How to Pick Paint Colors That Stay Timeless

Welcome to Interior Design Tips. I'm Sam, and today we're talking about paint colors -- specifically how to choose ones that will still look great five, ten years from now, instead of feeling like a trend you're trying to grow out of.

The first thing I want to say is that trendy colors aren't evil. Sage green, terracotta, that deep moody blue everyone loved a few years back -- these are all genuinely beautiful colors. The issue is when you put them on every wall in a highly saturated, obvious way. That's when a color stops feeling like your home and starts feeling like a moment in time.

So here's the core principle I come back to over and over: use longevity colors on your large, permanent surfaces -- walls, especially -- and let trends live in your textiles and accessories. A throw pillow is easy to swap out. Repainting your entire living room is not.

For walls, I always steer people toward what I call grounded neutrals. These are colors that have some complexity to them -- a little warmth, a little depth -- but they don't shout. Think warm whites with a slight creamy or greige undertone, soft taupes, warm light grays, or very muted earthy tones. Benjamin Moore's White Dove, Sherwin-Williams' Accessible Beige, Farrow and Ball's Elephant's Breath -- these have been popular for decades and they're not going anywhere, because they work with almost everything.

One mistake people make is picking a color that looks perfect in the store swatch but reads much more intensely on a full wall. Always, always test your paint. Get the sample pot, paint at least a 12-by-12-inch swatch on the actual wall, and look at it at different times of day. Morning light, afternoon light, evening with your lamps on. Colors shift dramatically depending on the light, and what looks like a soft dusty blue at noon can look almost purple at 7pm.

Another thing to watch for is undertones. This is where a lot of regret happens. You think you've picked a nice warm gray, but it has a violet undertone, and suddenly your room looks lavender once it's on the walls. Hold your sample up against a pure white piece of paper and you'll start to see the undertone clearly. Warm undertones -- yellow, red, peach -- tend to age more gracefully in most homes than cool or purple-based ones, which can feel very trend-specific.

Now, if you genuinely love a bold or saturated color and want to commit to it, I say go for it -- but be strategic. Painting one wall, a hallway, or a small bathroom in a strong color is a much lower-stakes decision than your main living space. I painted my own office a deep forest green and I love it. But that room has one purpose and a contained footprint. I didn't do it in my kitchen, where I spend four hours a day looking at every surface.

The other longevity trick is to think about what else is permanent in the room -- your flooring, your cabinetry, your trim color. Paint that works in harmony with those fixed elements will always look more intentional and more timeless than a paint color chosen in isolation. If you have warm honey-toned wood floors, a cool stark white on the walls is going to fight with that constantly.

The short version of everything I just said: keep your wall colors complex but quiet, test before you commit, watch your undertones, and save the bold stuff for smaller spaces or things you can actually swap out.

That's it for today. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you next time.