it’s giving brown: why the brown color trend is on the rise
Step aside millennial gray, brown has become the luxury color of the moment.
Mocha, cinnamon, honey, chocolate, caramel, tobacco, bourbon; these deeply delicious brown hues are what your style needs. Just in time for Fall, we want to encourage you to reimagine brown.
the rise of the brown color trend
New York Fashion Week, a beacon for all things style, showed the “it” girls are all carrying brown suede handbags this Fall. As noted by The Washington Post this month, “It’s anti-tech. It’s quiet luxury. It’s brown, and it’s everywhere.”
What else has given rise to brown becoming the luxury color of the moment?
Certainly Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter studio album deserves credit. Released in the Spring of 2024, this work of art drove demand this year for western-inspired couture, including brown leather cowboy boots and suede cowboy hats.
We’ve had a good 20+ year run where futuristic chrome and gray dominated much of the residential aesthetic.
Think of a sleek new iphone, a kitchen filled with stainless steel appliances, gray berber carpeting, or gray faux wood grain flooring. The design was industrial; it felt like everyone wanted to live in a loft with concrete floors and paint the walls gray.
The first sign of the departure from millennial gray was the rise of greige (gray + beige) interiors around 2017. Suddenly, it was chic to warm up the walls. Right around the same time, houseplants and botanical influencers began to trend. Wild interiors, spaces with an abundance of plants not seen since the 1970’s, were back in vogue. A return to natural environments included a return to a natural palette.
Around the pandemic, things really started to change.
We noticed clients preferring brass fixtures in their bathrooms. Brass had been off-limits ever since home designers of the 1990’s put shiny brass framed shower doors in every home. This time, the brass fixtures our clients were requesting had a muted matte finish. Rather than looking new, the fixtures looked classic.
The style shift from cool metallics to warm metallics set the stage for the rise of brown luxury.
Brown is the color of craftsmanship. Think of real hardwood floors or custom kitchen cabinets. Few things add more visual impact to a home, and yet, the woodgrain aesthetic is a soft one. Decidedly anti-tech, natural hardwoods are timeless.
Other examples of the luxury brown aesthetic we adore include tortoise shell accents, Louis Vuitton luggage and handbags, Pullman Palace railroad cars, tan suiting, and smoky quartz jewelry. Brown is a color with an amazing array of sophisticated shades. Softer than black, it’s the ultimate neutral in home design.
Serious times call for serious color, and while 2023 may have been filled with Barbiecore pink, as an election year, 2024 is a time for a quiet yet confident palette. Does the national mood inspire our design choices? Absolutely.
mid-century modern brown home decor inspiration
From our archives, here are some of our favorite examples of incorporating the brown luxury aesthetic into our guerilla design + build projects.
brown & cream wallpaper in roland park
This brown and cream wallpaper was used in a bedroom in Roland Park. While the movement of the composition gives the room some energy, the natural palette and flora and fauna shapes make it soothing enough for a bedroom.
mixed materials deck in velvet valley
An exterior deck is added to a late mid-century residence in Baltimore’s Velvet Valley neighborhood. From the chocolate brown exterior paint to hardwood exterior decking. This project shows that pairing many shades of brown together works wonders. Rather than staining the deck, we opted for a clear-coat that lets the true wood colors shine.
a luxurious brown living room in mt. washington
A living room in a renovation project staged by guerilla. Featuring mid century furniture and design pieces in the luxury brown aesthetic including; wood grain lamps, classic Eames furniture, and woodgrain bar cart. Adding objects such as ceramics and plants are easy when the palette is earthy.
custom millwork in fells point
Custom cabinetry in Marine Grade Plywood in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood. This is a renovation project by guerilla construction in collaboration with Eastwing architects. The woodgrain highlights soft variations in the light brown palette from amber to caramel. The result is a quiet luxury space that will never go out of style.
a sunroom in hunt valley
A brown wood ceiling, hardwood floors, and natural rugs, harmonize with a Butler Stone wall in Hunt Valley Maryland. Even the dog’s rich ebony fur makes this scene alluring. An ideal setting for the green views from the sunroom’s windows, this guerilla construction project created a space anyone would enjoy.
a brown and black kitchen in madison park
A jazzy kitchen with many shades of brown mixed with black, cream, and brass. From a guerilla construction project in Baltimore’s Madison Park neighborhood. This wonderful kitchen was the result of our client’s good taste and affinity for rich surfaces. The luxury brown is enhanced with clever patterns that keep the space lively. Black appliances work nicely with shades of brown, very tortoiseshell indeed.
bringing the brown color trend to life
As an extremely versatile color, brown also fits in with the mid-century period’s focus on natural colors and materials. The use of natural materials is highly prevalent in mid-century design because of architects’ desire to connect buildings with nature. Evidence of this is found not just in exterior materials, but also in wood finishes, leather, corduroy, and other fabrics used in interior design.
A design + build project by guerilla construction in Greenspring Valley. This is a kitchen in a mid-century residence by architect Charles Nes. Our team crafted custom walnut wood panels in the kitchen that were stained to match an existing teak wood cabinet in the dining room (shown in background). Cream and caramel flaked terrazzo floors lighten the space. Hay BonBon Shade Lamps in woven nylon wool soften the space.
This cumaru wood clad addition by guerilla construction floats above a chocolate brown base. Brown is an ideal base color for mid-century style homes because of how well it complements other prominent colors of the era like mustard yellow, burnt orange, and olive green. The brown frame windows are the ideal design choice. This house just wouldn’t be the same without this brown luxury palette.
As this year’s fashion trends would suggest, brown is definitely having a “moment.” Whether you’re aiming for a quiet luxury, a monochromatic look, or want to dip back into 70s nostalgia, brown offers the versatility to bring your desired aesthetic to life. By incorporating rich woods, custom wall paneling, or soft fabrics, you can use brown to make your home radiate comfort and elegance.
Need further inspiration?
Tuck into a fragrant box of chocolates and see what design inspiration follows. It’s giving brown, and we’re here for it.
