In 2025, home is the place where we live well and feel good—our haven. When your home is your haven, there’s a big exhale when you walk through the door. Your home nourishes your spirit, inspires your mind, and enhances your connection to yourself and your loved ones.
Color Is Back
Although Mocha Mousse has been dubbed the Pantone Color of the Year, it might be time to explore a broader color spectrum. Says Maggie Parker of KDR Designer Showrooms, “This year we are steering away from all-over neutrals. There is an emphasis on originality in shape and color schemes in design. I see designers taking styles from classic, Old-English designs and adding rich saturated colors.”
After all, we want our homes to be pretty, says Mark Sudermann of SID & Co. “Pretty is never out of style. Layering textures, colors, and collections is a wonderful way to warm up your surroundings.”
The Architect’s Perspective
When Kansas Citians custom design their own living spaces—with help, of course, from architects like Clint Evans of NSPJ Architects—they seek “effortless, continually flowing spaces,” he says. “Gone are the days of formal, closed-off rooms. Our clients want one main living space. And we get a lot of requests for kitchens that look more like a paneled library, where there is no clutter on the counters. The butler’s pantry becomes a prep kitchen where all the cooking and baking happens, and it is connected to the mud room and laundry room, all one working space, out of sight.”
“The wellness of the occupants is also foremost,” adds Evans. “We’re seeing higher, 10-foot ceilings, concerns about air quality and noise reduction. If there is a workout room in the lower level, then right next to it will be a spa bathroom, with perhaps a steam room and a sauna.”
The national trend of biophilic design, emphasizing eco-friendly materials and bringing the outdoors in, has also reached us. “People want indoor/outdoor living and energy efficiency,” he says. “The lanai is now an outdoor kitchen and living room.”
Clients also want adaptive spaces so they can age in place, perhaps welcoming adult children or aging relatives. “People want to stay in their homes as long as possible,” says Evans, “and that becomes part of the design.” If home is your happy place, why would you ever want to leave?
Classic Elegance in Kitchen and Bath
Elegance and quality are always in style, says Karin Ross of Karin Ross Designs.
“Today, your kitchen is the primary living space. Make everything custom, very high quality, for the way you like to live,” she suggests. “Choose elegance. Big islands. All of that never goes out of style.” And if you have a dining room you only use a few times a year? “You don’t want a museum you rarely visit,” Ross says. “Instead, combine the kitchen and dining room. Maybe revamp the dining room into a more intimate conversation area that can function for a small dinner party or a place to escape while others watch a movie or a game in the living room.”
For Geri Higgins of Portfolio Kitchen & Home, classic materials reimagined is the big trend in kitchens and baths. “Classic marble in large-format porcelain tiles, cream and mushroom or wood-toned cabinetry, mixed metals in hardware and lighting, quartzite on countertops or as a stunning fireplace surround,” she says. “We are also seeing a separate butler’s or specialty kitchen, just out of sight of the main social kitchen. The specialty kitchen is where the daily rituals take place—brewing coffee, preparing a meal. It’s still beautiful but very functional.”
Lisa Otterness, a design consultant at the Kohler Signature Store, says that slim and trim is in for kitchen and bath. “We are seeing narrow frames on door cabinets and narrow reeding details in top drawer fronts, such as a bath vanity by Studio McGee,” she says. “Form and function marry beautifully in articulating Kohler faucets. Cambria’s new one-centimeter thick material is ideal for vertical surfaces to take the countertop into new realms, perhaps creating a narrow gallery shelf above the range.”
Timeless Design
We have seen a real uptick in more transitional rugs, more simplified patterns, and updated colors. Classics like Oushaks always seem to be a solid foundation to build around,” says Darrel Wingo of Knotty Rug. “Customers might have a preconceived notion of what they want, until they come in and look through a stack of rugs.”
Antiques remind us that not everything important is in the 24/7 news cycle. Old pieces with history can imbue a “collected over time” look, says Cindy Barnhill of Pear Tree Design and Antiques. “My favorite quote is on the back of my business card: ‘One can dream so much better in a room where there are pretty things.’ Antiques tell a story, and I truly believe every home should have pieces that can tell a story. In winter, garden antiques can promise there are warmer and sunnier days to come.”
Comfort and style go hand in hand says Becky Mosby, an interior designer with Seville Home. “Neutrals are warming up; we’re seeing more creams and caramels instead of stark gray,” she says. And as with national trends, the timeless arch is back—in bookcases and the rounded shapes of sofas and armchairs. A fleece-like fabric known as boucle emphasizes the comfort aspect of furniture and mixes well with other fabrics.
“We are often inspired by the trends of the day, but we are tried, true, and traditional at our core,” says Katie Laughridge of Nell Hill’s. “Our customers come to us for timeless, often generational, pieces that might not necessarily be trendy. For ourselves and our clients, we design comfortable, cozy, elevated spaces that fit the way we want to live in fresh ways. Through fabric and upholstery, we can reinvent a much-loved piece or help our clients play musical furniture to change things up.”
Creating the Ultimate Retreat
“We say that the most important room in your home is the bedroom,” says Ursula Terrasi of Terrasi Living and Scandia Down. “It’s where you spend at least eight hours a day, your happy place. It should be a room that is soft and serene, where it feels good to you, whether you like crisp percale, satin bedding, or silky Italian sheets. You should always choose what you love—colors, patterns, how the fabric feels, as well as pillows and comforters, as they can literally enhance and transform your life.”
And Your Personal Haven
“What I try to do with my home and what I hope to bring to other people’s homes is a sense of joy, comfort, rest, and calm,” says Leslie Beck, artist and curator of the new BlueSky Art + Home in Waldo. “Surrounding yourself with the things that bring you joy is part of what makes a home and welcomes other people to it. That feeling of personality and self that makes your home your home.”
“I have long said that coming home should be like putting on your best dress,” says Sara Noble of Noble Designs. Her modern classic style skews both fresh and timeless. “Your home should not only provide function, but also create an emotion you can feel when you walk into your home. For me, the return of wallpaper has been a great way to express individuality and get a dramatic reaction. If your home makes you smile, it will bring you peace, which also brings wellness.”
Nature for Nurture
Katherine Taylor of the new Bramble and Stem in Waldo is all about “the little things that make a big difference—like having fresh green plants and beautiful flowers in your home,” she says. “Not only do they look great, but they also have a positive impact on your well-being. Plants help reduce stress, lift your mood, and even purify the air, making your space feel more peaceful and inviting. A touch of greenery or a few blooms can spark creativity, boost relaxation, and just make you feel good. It’s nature’s way of bringing a little extra calm and joy into your everyday life.”
Kristopher Dabner of The Greensman sees two complementary ways that homeowners want to interact with nature. One is outdoor living. “We’re seeing more pizza ovens, firepits for s’mores, complete outdoor kitchens so that you can open that sliding glass wall and be outside. The second way is to create more private destinations in the garden—perhaps with a chair or two and a little table—where you can unplug and read or meditate. Fragrance is one of the best memory-inducers, so plants like roses or lilies or lavender can evoke that happy feeling.”