Experts Reveal How to Design with “Color of the Year” Trends
Interior designers share their foolproof tips to give these fleeting hues longevity
If you ever doubted the design community’s laser focus on the future, the rampant Color of the Year reveals might be all the proof you need. Each year, like clockwork, industry stalwarts such as Benjamin Moore, Little Greene, and Pantone predict one hyperspecific shade that’s poised to be everywhere in the months ahead. However, with each ostentatious announcement comes a nagging question about longevity: Can a hue that represents one year feel relevant after its expiration date? Trends come and go, but can the Color of the Year endure?
With the right know-how, designers say it’s possible. Below, the experts share their tips for giving a Color of the Year staying power.
Explore the Archives
Sprucing up your space whenever there’s a new Color of the Year is the decorating equivalent of running on a hamster wheel. If you want to make a trendy shade last, skip the reactive redesigns and browse a company’s archives. It’s counterintuitive, but it’ll help you settle on a color you truly love.
“At the end of the day, color is extremely personal,” explains Carrera Shea, principal of Ali & Shea Design in Snowmass, Colorado. “A color choice shouldn’t be based only on what is trending.” Luba Libarikian of Libarikian Interiors agrees and encourages you to look for a shade that “makes you smile and feel good.”
For Greenwich, Connecticut designer Amy Hirsch, that’s Benjamin Moore’s Simply White (OC-117). The crisp, creamy off-white was dubbed the paint brand’s Color of the Year back in 2016, yet Hirsch still uses the shade.
“I will never turn my back on the power of a crisp white, especially in a room where the architecture deserves to be seen,” she says. “Simply White stays stays true as the light moves through the day: It never yellows and never goes green, so the artwork and the sculptural quality of the furniture and fixtures really jump.”
Tone Down the Saturation
Anand Sheth, who runs his eponymous architecture and design firm in San Francisco, doesn’t subscribe to the Color of the Year hype. “The whole idea can sometimes feel a little reductive, as if a color suddenly belongs to a particular year,” he shares. “By the time something is formally declared a trend, us designers have already been seeing versions of it for a while.”
So you could imagine his surprise when he swathed a room in Benjamin Moore’s Coral Spice in late 2018—only to have Living Coral revealed as Pantone’s Color of the Year mere months later.
If you like the idea of a Color of the Year, but are nervous to bring a bright and bold hue into your home, opt for a slightly subtler shade. Sheth likes how Coral Spice commands attention, but is “earthier and dustier than the poppy, almost millennial coral Pantone was referencing.”
“It changes in different qualities of light, so guests often assume each wall and the ceiling are painted slightly different shades,” Sheth says about Benjamin Moore’s alternative. “It also casts a really beautiful warmth onto the people in the room: Everyone looks good in it.”
Meanwhile, Sarah Hart likes to reimagine these popular pigments into more tactile touches. “One of my clients loved neutrals and was afraid of color, but still wanted a big impact and a bold move,” I found this wallpaper from Phillip Jeffries [in a Mocha Mousse-like colorway], and knew it was the winner to work with the rest of her home.”
Honor Your Home’s History
On the fence about a Color of the Year? Your home might have all the answers. Hart says it’s crucial to colors that are “rooted in the architecture of the home.” For example, the Denver designer says Victorian homes pair nicely with rich colors and jewel tones such as Aegean Teal (2136-40), Benjamin Moore’s 2021 Color of the Year. Clean and contemporary architecture, on the other hand, craves a “tonal and atmospheric” color like Pantone’s Cloud Dancer.
“As long as the color palette and design of your home are rooted in its architectural style, it will always feel appropriate,” she says.
Commit to the (Paint) Chip
Vibrant accents like a throw pillow or decorative vase are easy ways to incorporate a newly minted Color of the Year into your home, but they often read as half-hearted.
“It signals to us they were just copying a trend,” explains Libarikian. “Instead, the color needs to be used with conviction: Use your favorite Color of the Year intentionally, color drench, and make it feel like it has a real presence in your home.”
The New York-based designer took her own advice by drenching a powder room in Behr’s Rumors (MQ1-15), which was dubbed the brand’s 2025 Color of the Year. With a little imagination, Libarikian says the warm burgundy with rose undertones is incredibly versatile. “We love to use this color in spaces where we want a warm and jewel-box feeling,” she says. “Think powder room, library, and bar areas, where it can serve as a focal point.”
Drenching isn’t for everyone, but Shea says intentionality will keep a Color of the Year from feeling like a novelty. “Complement the design elements rather than dominate the entire design,” she suggests. “It’s important to extend a trending color into other areas of the home to make the design feel intentional and timeless.”
The Colorado designer featured Evergreen Fog (SW 9130), Sherwin-Williams’s 2022 it-hue, in a “quintessential country farmhouse” and complemented the soft-yet-sophisticated shade with Morris & Co. wallpaper her client loved. The result: A timeless take on Color of the Year.