An Interior Designer Explains The Brown Trend

Brown is a very easy colour to work with. It’s warm, it complements virtually every scheme and is part of so many of our interiors, simply because unpainted wood is so often present in our homes. There’s also been a focus on wooden ceilings and the incorporation of beams and stained panels, which I feel has given us more gorgeous, warm, textured interiors that not only lend themselves to both light and dark surroundings but provide a perfect backdrop to popular earthy tones. These are always going to be timeless, easy interiors that feel welcoming, cosy and liveable. 

On one level, I’d agree the beauty of brown is that it works well in period settings. A property with features such as elegant cornicing, trimmed window frames and characterful fireplaces can show off rich paint colours beautifully. Picture a dark, moody home office or a library of brown leather-bound books, with walls painted in something like Farrow & Ball’s ‘Pantalon’ – a gorgeous muted tone, this is a brown that doesn’t try too hard but is immediately understated and homely. Recently, in a London Victorian house project, we used Farrow & Ball’s ‘Smoked Trout’ in a bedroom – it’s a beautifully soft, mushroom paint that gently warmed and soothed. It layered well with Fermoie and Lewis & Wood fabrics in various brown and pink tones, and worked easily alongside the client’s various existing pieces. 

Within my own home, which is a new build, we have painted our new room-dividing wall Etruscan Red (a brown-based red) on one side and Mouse's Back on the other. A larder and bookcase are also both wonderful places to introduce colour in a new build as their impact is softened with the bits and pieces you store on their shelves. These two colours (the Etruscan Red in a north-facing room and Mouse’s Back in a south-facing one) tie in with the tonal brown-y, taupe red-based paints we have running alongside them (Stirabout, London Stone, Joa’s White and Dimity). This is a perfect palette to warm up a conventional new-build home, and can be a great starting point from which to introduce some bolder colours elsewhere in your home.