The Cozy Color Everyone Will Be Painting Their Bedrooms In 2026

Are the bedrooms in your home feeling a little dated? Have you woken up recently and looked at the colors you chose and wondered if you need a refresh? You're not alone. Every year, people take up the challenge to repaint their bedrooms with the latest popular colors. In an exclusive interview with Hunker, interior designer Mary Patton of Mary Patton Design explained how warm brown is the cozy bedroom color of choice for 2026.

"When it's done thoughtfully, warm brown can feel incredibly chic, cozy, and grounding in a bedroom. It has a way of wrapping the space in softness while still feeling sophisticated," Patton shared. This goes along with the trends in recent years to abandon oversaturated or stark colors. Instead, homeowners are opting for colors that bring warmth, texture, and depth to a space.

There is, however, the potential for a room to become overwhelmed with the warm brown. In order to avoid this, Patton explains that "the key is striking the right balance with texture and lighting so the room feels intentionally warm, not heavy." There are numerous ways that this can be achieved. In our exclusive, Patton will lay out what works, what doesn't, and why she believes warm brown has the potential to be a timeless color.

It may feel a little intimidating to choose a color as definitive as warm brown for your bedroom. Unlike whites or grays, you need to do a little more work when it comes to pairing with other colors and furniture. In her exclusive with Hunker, designer Mary Patton provides her insights on how to make warm brown work as a wall treatment for your bedroom. She states, "I think ... it creates instant warmth and a cocooning feel without overwhelming the space. I'd avoid pairing it with bulky or overly traditional brown wood furniture. Instead, I'd opt for an upholstered bed in a warm brown velvet or a similarly soft, tactile material. It gives you richness and depth without tipping into 'too much brown.'"

Patton also suggests bringing in some additional colors to add more vibrancy and provide a subtle contrast to the deeper brown tones of the wall. Her recommendation is to use softer tones like blush, muted blues, and creams that will "lighten up the palette" while keeping the room "calm and refined."

You can incorporate the lighter colors in additional furniture, bedsheets, duvet covers, artwork, and even a potential accent wall. Trendy Benjamin Moore colors like Tissue Pink and Jet Stream would work as potential pairing options.

There are a lot of home design trends that come and go. As we mentioned at the beginning, we're starting to see designers and homeowners move away from cold white and gray tones in favor of more textured and warm colors. The question is, though, will the trendy colors of 2026, like warm brown, feel outdated in a decade's time? Designer Mary Patton, in her exclusive interview with Hunker, doesn't think so.

"Warm brown has a timeless quality because it's rooted in nature and inherently comforting. It's not a fleeting trend so much as a tone that cycles back whenever people crave warmth and softness in their homes," she explains. Warm brown can take on an especially timeless look when paired with the aforementioned blush, light blues, and cream tones. According to Patton, these combinations will hold up beautifully over time.

In the end, what it really boils down to is thoughtful design. While warm brown might be trendy for 2026, when incorporated well into a home, it, as Patton says, "reads as classic, inviting, and adaptable — the kind of combination that will still look relevant years from now."