Staying on top of color trends is key to connecting consumers to the products that meet their style demands.

The current landscape is continuing along the path of increasingly warm, soothing and natural colors reflective of the ongoing wellness and biophilia trends. Today, consumers seek a feel of lived-in luxury, abandoning the bright whites and cold grays of trends past.

As Lauren Hoferkamp, color expert, Dunn-Edwards explained, “The story is remarkably consistent: deep, mossy greens, nuanced neutrals, warm sunbaked hues and more expressive accent colors, all in service of spaces that feel personal and restorative. That’s a continuation of where color has been heading, not a departure.”

FCW spoke with color experts about what tones will dominate the conversation in the year ahead and what they say about consumers’ deeper style needs.

The New Neutral is Personal

What can be expected to catch consumers’ eye in the year to come? More expressive neutrals, said Kayla Kratz, head of color at BEHR. This can range from warm beiges to natural tones like blue and green.

She said, “The desire for versatility and ease is still there, but consumers are looking for colors that bring more personality and emotional depth into a space. We’ve been thinking about this as the rise of the ‘living neutral’ — a color that can ground a room the way a traditional neutral does, while still having a distinct color presence.”

This is emphasized in BEHR’s 2027 Color of the Year Grounded, a natural green with brown undertones. Kratz noted that while this color has presence, it doesn’t overpower.

Sue Kim, director of color marketing at Valspar, echoed the idea of consumers creating spaces that feel more anchored through neutrals like Valspar’s Color of the Year Cottage Door, a soothing blue-gray.

Said Kim, “In a world shaped by curated perfection and constant stimulation, there’s a growing desire for spaces that feel honest, grounded and stable. Cottage Door reflects this shift toward emotionally resonant color — tones that feel timeless, personal and connected,” she said, elaborating, “It serves as a grounded, constant tonality that you can truly lean on — an evolving continuation of the new neutral statement.”

Montaha Hidefi, color archaeologist, Color Landing Studio and president of Color Marketing Group (CMG), shared that consumers’ perception of color is evolving into something more meaningful, and this is reflective in the green tones experts are seeing arise.

“This is not simply another continuation of the biophilic green story. Green is evolving into something broader. A color of emergence, energy, regeneration and the relationship between nature and technology,” she stated.

This means, she said, consumers will want colors that feel “alive, restorative, optimistic and meaningful.” She said this will translate to softer, clearer greens along with more energized and luminous greens.

For interior design, Hidefi noted, “I think this creates an opportunity to move beyond the safe neutral. Consumers will continue to value versatility, but versatility does not have to mean beige, gray or an absence of color. The new neutral can have a point of view.”

Warmth will continue to be a strong player in the year ahead, said Andrea Magno, director, color marketing and design at Benjamin Moore, highlighting rich browns and greens like Benjamin Moore’s Silhouette and Narragansett Green. This indicates consumers’ growing interest in craftsmanship, authenticity and personalization of their surroundings.

In addition, personalization is what consumers want. Emily Kantz, color marketing manager at Sherwin-Williams, noted in the company’s Colormix Trend Forecast 2027, Rewild, “We’re seeing a more intuitive and personal approach to color, with hues ranging from grounded shades like Clove [warm gray] and Renwick Golden Oak [camel] to expressive colors like Deep Sea Dive [teal] and Stolen Kiss [burgundy].”

Hoferkamp noted that, overall, the industry is in alignment about richer, natural colors. These are, she said, “built around mossy, olive greens with earthy undertones, paired with warm neutrals and more expressive accent tones. Consumers seem to want range and the freedom to layer multiple colors together rather than commit to one prescribed look.”

This also builds upon Dunn-Edwards’ 2026 Color of the Year, Midnight Garden. Hoferkamp expects to see 2027 continue to move away from stark neutrals toward “saturated botanicals, nuanced neutrals, sun warmed earth tones and dusky florals,” she said.

Human Touch

Ultimately, consumers aren’t aligning with one aesthetic, but are instead crafting spaces that feel right to them, said Kantz.

With this, color needs to mean something to consumers. Experts highlighted motifs like comfort, human warmth and wellness.

These elements and the colors they inspire are already making their mark in various markets. Valspar’s Kim stated, “We’re already seeing a noticeable shift toward warmer undertones and nature-inspired palettes across interior and lifestyle design. Designers and homeowners are moving away from the stark contrast aesthetic that defined modern design in recent years.”

This means, she continued, “They’re embracing the comforting and wellness-focused living spaces. Designers and influencers are also gravitating toward natural wood, handmade ceramics and natural stones that celebrate the authenticity in warmth and texture.”

Kantz remarked that, for Sherwin-Williams’ Rewild, its influences have already “emerge[d] across design, from renewed interest in heritage and craftsmanship to more expressive interiors and a stronger connection to the natural world.”

Colors can be expected to play a bigger role in storytelling. Benjamin Moore’s Magno gave the example of restaurants utilizing its space, furnishings, tableware, food and overall atmosphere to share a cohesive story. She said, “Color plays a critical role in shaping experiences that are memorable and meaningful, whether at home or in a well-designed public space.”

Indeed, said Kratz, “The bigger shift will be from thinking about color as an isolated choice to thinking about it as part of an entire material environment. Increasingly, people aren’t simply asking, ‘What color should the wall be?’ They’re considering how that color interacts with the grain of the wood, the movement in the stone, the finish of the metal or the texture of a textile.”

And like sterile colors, people are tired of sterile perfection — Kratz noted that BEHR’s research is showing 83 percent of Americans want to opt out of “optimization culture” and “the pressure to keep their spaces Instagram-ready.”

Instead, she said, consumers want a place to feel personal and forgiving — a space that reflects them and their individual experiences.

Hidefi observed, “There is a growing rejection of exaggeratedly sanitized and predictable design. We’re seeing a desire for more personality and emotional resonance. Consumers are becoming less interested in spaces that look like they were selected from a universal template and more interested in environments that tell them something about the people who live or work there.”

Thus, nostalgia will also affect design, Magno said, noting a turn to the past for inspiration and reassurance. Said Magno, “Historical references, traditional techniques and familiar forms offer a sense of connection, while being reinterpreted through a contemporary lens to create something new.”

However, don’t expect this to translate into a complete retro design landscape. Said Hidefi, “There is also an important distinction between nostalgia and heritage. Consumers are not necessarily trying to recreate the past. They are looking for the qualities associated with the past like craftsmanship, permanence, tactility and authenticity, and then interpreting those qualities through a contemporary lens.”

All of this, said Hidefi, can be in response to rapidly evolving technology and its increasing presence in our world. Thus, she explained, consumers are seeking “nature, community, craftsmanship, personal meaning, physical experience and emotional grounding.”