I spent forever looking at the rug selection and had a difficult time deciding because I was afraid the colors wouldn't match the descriptions. So I'm going to be really detailed about the colors on this rug. The red is bright but a deeper shade, between a cayenne (but not as orangey) and cranberry (but not as pink). The gray areas are between a darker, smokey gray and beige (often called "greige"). The parts that appear yellow/gold in the picture are actually a yellowish chartreuse. And there are small leafy details that don't really show up on the monitor that are a pale, pastel green, which sounds like it would be weird in this combo but add a really soft accent. Online, the details appear muted and blended together, but they are overall much more distinctive and defined, especially in the center. As for the shedding, it does shed quite a bit in the beginning, which is expected for hand-tufted wool. I vacuumed it for a long time when I first got the rug and it eliminated the shedding quite a bit.