White walls are considered a classic, but the "stark all-white" trend has faded. Today, designers favor warmer, creamier, and softer shades of white over sterile, bright whites. These softer tones prevent a home from feeling cold and provide the perfect, inviting canvas for other colors and textures.
The Hottest Interior Paint Colors of 2024
White walls are not out of style; they are a timeless, foundational neutral. However, designers are moving away from stark, clinical bright whites in favor of softer, warmer, and more muted tones to create cozier and more inviting spaces.
Joanna Gaines' go-to white paints are all part of her exclusive Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines paint line. Her favorites are tailored for specific looks and spaces:
To make a home look expensive, rely on sophisticated neutrals, earthy greens, or muted blues rather than stark whites or highly saturated brights. High-end spaces feel cohesive and intentional, using layered tones, natural materials, and high-quality finishes to create a calm, custom feel.
Cool gray is being replaced by "mushroom" neutrals (warm taupes and greys with subtle green or violet undertones), warm earthy khakis, and soft, natural sages.
Top 10 Timeless Paint Colors for Your Home
Kitchen cabinet colors that feel dated include stark, clinical all-white, cool minimalist grays, and red-toned woods like cherry or honey-oak. Flat, one-dimensional brown-on-brown color schemes and overly bright primary colors have also fallen out of style.
The most popular and highly-rated creamy white paints are Benjamin Moore White Dove OC-17 and Sherwin-Williams Alabaster. These designer-favorite shades deliver a cozy, warm, and inviting ambiance without looking overly yellow.
Beige, taupe, and "mushroom" neutrals are officially replacing the cool, sterile grays of the last decade. Designers are leaning into warm khakis, sandy beiges, creamy whites, and earthy tones that add a cozy, comforting energy to spaces.
A home typically looks outdated when it features overdone, time-stamped trends from specific past decades, such as honey oak cabinetry, popcorn ceilings, or generic word art. Outdated homes also often suffer from poor lighting, worn-out flooring, and heavy window treatments that block natural light.
White walls offer a versatile, blank canvas. Choose flooring that complements your lighting and desired mood: 50Floor.
For 2026, white interior and exterior paints are trending towards warm, soft, creamy off-whites that feel welcoming and timeless but that doesn't mean more stark, cool whites are out.
Interior designers are moving away from stark cool whites, "millennial gray," and heavily saturated accent colors. These rigid hues can make spaces feel cold or clinical. The shift is toward warmer, earthy, and highly nuanced tones that prioritize depth and coziness.
Here are five paint colors that real estate professionals and designers consistently recommend to help homes sell faster and for more:
Most Popular Colors
A range of our most popular home interior paint colors, from gray to beige to greige — and every shade in between. These designer-favorite shades are time-tested and livable.
| Simply White (Benjamin Moore OC-117)
This is a major designer favorite white paint color for walls for good reason. It is bright and crisp and perfect for giving you a clean look. But it also has enough warmth to keep it from feeling too stark.
Timeless is an ultra-pale cream with a delicate floral feeling. One of our favourites, this tone can be used anywhere you might usually apply white, but gives a softer effect and a warm glow.
Dull or outdated colors
While you might be tempted to revisit trends from past eras, among the colors to avoid in a bathroom are beige-yellow tones, dull brown, and olive green. These can even give the impression of uncleanliness in addition to appearing outdated.
Joanna Gaines' go-to paint colors for kitchen cabinets emphasize natural, earthy tones. She frequently uses warm, creamy whites on upper cabinets for an airy feel, and balances them with bold, deep greens, blues, or grays on lower cabinets for depth.
In 2026, kitchen color trends are moving away from stark white and cold gray, shifting toward warm, nature-inspired, and earthy tones. The aesthetic of "warm minimalism" dominates, favoring softer hues like creamy white, taupe, mushroom, terracotta, muted olive green, and deep teal-blues.
Avoid high-maintenance stark whites, trend-heavy brights like candy apple red or lime green, and oppressive jet blacks which highlight every fingerprint. Instead of fleeting fads or clinical shades, opt for muted, versatile tones that bring warmth and longevity to your space.
To make a home look expensive, rely on sophisticated neutrals, earthy greens, or muted blues rather than stark whites or highly saturated brights. High-end spaces feel cohesive and intentional, using layered tones, natural materials, and high-quality finishes to create a calm, custom feel.
Colors that do not combine
4. Muted Greens. While beiges can often feel flat, these greens with their earthy undertones have greater depth and feel more 'alive in a way beige never can', according to Bari Jerauld, founder of Blank Slate. Taking their cue from nature, soft sages, olives, and mossy shades are soft and enveloping – never cold.