Design
The 3rd Annual EHD “Best Of Design” List – Our Favorite Home Tours And Decor Of 2025
Hello and welcome to the EHD “Best Of Design” list for 2025. We decided to wait till January (as opposed to last year) to give a full 365 days for all of the 2025 design content to come out, and I’m so happy we did because I think at least a few of the home tours are from the tail end. Anyway, this post is pure design joy and pure design celebration. There are, of course, so many more tours and products we could have talked about, but challenging ourselves to rein it in and pick only a few is a good practice (and VERY hard for me personally:)). Design is our love and obsession, so we hope you enjoy our picks as much as we do.
Emily
Reath Design is a firm we’ve been loving for years and years now. Most of their projects I love, want to look at and be inside of, but not necessarily LIVE in full-time or own. This is not a knock on her and her team, I’m just less risk-averse and dare I say basic on a day-to-day basis. Many of her designs that I LOVE have intense and unexpected colors and finishes, elements that I love to look at but are too bold for me. But this house, oh this house, I would own it in a second. I’m naturally really attracted to warm minimalist mountain houses with a ton of natural light, but this one is full of so much warmth, detail, and really livable design-forward elements. The kitchen specifically stopped my scroll – that tile selection and layout is so striking and yet feels so perfectly integrated. There is this 70s vibe with all the Doug fir paneling, and mixed with the square tile, it feels both nostalgic and modern. Well done, Reath team (and great job Laure for the gorgeous photography).
A splurge for sure, this lamp represents to me artists who collaborate to make something gorgeous for the sake of the art. Jessica Helgerson designed this, and I’d imagine she knows that a $4k lamp won’t make it into most homes, but she did it anyway, and it’s GORGOUS. So, in the name of making art for the love of good design and the fulfilling process of creation, I want to applaud her lighting line. She collaborated with an impressive glass blower, and what they created is stunning (and elusively expensive, and therefore I want one:)) (I love the version with the oak base and blue glass shade).
Now, to contrast Jessica’s lamp with Studio McGee for Target’s super affordable and strangely high-end-looking chair. The shape of the arms mimics a lot of French and Swedish designs (which are hard to do in an affordable way). Maybe I should shout out the manufacturer for executing it so well. Now, I haven’t bought or sat on this personally, but as far as value for aesthetics, this chair is so beautiful and simple.
I’ve loved grasscloth most of my design/adult life (It’s kinda specific, so it doesn’t work everywhere), but I’m obsessed with this printed version by Sarah Sherman Samuel for Lulu and Georgia. The sweet little tulip, with a simple repeat, could work in most traditional homes (sure, it leans cottage and granny, but when paired back, it’s just a nice traditional motif). I love that Sarah bridges sweet with edgy in all of her designs. Kudos, Sarah!
Jess
This living room nearly took my breath away. All I could think was how desperately I wanted to melt into that sectional with the fire going and take in every last detail of the space (THOSE WOOD WALLS!!!). Since a lot of you know me, you know that this house has far more color than I am known for using in my own spaces. But this space excited me in a way that made me feel alive (dramatic? maybe). So many styles were mixed, so many colors, so many patterns, so many cool shapes! Not your typical chalet, which I also love. Risk after risk, and it makes me happy every time I look at it. Nicola Harding, what a home:)
So I’m cheating a little. This chair came out in 2025, but this delicious fabric color, Bing Cherry, was introduced this week. OH well, I say! But let’s talk about this incredible chair. All I want in my life are comfortable, cool/interesting-looking chairs (which is why Baby Barb exists:)). So while this one doesn’t have arms, I know Sixpenny makes incredibly comfortable furniture and the back also looks very plush. However, it’s really the shapes of the legs/back that have my heart skipping a beat. I just think it’s beautiful.
I will forever be grateful to Emily Bowser for suggesting I buy this bolster pillow for my bedroom makeover. The intent was to have it on the actual bed (like a normal person), but it just didn’t work with the overall look, so I stuck it on top of my BEAUTIFUL Katy Sketlton bench (that would have also been a 2025 favorite, but it came out before last year) temporarily. I ended up loving it there, so it stayed! The colors were too pretty, I love a chic checkered print, and it’s really soft. The only bummer is that this color is currently sold out, but you can get notified when it’s back in stock.
