Pantone's 2025 Color of the Year: Mocha Mousse

Like the Behr Paint Company, Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore, the Pantone Color Institute’s color experts always place one hue on a pedestal for the following year, giving it 12 months to shine. At Pantone, the team quickly aligned on Mocha Mousse for its 2025 Color of the Year. “Mocha Mousse expresses a level of thoughtful indulgence,” Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, tells House Beautiful. “It’s not just indulging ourselves and treating ourselves, which we deserve, but also the possibility of sharing it with others.” This yummy warm brown expresses a universal longing for connection, comfort, and harmony.

Using Mocha Mousse in your Home

You might feel like it takes a full home redesign to make your space work with this rich color. But think again. While that is an option, you can utilize it throughout your house in various creative ways. Here are some ideas to incorporate this 2025 color trend into your home:

Full Room Repaint

Full Room Repaint and Interior Design

Want to ditch your current home color and select a new feature tint? Look no further than a luxurious brown. This shade is super cozy, making your room feel welcoming and comfortable for yourself and your guests. Use Mocha Mousse in enclosed spaces like a powder room, home office or small living room for a sophisticated and cocooning effect. Or, opt for a new shade of this color in each room for a collective redesign that works wonders in any space.

Cozy Sofas and Chairs

If you don’t want to introduce the color in the form of paint, you’ve got plenty of alternatives. Take furniture, for instance. What better way to unwind after a long day than by sinking into a sofa in the shade of chocolate and coffee? You can use brown sofas or armchairs in updated textured fabrics as a comforting foundation to complement various home decor styles. This safe color also pairs nicely with several aesthetics, making it an easy way to stay on trend without making your home look disjointed.

Warm Cabinetry

Mocha Mousse isn’t reserved for walls and furniture. You can utilize it in your kitchen for a delectable look that will inspire you to make mouthwatering baked goods all year round. The sterile look of all white kitchens has lost it’s appeal. Use various shades of brown for kitchen cabinets paired with gold hardware or natural wood tones to add character to the heart of your home. Also, this shade can make your bathroom feel like a five-star spa — the perfect place to start your day or get ready for bed at night.

Neutral Throws and Accessories

How to Pair Interior Design with Pantone Color of the Year

Soft brown is a perfect addition to your house because you can use it all year — it matches the colors of all the seasons if used intentionally. One way to disperse this hue gracefully is through comfortable elements and decor. Add texture and warmth with throws and pillows in Mocha Mousse, hang up a neutral wall hanging that incorporates this hue and place a carved wooden or stone sculpture your mantel. Whatever you can do to make the space more inviting, while also scattering this color throughout is a win.

Large Area Rugs

If the rest of your room is busy with color or patterns, a solid-brown area rug acts as an anchor, laying a strong foundation for the rest of the space to build on and adding warmth. Not only does the color look chic and high-class, but using it in an area rug ensures the room is cohesive from floor to ceiling — let’s face it, sometimes the floor is forgotten in redesign projects.

What Colors To Pair With Mocha Mousse

Generally, you don’t want to introduce a new color without first knowing if it will work with the existing shades. Lucky for you, Mocha Mousse matches so many colors, making it the perfect hue to add to your palette. And to make your choices easier, Pantone created five unique color combinations to complement their shade of choice for the new year:

Relaxed Elegance

This neutral color palette includes beautiful, subtle colors that will make you feel wrapped in a chic hug:

Cannoli Cream
Cream Tan
Safari
Sirocco
Chanterelle
Baltic Amber
Chocolate Martini

What Pantone has to say about it: “Revel in your own special moments. Imbued with a sensorial richness, PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse inspires us to curate experiences that boost personal comfort and wellness. From sweet treats to nature walks, the indulgence of simple pleasures that we can also gift and share with others.”

Floral Pathways

For a bouquet of stunning shades, select pastels and nature-inspired tones:

Tendril
Cornflower Blue
Viola
Rose Tan
Cobblestone
Willow
Gardenia

What Pantone has to say about it: “A cornucopia of suggestively scented floral tones, blended with a soft mocha and a shaded willow green, leads us down a cobblestone path.”

Uniquely Balanced

Designing with Warm and Cool Tones

With a mix of warm and cool tones, Uniquely Balanced brings harmony and symmetry:

Blue Jewel
Desert Flower
Cattleya Orchid
Spicy Mustard
Opera Mauve
Blue Curacao
Arabesque

What Pantone has to say about it: “Mocha Mousse nestles in, offsetting the vibrancy of this uniquely balanced, multi-colored and somewhat exotic grouping of tones both warm and cool.”

Deliciousness

Want your space to look like summer incarnate? Warm, pinky tones are the way to go:

Bonbon
Party Punch
Winery
Mandarin Orange
Pink Lemonade
Caramel
Peach Cobbler

What Pantone has to say about it: “Tastefully tempting Mocha Mousse combines with other delicious hues in a delectable color palette inspired by mouth-watering confections.”

Subtle Contrasts

For a darker take on Mocha Mousse, bring a collection of shadowy yet glamorous colors together:

Tapestry
Laurel Oak
Coffee Quartz
Arona.
Warm Taupe
Dull Gold
Buffed Beige

What Pantone has to say about it: “Sophisticated brown hues coalesce with nuanced contrasts of blue and gray for a classic and compatible statement.”

Some other general colors that would look stunning paired with Mocha Mousse are: