Viral trends in 2024 have seen everything from quiet luxury aesthetics to rants on the true meaning of bookshelf wealth—now, there’s a new viral design theory that’s on the rise.
The unexpected red theory is exactly what it sounds like. First coined by Taylor Simon on TikTok, the trend is light play on color theory, looking into spaces that have a single red design element—often a very small one—that shouldn’t work, but somehow still does.
Part of the reason this trend rose to popularity is because the unexpected red theory can be applied to literally any space—no matter the color, no matter the style. From giving a vintage space a modern refresh to adding a professionally-designed feel to an all-neutral living room, the unexpected red theory is easy to implement and applies itself to different aesthetics flawlessly.
With that being said, the unexpected red theory is most striking when it’s used in rooms that have big, bold colors or are centered around one to two main colors that aren’t red—the more focused other colors the room is, the less expected the red will be.
Because red is such a loud color on its own, the unexpected red theory tends to focus itself on smaller, sleeker red objects. That’s not to say fans of the theory haven’t pointed out the occasional red accent wall or enormous red art piece—but primarily, the unexpected red theory uses a tiny splash of red in a focused area to create a new look for the space.
Another important note on this design trend is that it almost never uses more than a single element of red: one red-framed mirror, one small red table lamp, a bright red vase. In order to be unexpected, red cannot be a central part of a room’s color palette. It needs to surprise the viewer.
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