If you don’t think I thought long and hard about buying one of these for the corner of my bedroom, then you simply don’t know me at all;) Sarah Sherman Samuel is, of course, behind these perfect little plinths in collaboration with Lulu and Georgia. I may never tire of a circle cut-out or just shapes in general. And boy, do I know the work that goes into DIYing something like this, and it is NOT easy. Big fan.
Mallory
My absolute favorite house tour (apart from Kendyl Jenner’s amazing mountain house) was this seaside home by Commune Design. Commune actually designed my last apartment building, and I’ve always been a really huge fan of their work. This home is architecturally STUNNING, and the views are impeccable. But what I love about it is their use of color. They perfectly blend cobalt blue with the warmth of wood (THAT STAIR CASE!) and are masters at the “pop of color” without it feeling jarring. I could not love this home more.
A super affordable but amazing piece – this $99 Target ottoman actually made me gasp the first time I saw it, and I’ve been dying to find an excuse to buy it for months now!!
These lamps have taken over Pinterest – they’re simple but have the perfect proportions, color, and I’m obsessed with the dainty ball finial on the top!!
2025 was a HUGE year for Dedar Milano Tiger Mountain fabric. I’ve been obsessed with this fabric for years now (I even had a special pillow made of it from my favorite upholstery company Stitchroom) – it’s been seeping into the furniture world at an incredible speed, which I believe is a testament to how amazing the design of this fabric is!
Gretchen
The one 2025 house tour I cannot seem to shake from my mind is Walton Goggins’ tour of his Hudson Valley home with AD. Now, to be fair, I could’ve been a little blinded by the man’s bizarre charm to stay too focused on decor, but something about this video tour just really stood out to me among the hundreds I’d seen last year. I’m a sucker for aged wood, an old cabin feel, homes with history, and this place is full of it. The lounge spaces are to die for, the primary is SWEET (pun allll the way intended), and the speakeasy (Joan Crawford prohibition bar, watch the tour, you’ll see!) was beyond memorable. But his art collection is unmatched, my favorite being the XL piece hanging in the living room. When it comes to good design, I’m mostly a sucker for spaces that tell a story, and this tour has so many. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the property is just so spacious, beautiful, and plopped smack-dab amongst insane scenery. But so much of the home’s great design (to me) was found in the history preserved and honored there. I mean, what character! You’ll have to watch for yourself to truly understand what I mean. Aesthetically, I could 1000% see myself living (beyond comfortably) here. I want to work in his office next to the giant cork wall, have a drink from the tucked-away bar space, and a seat in one of his dreamy patchwork leather chairs. So good!!
My favorite product of the year is one I (finally) bought for myself when Schoolhouse was having a crazy 60% off sale a few weeks ago. If you didn’t catch it…I’m sorry. This was a bit of a bittersweet buy (bye), with the news that Schoolhouse/Food52 filed for bankruptcy. Schoolhouse product was a staple in a number of our projects (like Kaitlin’s living room or Em’s), and it was easy to fall even more in love with their inventory (that Pendleton quilt??). All of their quilts are like eye candy to me, but when I saw the collab with Rachel Murray (a Portland artist whose work I’ve admired for a while now), I about died. After eyeballing her collection all year, I finally bit the bullet and bought myself this quilt/sham combo in the warmer tones (and I’m sure glad I did because now both are sold out). The second it arrived, I ripped it open, spread it out on my bed, and never looked back. It truly feels like a work of art in there, and the colors are really inspiring me to finish designing the space. I couldn’t help myself and also picked up her long, bolster pillow, which lives perfectly on the leather couch in my living room. Seeing little pops of her work around my home just fills me up inside. I’m bummed for Schoolhouse’s situation and hope they find a way to keep making cool stuff, but I’m grateful to have these pieces home to cherish for life!
I’d love to give one more product shout-out to our Baby Barb–EHD’s collective favorite little-big sofa chair from Room Service. Aptly named after the best pig on the farm (don’t tell Alisha), the Barb chair-and-a-half in chocolate brown won my heart in 2025. It has found the perfect spot in Ken’s house, but if I had the space, it would FOR SURE live in mine too. The lines are dreamy, the size is just right, and the material? So luxe, so cozyyyy.
