Outdated Home Decorating Color Guidelines to Abandon in 2025 - These Obsolete Notions Hampering You from Optimally Designing Your Home
In the world of interior design, old rules are being rewritten, and outdated color trends are being replaced with bold, vibrant, and textured hues. Here are some color trends worth breaking in 2025 to give your interiors a fresh, modern look.
The traditional rule that small rooms should only have light colors is now a thing of the past. Designers are embracing dark shades to create moody, stylish spaces, even in smaller areas. According to senior stylist Paula Taylor, a trend specialist at Graham & Brown, designers are becoming more comfortable with bolder color schemes.
Another outdated notion is matching walls and trim, especially keeping trims white. Using contrasting or colorful trim adds personality and a modern or moody aesthetic to rooms. Incorporating color in a room without having to repaint an entire wall can be achieved by using colorful trim, as suggested by Alexis Vitale.
Instead of relying only on wallpaper as an alternative to paint, textured wall finishes like Roman clay, limewash, plaster reliefs, and bas-relief decorations are becoming popular for adding depth and character. This trend challenges the exclusive use of neutral colors and offers a more diverse range of options.
In 2025, decorating with saturated colors is being embraced to create depth, mood, and character in small rooms. The idea that trim and doors always have to be white is also being reconsidered. Using tone-matching trim or even colorful trim can create a seamless, modern, or moody aesthetic.
A new trend in color design is 'color accenting', which involves creating a showpiece by accenting a detail in the room with a complementary color on the color wheel. Techniques such as double-drenching a room in a tonal or complementary palette are becoming more popular.
Some designers, however, are challenging the 60-30-10 color rule, a common guideline for color distribution in a space. Amy Courtney, an interior designer at Amy Courtney Design, suggests using deep burgundy kitchen cabinets or a color-drenched home office to bring a sense of sophistication and warmth.
The return to bold tones, retro pops of color, and textured surfaces is challenging the exclusive use of neutral colors. Earth tones like brown (mocha, chestnut, espresso) and terracotta (soft, dusty versions rather than bold orange) are making a comeback with a cozy, luxurious feel.
In summary, the outdated color rules to break in 2025 focus on embracing dark colors in small rooms, using colorful or contrasting trims instead of white and matching, and exploring varied wall textures beyond paint and wallpaper to keep interiors fresh and modern. Finding out the outdated colors in 2025 can help ensure a room feels fresh and on trend.
- In the realm of interior design, small living rooms no longer need to stick with light colors; dark shades are being used to create stylish, moody spaces.
- The traditional practice of matching walls with trim, particularly keeping trims white, is being replaced with contrasting or colorful trims for added personality and a modern aesthetic.
- Textured wall finishes, such as Roman clay, limewash, plaster reliefs, and bas-relief decorations, are becoming popular alternatives to paint, adding depth and character to interiors.
- In 2025, decorating with saturated colors is being favored to bring depth, mood, and character to small rooms, and the idea of only white trims and doors is also being reconsidered.
- A new color design trend called 'color accenting' involves creating a focal point by accenting a room detail with a complementary color, using techniques like double-drenching a room in a tonal or complementary palette.
- Some designers are challenging the 60-30-10 color rule, suggesting the use of deep burgundy kitchen cabinets or a color-drenched home office to bring a sense of sophistication and warmth, while earth tones like mocha, chestnut, espresso, and soft, dusty terracotta are making a comeback with a cozy, luxurious feel.
