Why Now is the Time to Color Drench Your Walls

color drenched traditional sitting room — A color drench room in England, Image via @thecountryhousediaries.

Color-drenching—or painting walls, trim and, sometimes, the ceiling the same color—is one of the biggest decorating trends in recent years. It’s a bold, moody look that’s a reaction to the all-white and millennial gray interiors we saw in the 2010s and early 2020s. It’s also part of the larger turn towards cottage-y, British-inspired, traditional interiors.

While this ‘new’ look is certainly a trend, it’s actually a design choice that homeowners and decorators have been using for years, particularly in historic homes.

Personally, I love a color-drenched room. It’s just such a welcome change to all the neutrals we’ve seen in design in the recent past, and I think it makes a space feel more sophisticated and cohesive. So far, I’ve color-drenched one room in my house, the powder room, which was painted Sherwin Williams Palm Leaf in 2022, and I love it. But recently, I’ve been seriously considering color-drenching our all-white living room in a rich shade of blue-gray, and I know that if I do it, I need to do it this year.

Our color-drenched powder room. It’s hard to see the trim because the room is teeny, but in the mirror reflection you can catch a glimpse of the ceiling and door frame, which are painted the same color as the walls.

Why the urgency, you ask? Because we’re at the beginning of this trend cycle, so if I want to get the most bang for my buck, now’s the time to go for the color-drenching. Let me explain…

What is a trend cycle?

A trend cycle is essentially how long a trend is in style. In home decor, the length of trend cycles can vary, but they’re generally two to 12 years. Smaller micro-trends (think scalloped edges or rattan lamp shades) have shorter trend cycles, generally around two-to-five years. The larger, macro trends that dictate a lot of the smaller trends, like the farmhouse craze of the 2010s, or larger paint color preferences, last about a decade, maybe slightly longer.

If you think about the white and cool-gray walls that everyone loved until recently, they really started to gain popularity around 2010/2011, and only faded out of fashion in the early 2020s.

Those whites and grays were replaced by warmer neutrals, color drenching, and moody paint colors, so I’m expecting all three of those trends to be in style until the early 2030s.

This is why I think that, if you like the color drenching look and are considering it for your home, now is the right time to do it. It’s a bold decision that requires painting at least the trim and walls, so you want to get as much mileage from the paint job as you can.

In the past, I’ve hemmed and hawed about adopting certain trends in my home for years before committing, only to finally go for it and then have the trend go out of style a few years later.

Isn’t color drenching timeless?

You might have heard that color-drenching is timeless. And it is a look that’s rooted in history, and has always been an option that some designers and homeowners have leaned into. But it’s definitely a trend right now, which means it’s way more popular right now than it has ever been in the past. And I expect that it’s a preference that will fade in about 7-10 years.

At the same time, I’m totally OK with that, because paint isn’t permanent. I generally paint the rooms in my home every 5-10 years anyway, so I might as well go for something I love while it’s in style. Then, when something new comes along, I’ll just re-paint.

My thing with doing it sooner is that I want to capitalize my paint job for as long as I can.

What do you think about the color-drenching trend?