Expert Tips for Incorporating Brown Into Design

Chocolate, fudge, espresso, mocha, molasses, or cocoa: delicious names for bringing warmth and depth into a space.

Just don’t call them brown.

We’re talking about a deep dive into a cup of black coffee, gooey fudge brownies, and a bittersweet, dark chocolate truffle. Mocha Mousse was the Pantone 2025 Color of the Year, chosen for its qualities imparting “stability” and “calm,” a neutral that blends “sophistication with warmth.” Lusciously.

Rhapsodizing aside, brown doesn’t even exist on the color wheel. It’s a by-product lurking in the orange area, a result of mixing primary and secondary colors. But here’s the thing: opposite orange on the color wheel is blue, and designers will tell you that brown and blue look sensational together. (Green is a nice second.) Think of it as earth and sky.

Taking this combination to the max was The Mame Dennis guest room designed by Danielle Balanis Interiors in the 2026 Kips Bay Show House Palm Beach. With Lee Jofa’s iconic Jessup floral print in Sepia/Indigo paving the walls, windows, and ceiling, the designer created an immersive, enveloping retreat.

“I can’t think of a more lovely or soothing combination to fit an en suite guest bedroom,” explains the Atlanta-based designer. “The moody hues are unexpected for southern Florida, but I find that they work well in any climate. Making a bedroom an opulent cocoon was the target and the goal of this sumptuous space.”

The color drenching of cocoa and azure punctuated by the frisson of traditional and modern furnishings and accessories resulted in a fabulously fresh nocturnal haven.   

Why brown, why now? Los Angeles–based designer Peter Dunham observes, “Amidst new technology, AI, and a fast-paced news cycle, it’s natural we crave earthy, cozy, and soothing colors in our houses and surrounds. Seeing a palette shift to warm colors is a response to that. Whether the star of the show or a foundation for the new palette, brown is a go-to right now—and probably for a while.” Dunham used a latte chevron pattern wallpaper to swath a modern sitting room in L.A.

Vero Beach designer Darlene Bell of Darlene Bell Interior Design notes, “Brown of the past was heavy and ornamental, layered with antiques, decorative detail, often resulting in visually dense spaces with little restraint. The 1990s used brown to fill space; today, it’s used to define it. Today’s brown is entirely different; it’s anchored in earth tones and expressed more organically where light, material, and texture shape the space. The shift reflects fatigue with gray and a renewed focus on authentic materials. Fewer elements, each intentional—disciplined and controlled.”

Bell recently introduced brown into a Vero Beach living room in the form of a floor-to-ceiling marble fireplace surround. The white marble was tinged with subtle brown veining, adding a quiet sophistication to the all-white space.

So how does one add chocolate into a very vanilla room’s recipe?

Beth Read Pusser, ASID, owner of Oodles of Wallpaper in Vero Beach, makes sure she has an element of brown in every room. From a fur throw to an espresso wood drapery pole setting off white linen panels, floral fabrics/wallpapers with branches to a family heirloom piece of furniture, there are numerous ways to incorporate comfort and warmth.

“Customers will come in and say their place isn’t warm,” notes Pusser. “Well, what do you think you’re missing? How about a cedar chest at the end of the bed, a brown headboard, brown-and-white bone-inlay side tables, a chocolate-brown velvet sofa against white walls, with big fat pillows?” One of her favorite fabrics is Quadrille’s “Zig Zag” in brown and white. “Such a high contrast, a really good chocolate that’s rich,” she says.

It’s enough to make you melt.