while maintaining an elegant design sensibility.” 
When it comes to pairing with neutrals, it should be “light, but never white”, says Bense, “so always opt for a cream or a light taupe, something with a bit of warmth and depth to it, rather than a bright white. In the kitchen of a recent project in Knightsbridge, I paired burgundy with other autumn tones, including ochre and tan, to create a seamless layering of warm colours.” In Boundy’s office, she paired her statement woodwork with Farrow & Ball’s Light Blue, which offers balance and a cooling contrast.
If you’re not quite ready to repaint your walls just yet, the burgundy effect lends itself well to soft furnishings too, and luxurious fabrics such as velvet and leather work especially well. You could tiptoe around the trend with a maroon velvet headboard in an otherwise neutral bedroom (Dusk has an upholstered bed, currently on sale for £303) or opt for one of Soho Home’s accent armchairs: the Theodore armchair in Vende Jacquard has burgundy notes. Whichever iteration you choose, as Bense concludes, “So long as the words we use to describe a good bordeaux can still be used to describe a good interior, burgundy is here to stay.”