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7 Design Trends That Scream 2025, For Better Or For Worse (& How We Think They’ll Fare A Decade From Now)
In anticipation of the onslaught of 2026 design trend posts that will surely start appearing right after the calendar flips over to September, I thought it a good time to assess my own personal entries into the 2025 home style Hall of Fame before we all move on. What happened this year in decorating that, if you looked back in 10 years, would scream TWENTY TWENTY-FIVE? Now, I will say that there is nearly nothing that was born and has died in this year, besides TikTok trends like “Sardine Girl Summer” or the produce home decor trend that consumed the shelves of HomeGoods stores nationwide. Many of the things on this design trends list could also be very 2024 or even 2023, but the reason I’m including them now is because they seem to have reached an absolute fever pitch.
But first, my signature caveat: Everything pictured below is a room any of us here would be lucky to call home. They are all beautiful, most of which I proudly keep in my bookmarks because I love them. Just because they have been included here doesn’t mean I think they are destined for a life with a Scarlet 2025 emblazoned on them. They are not trendy in a bad way; they are not passé; they are simply illustrative of a trend I’m identifying. Not to mention that thumbtacking something to a specific year, in this case, labeling it “very 2025,” isn’t necessarily an insult. After all, finding things today that are so distinctly ’50s, ’70s, Art Deco, mid-century, Bauhaus…we celebrate that. The issue is when it’s all together in one room, particularly in a home where the styles simply do not jive. I’m adamant that our homes should not feel like we plucked every cool thing from all the people we follow online and put them together in one space.
One additional step in this exercise is to pull out the design crystal ball and assess how I think we may feel about them in a decade. Will they still feel fresh, or at the very least, attractive, welcoming, and interesting? Or perhaps that checkerboard we all keep plastering all over our homes will be akin to chicken wallpaper borders from the early ’90s or chevron rugs a la 2010. Instafluencer Chic, they’ll call it. Maybe, maybe not. Who’s to say, but it sure is fun to guess.
Trend #1: Checkerboard
By far, the most all-consuming trend of the year and the last few years prior is checkerboard. It’s undeniable. Checkerboard has made its way onto our floors, walls, fabrics, and upholstery. It’s like Tom Hanks in the ’90s…freaking everywhere and in everything. It got us all good and didn’t miss a style. This alternating square fits into modern, traditional, and transitional homes.
I find checkerboard particularly interesting in applications like the doorway border above by Studio Aida. Anytime a commonplace thing is used unexpectedly, it’s suddenly new and fresh again. That’s not to say I haven’t seen this kind of positioning, but it still excites me.
Finch Studio, out of Germany, went full force with a color-blocked backroom complete with burlwood vanity and International Klein Blue details. It’s mighty and impressive, but certainly not something I’d call timeless. (“Timeless” is worth a whole other conversation, because who gets to decide what is considered “timeless” and why are we all chasing that, anyway? I’ll save that for another time, though.)
There’s no place we saw checkerboard used more than on floors, greatly in part due to these peel-and-stick floor tiles that Chris Loves Julia designed for Wallpops. EVERYONE used them (I think even Mallory did in the new apartment she’s decorating), heck, even I reached out to them for my kitchen when I was working on it. The look really is beautiful, classic, and depending on the space it’s in, will probably look good for a very long time.
Not so much checkerboard as gingham (or buffalo check), but still simply everywhere. Shower curtains, duvet covers, throw blankets, pillows. Checks are a wonderful bridge between other patterns, similar to stripes. They bring together disparate prints beautifully. And in the case of this bathroom, it adds a crispness to the storied tile and fixtures.
2035 Gut Check: I think it’s time to cool it a bit on checkerboard patterns. In 10 years, we’ll have been collectively obsessed with at least two or three other patterns, and checks will fall back into their place: Great for sprinkling around if they suit your style, but not itching to grow on everything like wild ivy on a brick wall.
Trend #2: Arches Everywhere
I love an arch on a doorway and a room transition, but boy, have we seen everyone force their way into archland in their homes. The number of reels I’ve consumed where a content creator transformed their lame and boring squared-off passageways (this is a joke) into an arch rivals how often I’ve rewatched Gilmore Girls (a lot…not a joke). Arches are beautiful, they soften modern or basic architecture, but they are simply everywhere and on everything, such as furniture and…
announcing sleeping nooks like this one (yes, it’s beautiful), and…
as entrances to kitchen spaces, and…
yup, even in pass-throughs like this one above. It’s certainly more interesting.