Marlee
My favorite house tour of 2025 was this historic home located in SE Portland, for somewhat of a selfish reason. I walk past this house weekly, and it’s quite literally impossible for me to pass it without saying, “Wow, I wonder what it looks like inside.” So I was soooo excited when this tour was released – I loved the garden elements and the way the designers honored the home’s (and neighborhood’s) history. So much WHIMSY!!!!
I was at IKEA last month and saw this cool pleated lamp that was in their holiday section – but I think it deserves to live year-round. It gives off such a soft, pretty glow, and I love the red detail. It’s also so so so affordable (literally $14 right now), and every person that’s been to my house makes a note of it. I’m not sure if it will be around for long, so snag it while it’s still available:)
Arlyn
As the resident EHD color-over-everything espouser, if you saw the home reveal of food content creator and cookbook author Dan Pelosi of Grossy Pelosi on Domino early last year, it should come as no surprise that it’s my favorite home feature of the year. Trust me, I have an absolute arsenal of incredibly chic and perfect home tours and photos stashed away in my saved folders, but month after month, I couldn’t get this Hudson Valley, New York, home out of my head. It has so much heart and soul, so much color inspiration, it’s a more-is-more situation that is like design Velcro to my brain. I followed his home search and then renovation for the better part of two years, so, in some sense, I’m more connected to it than any others I saw featured in Architectural Digest, for instance. It’s an explosion of jewel tones, wallpaper prints, and collected art. Don’t miss it if you’re a fellow color lover.
As for products I’m putting on a pedestal from last year, it’s a combination of things I’ve really contemplated getting for my home and things I’ve admired from afar that I could never justify purchasing.
Sarah Sherman Samuel keeps making hits for Lulu & Georgia, including this fantastic piece, the Trudy Modular Sofa. The price point is well above what I’d be willing to spend on a fashionable sofa at this point in my life with a young child, but I sure can dream, can’t I?
Here’s another “I could never actually spend this much money on a quilt, but I love it so much” pick. If you happen to have the budget for a nearly $600 quilt after tax, please, I beg of you, buy this beautiful quilt from Toast and think of me every time you tuck yourself into your gorgeous, luxe bed.
Pierce & Ward’s line that launched this year with West Elm absolutely blew me away. I’ve long been a fan of their work, so to have access to their design at a mainstream price point was a huge deal. Did I buy any of it? No, considering I have no room in my house for literally anything else, but I think I included their curtains in at least five stories and roundups (maybe more). The details are striking, just look at the legs on that step stool.
I’m SO proud of my friend, Fariha Nasir of Pennies for a Fortune, for launching her collection with Chasing Paper this year. Fariha and I are wrapping up writing her first coffee table book (due out next fall!!), and as if that wasn’t enough work combined with running her platforms—and mothering two young boys—she was absolutely determined to have a wallpaper line, and that girl DID IT. Not to mention it’s gorgeous, and I’d be glad to have her papers in my home if I had the motivation to do anything further in my current rental. But once I’m a homeowner, it’s on. 🙂
There you have it! Designs that stole our 2025 hearts. We’d love to know yours!? Any here that resonated with you? Excited for what 2026 has to bring!
Love you, mean it.
Those Schoolhouse quilts are sold out, sadly I think the sale was a fire sale. Food52, their parent company filed for bankruptcy in December. I remember when it was Schoolhouse Electric and you could purchase amazing lighting reproductions for a very good price. Though their more recent homegoods have been beautiful, their price point was way too high for me to ever shop there again. It looks like they are going to auction in February with America’s Test Kitchen as a likely bidder. Maybe it will be restructured and revived. But I really miss their early days – they were a go-to for my lighting needs in older homes.
Gretchen mentioned that and had a link to the news in her description.
I totally agree about missing the early days. I love my beautifully crafted and affordable Schoolhouse semi flush fixture, which bought over 20 years ago.
Okay I had NO IDEA about Schoolhouse. I have had my eye on the Stillwater Floral Quilt for years, just working up the courage to actually click purchase and now I’ve missed my chance. So so bummed!
Wonderful roundup of beautiful design from the past year!
This post gave me such a warm feeling and badly needed lift which is what good design is all about. Thank you for brightening my day.