Family Handyman: In 2025, exterior paint color trends are shifting toward warmer, natural tones and away from the cool grays and stark contrasts that have dominated recent years. Instead, homeowners are opting for soft, earthy neutrals like warm whites, beiges and sand tones, along with mid-range hues like muted blues and greens.
6 comments:
It is always interesting for me to see how popular paint colors shift year to year. Sometimes there are minor shifts and other times it is like a complete 180. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the first two colors were green, I feel like I am so used to houses being, beige, grey, blue, pink or purple and that I rarely see green. Maybe that is because of the part of the country I grew up in but still. As soon as the third color (a beige) appeared I was disappointed, the green had instilled hope that perhaps housing colors were shifting but alas traditional colors are still very much involved in it. In fact, there were a surprising number of lighter brown/begie colors on the list but what was jarring was all the sudden the reddish-brown Oxide color which is surprisingly bright for a housing color.
This was a really interesting read. has someone whose color palette tends to favor a lot of the colors that were mentioned in this list, or other similar warm, earthy collars, it was also a little surprising to read that I had apparently been on trend. outside of that though, it's also a trend that I'm glad to see happen, as there's nothing I think ruins a room more than how a gloomy color makes the whole room feel gloomy. especially when it's overcast, if there's nothing warm in the color on your walls or something, all that's reflecting is the same cold light from the clouds that's bouncing off the coldness of your walls, and I just don't want to live in a place that is perpetually sad and somber. it is interesting to think about how this trend relates to what people say they want in houses and all of that on social media. Especially in the younger generations, I've definitely seen this mentality shift towards wanting places to be warm, non-minimalist, and homey, and to get away from the sort of minimalist, modern, colorless aesthetic that's been popular over the last few years.
Paint colors operate similarly to the world of fast fashion. People will choose random colors that are considered to be trendy or better looking than the other for seemingly no reason. This article outlines the current most popular colors and in my opinion many of them are very similar to each other enough that some would consider them the same color. The large amounts of tan that plague many homes in 2025 shows people lack color. A bold statement used to be the norm having accent walls with a vivid bright color made a room feel more alive. If you paint all the walls beige the room begins to look flat and the furniture becomes more evident. A beige wall also sets up A room for boring wall art because something extremely colorful will feel out of place when surrounded by a background of beige. I grew up in a house full of bright yellow walls and I hope people will continue making bold color choices rather than reverting back to muted tans.
I wonder what colors people will associate with the 2020s in a few years. Most decades have a definitive color palette, or at least a few definitive colors: coral, millennial pink, and most pastels were all the rage in the 2010s. The 1980s were all about bright neon colors and bold combinations. In stark contrast, the 1970s favored earth tones like beige, rust, and olive green. When designers create work for period pieces, they often pull from these palettes to evoke these decades and ground the viewer in a specific time and place. So, looking at the colors of 2025 ( a lot of neutral tones, like anonymous, oxide, swiss coffee, vine leaf, and rosemary), I wonder which will become most identifiable with the time we’re living in now. It’s interesting how paint companies (specifically Pantone and their famous Color of the Year) can influence what is popular and what defines a cultural moment.
I am obsessed with colours. I’ve loved looking at all these shades and seeing the similarities between them. They all seem like they could be part of the same colour palette and are just so neutral and so appealing to the eye. Not a single one of these colours are an eyesore, they’re all appealing to the eye and seem very natural and just feel right. I found it interesting about how most of these colours were cool and dark. Throughout all these colours, you can see the main point that the article states at the beginning, “people seek to blend their homes more seamlessly into their surroundings.” Another thing that I think is very important is mentioned in the description of the first colour, Rosemary. Woolf points out that this colour pairs well with brick and wood tones. Personally, my house has a brick facade on the lower front so this would be very important to consider if we were repainting my house. Another point that feels important to consider, though, as well I absolutely love these colours, I feel like there are some houses that shouldn’t be painted these colours. Living in New England, we have a big variety of types of houses. Common ones are Gregorian, federal style Victorian, and Greek revival. I have seen some of these houses painted in these more modern and neutral colours, but I really think that it loses the historic charm of the whites and yellows that would typically be daunting these houses. Regardless, I love the colours that are in this article and see why they would be so popular. And of course, the most fun thing of all when reading this article is reading the names of these paints. While these were rather tame, I always get a giggle out of reading some fun inventive paint colour names.
I have a fascination with paint colors and, specifically paint colors for domestic living spaces. My mom and I just bought a place and are now undertaking the making it personable part of moving in, which also means I will be doing some painting once I get home for summer break. Although I am familiar with indoor paint colors I do not have much experience with outdoor paint colors as I am from Texas, where nearly all houses are made of bricks, and thus most people leave the outside be. I was recently in Georgia where it was very common to have your shutters be a pop of color, which I enjoyed. In terms of painting the entire outside if I had to choose out of the ones that were top 10 in the article I think I would choose Rosemary, Anonymous, or Flint. Something in the blue-green muted shade as opposed to the coral/cream colors.
Post a Comment