Sherwin-Williams Is Already Setting Paint Trends For 2025 But We Have Better Advice

Every year, each of the major paint companies announces its color of the year, as well as predictions for upcoming color trends. While this used to be a niche topic that, as an interior designer, seemed to be of interest only to those also in the industry, a shift has occurred over the past five or ten years. Today, these color announcements are heavily anticipated and publicized to encourage not only professionals but homeowners/DIYers to embrace these suggestions and ask for paint colors by name. 

The first time I really noticed this phenomenon was with Sherwin-Williams' 2021 pick, Urbane Bronze, which I subsequently used many times that year by client request and saw all over social media. Granted, it is a fabulous paint color, perfect for a front door or color-drenching a moody bedroom, but I digress. The point is that, for the first time, I truly saw a paint company building widespread homeowner brand loyalty with their color trends.

Both HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams and Sherwin-Williams have now announced their paint colors and forecasts for 2025. While there are many stunning hues to take inspiration from, how much stake should actually be put into these recommendations? If you are in the market for new paint colors, I think you should peruse these color trends but take the suggestions with a grain of salt. This is because you should always choose your paint colors based on your personal preferences. Your heart (and your bank account) will thank me later.

As a design professional, I do find some merit in staying up-to-date with current color trends — though more as a form of research rather than any sort of strict guideline. HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams' color collection of the year (available exclusively at Lowe's) is called Naturally Refined and contains warm neutrals, soft blues, muted yellows, sage green, and terracotta. Within this palette, a serene muted green-blue called Quietude has been dubbed HGTV Home by Sherwin Williams' 2025 color of the year. Emphasizing using muted earth tones to create a quiet luxury at home, HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams is predicting that 2025 will be all about hues that feel simultaneously calming and elegant.

Sherwin-Williams (separate from HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams) also put together a series of predictions they call the Colormix 2025 Forecast Capsules – palettes of design-forward colors that can be mixed and matched to create a cohesive interior. The four capsules are called Chrysalis (warm, minimalist neutrals), Paradox (lively, saturated maximalist hues), Wellspring (timeless heritage shades), and Kindred (warm, inviting colors in both soft and moody tones). The idea is that, depending on which aesthetic suits you, creating a palette of colors for your home within any capsule will ensure a curated look that's on trend for 2025. While both of these color predictions feel right on track for the trajectory of popular paint colors, here is why my advice is to ignore them when picking your own paint palette.

The incredible designer Nate Berkus, who is known for designing timeless interiors with an anti-trend approach, said it best: "Trends are designed to make people feel bad about what color they didn't buy last year. It's planned obsolescence," he told Atlanta Magazine. This is the crux of the matter — the paint industry wants you to have color F.O.M.O. so they can sell more paint, plain and simple. If you choose a paint color simply because it is trendy, when it inevitably falls from popularity, you are likely to tire of it quickly since it wasn't chosen from the heart. Then you will buy the next hot paint color, and there will be more dollars in the paint company's pocket. And so the cycle goes.

Rather than following the trend advice of the retailers that want your hard-earned cash, choose paint colors carefully based on what makes you happy. By selecting colors you really love, they will have much more staying power in your home, rather than make you feel like you need to change it up frequently. This approach will also help you save money on the other items in the space — if you are not constantly changing the color of the room, you will have less need to adjust the other decor items that compliment it. This means you can spend more time, energy, and money carefully curating your home with treasures you will love forever — and who doesn't want that?