Accomplished designers share their thoughts on this year’s anticipated home decor trends
Home interior trends will celebrate boldness and drama, with more color, pattern and showstopping elements splashed across decor websites and social media feeds.
Design in 2024 brought us nature-inspired rooms, quiet luxury and a lean toward timeless spaces. While those trends aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, we expect maximalism to reemerge with a fresh face, likely more elegant than in years past.
Some spaces will offer more than visual appeal; they’ll engage all of the senses, leaning into what feels like a permanent spotlight on wellness. In a similar vein, sustainability will continue to thrive, so join the masses and start thrifting if you haven’t already. And as more folks gravitate toward personalizing their home’s decor, craftsmanship will supersede instant gratification.
In preparation for 2025, interior designers shared their thoughts on the anticipated home decor trends to proliferate next year.
Maximalism is returning, but this go-around will bring elegance for a curated “more is more” approach. Therefore, dramatic interiors marked by bold details, color and drenching will take center stage in 2025.
“Color psychology is playing a bigger role in how designers approach home design,” said Shauna Jones of Shauna Glenn Design in Fort Worth, Texas. “Kitchens, once seen as the domain of neutral whites, grays and light blues, are now embracing rich hues like mustard yellows, deep emerald greens, burnt oranges or even vibrant cobalt blues.”
A color movement picking up steam involves wrapping a room’s surfaces in one dynamic hue.
“One of the most compelling trends we see is drenching a space in a single color or tones of the same color,” said Sara Swabb, founder of Storie Collective in Washington D.C. “This design approach emphasizes color as the main character, creating a memorable atmosphere that feels intentional and deeply personal.”
Pattern will also play a role in the new, more graceful version of maximalism.
“We are seeing a lot of bathrooms, and especially powder rooms, drenched with wallpapered walls and ceilings,” said Sydney Levy of Anthony Wilder Design/Build in Cabin John, Maryland.
Details on ceilings––often referred to as the “fifth wall” by design pros––will also appear more frequently.
“While some may see decorative ceilings as excessive or outdated, they’re poised for a revival,” Swabb noted. “Whether it’s painted in the same shade as the walls for a modern finish, adorned with wallpaper or simply featuring architectural details such as wood beams or painted in ceiling white, bold ceilings can bring a sense of character and unexpected elegance back into living rooms.”
In all of its iterations, the color brown grabbed us in 2024. And the earthy hue’s momentum will continue. Case in point: Pantone’s color of the year for 2025, is the delicious Mocha Mousse, a soft and alluring shade of brown.
“It makes sense that this year’s color is tied to biophilia and can be used to connect people to nature,” said Dan Mazzarini, principal and creative director of BDHM in New York. “You could build an entire room around this warm neutral because it's inviting.”
Gideon Mendelson, founder and creative director of Mendelson Group in New York, noted that the 1970s revival will play a crucial role in the omnipresence of brown, which has “an enduring quality that makes it feel timeless,” he said.
The fast furniture trend––“in stock and ready to ship”––will be less prevalent in 2025. Whether it’s a dining table designed and built from scratch or a semi-custom sectional, bespoke furniture, defined by craftsmanship, sustainability and personalization, will headline.
Pietro Bacchi, co-CEO of luxury furniture brand Artefacto New York, believes that 2025 will bring “continued interest in unique storytelling pieces that make a statement.”
Likewise, the eco-friendly materials and sustainable practices associated with the production of custom luxury furniture undoubtedly influence design choices, “as clients become more conscious of their environmental impact.”
Designer Erin Coren, co-founder and designer at Curated Nest in Greenwich, Connecticut, noticed a shift in furniture during the pandemic when ready-made pieces were often out of stock or came with extended lead times. Coren mentioned that clients have become more discerning in the past five years, too, so it’s no surprise that bespoke furniture is on the rise.
“The trend seems to have stuck and we've had more and more requests for fully custom or semi-custom pieces,” she said. “Our clients want their homes and the items in them to reflect their tastes and personality, and a trend towards more layered, architecturally interesting, and personalized spaces has increased.”
Tying into the sustainability trend, we expect vintage and retro furniture and lighting to be fundamental to the direction design takes in 2025. Whether it’s flea market finds, a coveted mid-century console table sold on 1stDibs or a passed-down Art Deco curio cabinet, vintage blended with modern furnishings will appear more often.
“Including vintage pieces adds a layer of warmth and personality, such as a coffee table that has some slight imperfections, making the family less worried about it being too precious to use,” Levy said. At Anthony Wilder Design/Build, the team strives for 90% of furnishings to be custom and the balance vintage. “By sourcing and using vintage items in homes, we minimize waste and reuse what the owners may have, or if we purchase, it keeps the items out of landfills.” Levy recalled a project where she discovered a set of vintage club chairs and reupholstered them for an updated look.
Vintage lighting blended with modern fixtures will also have a moment next year.
“Imagine pairing a sleek, minimalist pendant with a vintage Murano glass lamp or delicate plug-in shaded sconce.” Swabb said the mingling of styles balances “nostalgia with contemporary appeal,” bringing “character and depth to interiors.”
We anticipate more wood paneling to pop up in the next year. Don’t imagine the dated, dark wood walls of the 1970s; picture beautifully crafted millwork and wood details for warmth, texture and a sophisticated backdrop.
Coren said designers are searching for new methods to enhance walls architecturally since shiplap––an interlocking wood paneling that originated in ship-building––has become ubiquitous over the past decade.
“The wood paneling we’re seeing today displays a lot of vertical linear elements, like tambour, fluting, and reeding,” she explained. “More traditional forms of wood paneling, like wainscoting, flat paneling and beadboard, are also going strong but in new, bolder ways––we’re seeing many painted wood finishes with a lot of high-gloss, color drenching and moody tones.”
Considering this focus on walls, other materials and applications will become more relevant.
Noting that they can transform rooms into “visually stunning experiences,” Jones said.
Wall murals “offer a powerful way to personalize spaces with unique, artistic expressions that reflect individual style and creativity.”
Vibrant wall tile will also have an impact on the design scene. Zellige––handmade Moroccan tiles––are becoming more sought-after.
“The rich, glossy surface of Zellige tiles gives a dynamic, textured feel to a kitchen backsplash, adding warmth and an exotic flair,” Jones noted. “Their irregular shapes and sizes create a subtle yet sophisticated pattern that can either be arranged in traditional Moroccan motifs or in modern, more abstract geometric formations.”
Tying into the wellness trend that keeps trending, interior design engaging all five senses is gaining traction.
“Sensorial design focuses on incorporating dimensions beyond sight, such as sound, scent and texture,” said interior designer Maedeh Ziaei Moayyed of TriVistaUSA in Arlington, Virginia. “This approach enriches the spatial experience and positively impacts the mood.”
Ziaei Moayyed said sensorial design has gained popularity in recent years, and the momentum will persist. It’s a perfect pairing for biophilic design, a movement that’s risen to the forefront of the design world.
Design elements that appeal to all of the senses can be created in various ways: playing relaxing music, incorporating scents by using aroma diffusers and thoughtfully lighting our homes, Ziaei Moayyed said. “All of these elements contribute to emotional well-being and the overall experience within the space.”
(via Mansion Global)
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