2035 Gut Check: Arches have been around since the ancient Romans, so this isn’t anything new. They absolutely belong in some, if not all, spaces, but the need to stop what we’re doing to find a way to hack our way to archways in our contemporary builder-grade homes…not so much. I predict that arches specifically on furniture are going to be fairly dated in just a few years.
Trend #3: Scalloped Edges & Wave Patterns
Scalloped edging and detailing have exploded in the last year or two, and I get it. It’s very cute and feels really special when used sparingly. The yellow scalloped edge in this pantry (or possibly kitchen) by Salvesen Graham is undeniably charming.
Though scalloping first became super popular in the late Renaissance, it’s most often associated with English cottage style (more on that below). It’s certainly striking on this little kitchen cart, in a space by Duet.
My heart nearly stopped when I saw this closet border by Jasno Projekty, which makes me think that perhaps scalloping hasn’t reached its maximum exposure yet. Still, though, it’s synonymous en masse with 2025.
Apart from woodworking, this wave pattern got the most design mileage out of headboards. I considered DIYing something similar back in 2021 because you couldn’t really find them for sale (they were mostly custom designer pieces at that time, like the above by Own London), but now, this style is simply everywhere.
Arches AND waves AND checkerboards! Patricia Bustos’ designs are wildly fun, and something I’d enjoy the heck out of at a boutique hotel or public space, but in my home, I prefer to avoid combining so many “now” styles for fear of time-stamping my rooms.
2035 Gut Check: I think if you have an actual cottage, or you do something incredibly custom and unique like that wood closet surround, the scallop will fade away fairly quickly. In a decade, we may find remnants of it in homes and think, “Remember when we were all doing that?”
Trend #4: Pattern Drenching & Color Drenching
First came color drenching, then came pattern drenching. It’s maximalism at its core, and maybe a push back on all the quiet, warm neutral rooms we saw come to be last year and this year. Designers (like Emma Stevenson, above) have been doing this for decades, even centuries, but it hit the mainstream in 2025 big time. What used to be a mark of custom is not fairly easy to execute yourself, as companies sell fabrics and wallpapers in the same print.
I mean…I LOVE to look at things like this House of Hackney explosion, but it’s not for everyone or even for most. It’s a showpiece, for sure.
This is a fun little twist on pattern-drenching, with a different motif on the ceiling, but a classic marker of the style is matching your drapes/window coverings to your wallpaper design, like in this sweet space I found on a realtor’s page that I’m fairly certain is by Sarah Sherman Samuel.
But let’s not forget the OG: color drenching. I still absolutely love it. Color drenching has a way of really just squeezing all the design potential out of a space. It feels purposeful, powerful, interesting, especially when done in an aubergine like this mudroom by Gramophone Design Build.
Another heavy hitter from the Brownsone Boys. I find that color drenching can hide many sins of a space, though I’m not seeing any in this beautiful room.
Wowza, that’s red! Another situation in which I pull tremendous inspiration and excitement, but it’s perhaps too impactful for my own eyes every day.
2035 Gut Check: I think color drenching has a longer shelf life than pattern drenching simply because it’s more adaptable for the common folk (non-design peeps) to implement. It’s hard to know what our spirits will need in a decade from now, maybe bright, happy spaces that aren’t intense color caves, so the verdict is still out on this. I’m leaning toward leaving this one in the 2020s, though.
Trend #5: Cottage Style
The absolute “it” style of the last few years, I’m also lumping in English Country into the general “cottage” labeling. While I think the style itself is a staple and not something that will disappear for those who truly love it (or, you know, live in the English countryside), I’m fixating on all the cutesy details we have started to see eek out of the look into homes that wear a different look. Think pleated fabric lampshades and fabric panels behind cabinet doors, pedestal sink skirts, and frilly fringes on pillows and draperies.
Nothing feels like a warm hug and a cup of tea on a bad day quite like cottage detailing. Pleated fabric panels on cabinetry are something we’re seeing more and more of, so it likely still has some legs.
A cabinet skirt is a cheap, easy, and fool-proof way to cover something in a kitchen but make it say “charming.”
Flanges and ruffles on everything! Plates above the bed? Sure, why not! That’s kind of the beauty of cottage style: It feels like almost anything goes.
