TikTok is Waving Goodbye to This Home Color Trend (And Replacing it With Some Seriously Cozy Ones)

editor@purewow.com (PureWow)

August 13, 2021 at 9:00 PM·3 min read

We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Joanna Gaines’ modern farmhouse look has had its moment. Gone are the days of shiplap and chevron—and now, TikTok is banishing gray floors, cabinets and walls to the land of outdated trends. Instead, we’re seeing color trends skew toward warm, earthy tones and mood-boosting hues that make us feel at ease (psst: Cozy-comfort seems to be the ultimate design trend for fall 2021). Here, find everything you need to know about gray’s exit from the design scene (plus 16 trendy colors to bring into your home instead).

Joa Studholme, a color curator for Farrow & Ball, attributes the “huge wave away from gray” as a response to the pandemic, where we feel a collective urge to soothe our “work-from-home, shelter-in-place, when-will-this-be-over [mentalities],” according to the New York Times. Studholme explains: “there’s nothing about gray that evokes wellness,” and that 2021 is “all about being warm and earthy and choosing deeply saturated colors… it’s about trying something that gives you a great big hug.”

Designer Lindsey Putzier of Eclectic Interiors agrees, who tells Melissa Rudy of HomeLight.com that “[homeowners are] tired of being stuck in a white and gray wasteland for the past year,” and that “especially in cloudier states, it’s depressing when the only color you see, both inside and outside, is gray.” As a result, her clients are requesting colorful interiors filled with warmer tones of greige and light beige.

So which colors should you use instead? Warm, earthy neutrals, soothing aquas and teals and bold, hopeful tones. “When the world experiences events that cause unrest, anxiety and grief, we tend to naturally gravitate toward compassionate colors that allow us to create a personal retreat from the world,” explained Dee Schlotter, PPG senior color marketing manager. “These comfort colors are similar to comfort foods—both offering a certain sense of familiarity and normalcy when facing the unknown.”

Below, find 16 of our favorite paint colors to try in 2021 (because life’s too short to settle for dull grays).