| By John Petersik | |
Believe it or not, some companies have already begun to announce their 2025 Color of the Year! Since we love tracking and predicting these selections each year, we thought we’d start a post to keep track of each selection as they come out (which would be much easier to reference the following year when we make our predictions instead of googling around to find them all). Will blue be big again like it was in 2024? Will any of our guesses even be remotely close? You can read below to follow along – and check back for updates as more COTY news rolls in.
And just like we did in our 2024 Color of the Year round-up, we’ll compare each company’s past picks. That way you can see what’s trending for 2025, as well as how their color forecasts have evolved over time.
What is the 2025 Color of the Year?
There is not one definitive color of the year, because companies like Pantone, Benjamin Moore, and Sherwin-Williams each crown a color (or collection of colors) to represent the following year in design. Each company uses a different methodology, but the goal is for color experts to forecast a hue we will see a lot more of in the following year. Sometimes the color also represents a larger design trend (like a return to nature) or cultural mood (like hope, joy, etc) they see influencing everything from paint, decor, fashion, and more.
What Were Last Year’s Colors?
You can read our deep dive into the 2024 Colors of the Year to learn more. But as you can see from the snapshot below, 2024 was dominated by blues, warm neutrals, and a couple of punchy corals. The prevalence of blue was ascribed largely to people seeking soothing and calming colors for their homes. Even some of the bolder colors, like HGTV Home by Sherwin-William’s Persimmon (top left), was grouped into a trend they called “Renewed Comfort.”
Will 2025 deliver more comforting and calming colors? Or will the color forecasters see brighter, livelier hues in our future?
Who Has Announced 2025 Color Of The Year So Far
As of this writing (in late August of 2024) we have seen 2025 COTY announcements from the following companies:
- Behr: Rumors
- HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams: Quietude
- Valspar: Encore
- Dutch Boy: Mapped Blue
- Stainmaster Paints: Truffle
Last year we counted 15 companies that made announcements, so there are plenty more to come. But while we wait for the others (including the big dog: Pantone) let’s look at what we know so far.
Behr’s 2025 Color of the Year
Behr went dark again this year with their 2025 Color of the Year pick: Rumors. Described as a “deep ruby red,” it’s got that rich, moody merlot hue we’ve seen popping up lately in interiors. Our friend Kim & Scott’s kitchen in 2023 comes to mind. Sherry also can’t help but wonder if whoever picked this color is a Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. If you know, you know…
It’s interesting to see how dark and bold Behr has gone in the last two years (maybe a reaction to their 2023 pick?). Rumors and Cracked Pepper stand in sharp contract to their previous picks over the rest of the past decade, most of which could be described as more of a midtone or soft color.
HGTV Home’s 2025 Color of the Year
After perhaps one of the boldest picks last year, HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams has played it safer with their 2025 Color of the Year: Quietude. Their experts describe it as a “soothing and sweet” mint shade as well as a “softened sage.” It’s part of a trend they forecast of “quiet luxury” that favors calm, relaxing spaces that don’t shy away from color.
Compared to the colors they’ve selected in years before (2018 was their first), Quietude is arguably their safest and most crowd-pleasing pick so far. Personally, we’re suckers for a blue-green tone, especially if it has a subtle gray undertone or gentle muddiness. Quietude has a bit of that, but will still read as a bold color if it’s painted across an entire room.
Valspar’s 2025 Color the Year
This is the second year Valspar has selected a singular color (previously they’d picked several). And with their 2025 Color of the Year Encore, it’s also their second blue. They’re 2 for 2! In selecting this saturated cobalt-meets-navy blue, Valspar declared that “blue is making a comeback.” Although, again, it was already here according to most 2024 picks. Still, we agree with their note that strong classic blues like this embody constancy and confidence in a way that the softer blue-greens of last year might not have.
Stainmaster Paint’s 2025 Color of the Year
Who knew Stainmaster wasn’t just carpet and flooring? We only learned that they were also a paint company from their first COTY pick in 2024 (which was another moody saturated color). And with this near-black selection, Truffle, they seem to be banking on the dark room trend continuing. They explain their 2025 Color of the Year as being versatile to work everything from pastels to brights, while “elevating the style of any space.”
We recently spotted Stainmaster Paint’s new display in Lowe’s (they still have last year’s color tagged as “Color of the Year”). They only offer 40 colors in total, so they’ve got a very limited palette to choose from each year!
Dutch Boy’s Color of the Year 2025
Dutch Boy describes their 2025 Color of the Year pick, Mapped Blue, as a “timeless” foundational paint color that will help your room stay on-trend. That’s a good description since there’s always a pick similar to this each year. In fact, blues like this dominated the 2024 selections for many of the smaller paint brands (Dutch Boy is available at Menard’s). So it’s a solid safe pick and a classic and widely appealing color for lots of homes.
What Announcements Are We Waiting For?
Pantone started this whole Color of the Year trend, so their pick is usually the biggest news. It’s also one of the last to release (typically in December). Here are some other big drops we’re waiting for:
- Pantone usually makes their pick in early to mid-December
- Benjamin Moore is scheduled for October 15, 2024
- Sherwin-Williams typically announces in mid-December
- Glidden typically announces in August
- Graham & Brown is scheduled for September 6, 2024
What Are Our 2025 Color Guesses?
We recently shared our guesses for the 2025 Color of the Year on Instagram Stories (click the COTY highlight to view). These are not scientific or based on any deep research (we usually spend about a minute coming up with our guesses off the cuff while hitting record). They’ve just become a tradition and it’s a fun way for us to test our instincts psychic powers. The color representations below are approximate (our descriptions in the Instagram video provide a lot more context):
Our guesses were a bit bolder than past years, although I’ve noticed I have a habit of picking some dark, neutral like black or chocolate brown. It has served me well as at least one brand tends to pick one each year. This year my guess of “black” isn’t a far off cousin from Stainmaster’s Truffle, which is a bit lighter than I described.
More Paint Colors We Love
You can check out more of our favorite go-to paint colors by touring our homes in the menu at the top of our blog. We’ve also written these detailed deep-dive posts about our favorite paint colors:
- Every 2024 Color of the Year In One Place
- The 12 Best White Paint Colors
- The Best Greige Paint Colors
- Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray
- Benjamin Moore Simply White
- Sherwin-Williams Pure White
- Sherwin-Williams Extra White
- The 12 Best “Haint Blue” Paint Colors