2035 Gut Check: As I said above, English style will forever and always have its place in this design world of ours, but in terms of the mainstream, I can already see us shifting. There’s been a ton of chatter around vintage Renaissance and a more glamorous, palatial thing happening.
Trend #6: Dark, Moody Color Palettes
Moody rooms aren’t new, though moody and brown has come back in a big, BIG way. There will always be room for neutrals, but cool-toned neutrals and warm-toned neutrals always seem to flip-flop every 10 to 15 years.
The Amber Interiors look has been going strong for the last eight to 10 years for sure, which I think has driven much of our softening on brown and warm neutrals in general.
I don’t want to miss out on pointing out the obvious: Moody photography of rooms that may not be so dark in real life under standard sunlight conditions is on the rise, probably by the same lot that hates overhead lighting. (HAHAHAHA, I just had to poke fun at this as I’ve made clear where I stand on the subject.)
I’m no stranger to a dark, romantic dining space, of course. I love it in certain areas to add drama or transition from a brighter, more open room. We could all use a little moody moment like this sexy nook I spotted on Architectural Digest.
2035 Gut Check: It’s really hard to gauge the longevity and lifespan of color trends because they are one of the easiest things to swap around in our homes and are a direct reflection of what we’re feeling in the zeitgeist. I recall a time back in the early aughts when yellow and gray were everything, and it was hard to imagine a time when it wouldn’t be, but in 10 years, we will likely be on to something new. (God, please don’t let it be gray yet again.)
Trend #7: Curved Furniture
Ahh, the curved couch. Furniture seems to have lost all its edges as of 2022/2023, and the sinuous sofa is the queen bee. But it’s only a matter of time before we all realize they’re cool and all for occasional rooms, but not comfortable enough for our main living spaces.
Curved cabinetry has also become the cool girl in design school, from permanent installations in our kitchens to freestanding pieces like our dressers and nightstands. These have more staying power, in my opinion, because “comfort” isn’t one of the key barometers of its success.
2035 Gut Check: To me, this one is easy: Curved furniture should enjoy its time in the limelight because it has an expiration date. Almost nothing will say 2025 more than a curved sofa or barrel chair, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some of our things should be time capsules of eras past, don’t you think?
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OKAY! I had a lot to say here, clearly. And while I don’t like to make a habit of tearing down anyone’s design (I hope you can see I tried not to do that here), it is pretty freeing to just say what’s on my mind. The fun of design and decorating is that everything is not meant to be for everyone or every home. Trends come and go; that’s the very nature of them, so let’s make it okay to examine without taking anything away from their use in an otherwise gorgeous room.
I hope you had fun with this, because I did. Feel free to chime in on some other 2025 Hall of Famers and how you think they’ll fare in the next decade.
Until next time, my friends…
Opening Image Credits: Design by Emily Henderson and Max Humphrey | Photo by Kaitlin Green | From: My Brother’s Beautiful Guest Bedroom – A Warm and Modern Retreat
Reading this post was fun because I’m a historic-homes nerd who is always taking an extra look at the sets and filming locations for period shows and movies. And, I’m lucky enough to live in a Tudor cottage built in the 1930s. It’s fun to spot trends coming back around, going, and coming back again.
For example: The doorway to my living room is arched because that was a popular thing to do in 1930. I love it! And it suits the age of my house. But I totally see how forcing a bunch of arches into a brand new build might not work.
Another example: I’ve been watching the Netflix show “A Discovery of Witches.” (The interiors in that show, OMG.) One of the sets is a medieval castle with a room covered in a giant rust-and-cream checkerboard pattern. It’s incredibly cool! And here we are in 2025, painting things in checkerboard again. I guess to be fair, almost anything looks good in a medieval castle but still, it’s fun to watch the trends come and go.
Long live the arch! One of my favourite trends although still associated with the 70s in Australia.
Second only to my other favourite trend – RATTAN! Long may it reign. I’ll definitely be happily stuck in the past once these ones move on. Ditto Zellige.
Great round up in general.
What about farmhouse modern? If anything has overstayed its time, it’s FM. Very Fixer Upper rather than 2025 I suppose, but still seems to pop up on Insta. Way over it and much prefer a more sophisticated look.
Another trend that is very 2025 IMHO is the cafe curtain. All over Insta (although not common in Australia). I find them very twee and don’t like them at all, although I can appreciate the practicality.