I vote black, exactly for the reason you mentioned above. Red is so specific. Black goes well with everything, I dont think you would be sorry if you chose black.

Thanks Roseabbey, that's what I am thinking. Right now I am loving the accents of red, but it's a commitment to do a rug in red and an expensive one. I also have area rugs but you don't see them from the hall cause I have the sofa back facing the entrance with a sofa table. I was concerned the area rugs woould compete with a runner, but they are just area rugs and they can also change (and not really visible). I like the idea of a pattern runner both for look and it would hide the dirt better. Thanks again for reassuring me.

I used a very cheap black with beige runner in a house. It looked really nice against the hardwood floors. I imagine a quality one would look even better.

If the pattern of the runner is a traditional oriental-type design you don't have to worry about matching it to a wallcolor in the future, IMO. Oriental rugs are like a navy blazer or jeans--you just ignore the fact that they are blue and put them on with anything. (In your case you may be ignoring the red, of course.)

Either would be appropriate, red is a little more classic and may show a little less lint than the black, but the black would be striking.

I know this is not an answer, but just thoughts about how to make your own decision:)

I agree with the black, just make sure there aren't areas of solid black color without design unless you are really, really into vacuuming daily which I am not into but am forced to do. I have one area rug that has this 3 inch or so section in it that is solid color. Holy cow, if it isn't vacuumed daily it looks disgusting.

I think the black and tan color scheme is one you could live with for a long time.

What palimpsest said . ..

Hey, I love black and red, so I don't see how you could go wrong.

In picking a color, I would just check to be sure that the runner would work with cool and warm colors. Our red based oriental runners, for example, have moved through many stages -- from my heavy international taupe era to my current crayon yellow/red era. They have held up (style and design wise) to everything remarkably well. That said, runners with black could work just as well.

Lastly, I am not convinced that the best approach is the darkest rug, but I would agree to stay away from light colors.

Deltabreeze,

The ones I saw had a minimal of black when you really got down to it. I avoided any that had solid areas of black.
For example http://www.kanecarpet.com/products/index.html?category=6&id=2474
Since I am most likely to repaint in colors of yellow, tan, green, chocolate brown I think the black might be better long term. I have to admit the red calls to me, so I will let you know which I pick.

This is the one we're considering as a carpet runner for our stairs. I wanted a dark carpet, so it won't show dirt.:-) It's really striking and beautiful in person, imo.

http://www.kanecarpet.com/products/index.html?category=6&id=3265

Here's a somewhat blurry picture of the sample in the store that dh took with his cell phone, but it shows the colors a bit better I think. It's got cream, tan, golden, and a deep red on a black background. Sorry it's so big. I've tried and tried resizing it with no luck.

Thanks Mitri89, I will check that one out. That's similar to all of the ones I am looking at. I will add that to my list for him to bring.