New construction is an opportunity to build a place that reflects your unique style, not settle for a cookie-cutter space. With the right interior design, you can customize your new home around your lifestyle and personal preferences.
Design in 2025 is about creating a home that feels unmistakably like it was meant for you. To help you accomplish that, we asked Tricia Soltesz, senior design consultant and selection studio manager at Petros Homes, to highlight some of the biggest trends in interior design and share practical ways that you can apply them in your custom home.
8 Intentional Design Trends to Reflect Your Style
Kitchen Cabinets: Warm Tones and Smart Storage
All-white cabinets have been a staple in kitchen design for a while, but more homeowners are shifting toward a more inviting look and enhanced functionality in 2025. Warmer finishes and clever storage solutions add some extra character and utility to keep the heart of your home both beautiful and efficient.
- Sleeker cabinet door styles: Traditional shaker cabinets are getting a modern twist with micro shakers. This door style offers a slimmer, more streamlined look that works in both contemporary and classic kitchens.
- Two-tone cabinetry: Mixing colors is another enduring trend. This two-tone approach allows you to incorporate a bolder color without overwhelming the space so that you can play base cabinets, upper cabinets, islands, and other aspects of your kitchen off each other.
- Concealed storage solutions: Functional storage space allows you to combine design with convenience. Features like pull-out spice racks, canisters for utensils, and other smart storage designs offer you a clean look while maximizing utility.
Color Drenching: Cohesive, High-Impact Spaces
Color drenching is another newer trend that allows homeowners to embrace a single color and give each room a seamless, stylish look. While it was very popular to provide contrast between walls and trim, Tricia highlights color drenching as a new way to elevate your spaces.
“A more cohesive look can be obtained by simply painting the walls in a flat paint while using the same color in a satin finish for the trim and doors,” Tricia explains. “Color drenching also lends itself to strong accent tones where walls, trim, ceiling, and door are all painted a saturated color for a high-style room.”
Paint Colors: Embrace Earthy, Dramatic Colors
In the past, cooler gray tones tended to dominate color schemes for people’s homes. Homeowners are starting to shift away from these more neutral tones toward some more striking colors. A few notable examples include:
- Olive greens like “SW 6209 – Ripe Olive”
- Browns like “SW 7048 – Urbane Bronze”
- Deep blues like “SW 2739 – Charcoal Blue”
“Warm earthy neutrals or dramatic moody tones are a welcomed change to the cooler gray tones we are used to seeing,” Tricia says. “We’re also seeing deeper, jewel-toned cabinetry become popular in spaces like powder baths, offices, and loft spaces for those who prefer a more dramatic look.”
Mixing Metals: Add Contrast with Multiple Finishes
Gone are the days when every fixture and handle had to match in a single metallic finish. Intentionally mixing metals in kitchens and bathrooms is a stylish way to add contrast and a custom touch.
“Mixing metals, such as champagne gold lighting and hardware with polished nickel plumbing, creates a deliberate and stylish contrast,” Tricia shares.
When mixing metals, you’ll typically choose one metal to serve as the dominant base for a room. The other metals are then used as accents in lighting, cabinet hardware, and even furniture. Popular combinations include:
- Antique brass
- Polished chrome
- Matte black
Flooring: Natural Materials and Patterns
Natural flooring materials like wood, stone, and tile have been popular in recent years, and that trend isn’t changing in 2025. Homeowners are favoring warm, natural wood tones over cooler grays, while also embracing classic patterns. Tricia highlights a few notable flooring trends:
- Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) is an extremely durable material that mimics the look of natural wood and stone while providing scratch and moisture resistance.
- Unique patterns like herringbone, checkerboard, and geometric inlays are making a comeback.
- Eco-friendly materials are also gaining popularity due to their ability to offer a more sustainable option that doesn’t sacrifice style.
Backsplashes: Stylish Focal Points
Backsplashes are no longer simply used for practical purposes. They’ve become a canvas for style, creating bold focal points in kitchens and bathrooms in a variety of ways.
- Natural stone tiles that create a luxury look with an earthy vibe and interesting patterns.
- High-gloss, oversized subway tiles create a sleek, modern backdrop.
- Hand-glazed tiles add warmth and personality to create a statement piece on your wall.
- Full-height backsplashes that extend all the way up to the ceiling, whether it’s a dramatic statement behind the range or an extended material throughout a kitchen.
Countertops: Creative Combinations and Bold Designs
Countertops play both a functional and aesthetic role, and current trends reflect a desire for high-end materials that offer durability and style.
“Quartzite continues to dominate the market as the top choice among homeowners and designers,” says Hailey Paratto, design consultant at Firenza Stone. “Granite and quartzite continue to offer exceptional longevity beyond 2025, while engineered quartz continues to be a strong contender for those prioritizing lower maintenance, durability, and budget-friendly options.”
In short, current countertop options provide homeowners with several options to elevate their spaces. Hailey broke down a few notable trends.
- Warmer colors: Like paint colors, warmer tones are making a comeback. Earthy neutrals and golden undertones pair well with other interior design trends.
- Leathered and honed finishes: These finishes have seen a significant rise in popularity, enhancing visual depth and texture of warmer color palettes and offering an alternative to traditional finishes.
- Edge details: Standard eased edge remains the most widely chosen profile for its clean and modern appearance, although the ogee edge is another one of the most popular edge profiles available.
- Waterfall countertops: The waterfall countertop extends the material down the sides of their island, which allows homeowners it into a bold focal point.
- Cabinet pairings: The resurgence of warmer-toned cabinets has inspired countertops to follow suit, with Hailey calling out luxurious stones such as Matarazzo Quartzite, Taj Mahal Quartzite, and Dolce Vita Quartzite as current favorites.
- Mixing materials: More homeowners are opting to use multiple countertop materials to create contrast and visual interest. For example, pairing a bold island in quartzite or marble with perimeter countertops in a light quartz creates a layered look that adds depth to kitchen design.
- Outdoor applications: Granite is still the most reliable and time-tested material for outdoor kitchens and surfaces thanks to its resistance to the elements and durability.
Wallpaper: Personalized Charm
Wallpaper has returned as a popular design tool to inject personality and charm into new homes. Far from the fussy or dated patterns of decades past, today’s wallpapers range from bold and modern to textural and subtle, offering endless options to express individual style.
- Statement walls and niches: Homeowners are using wallpaper to create accent walls or to highlight small spaces, like a stylish powder room or a reading nook.
- Ceiling surprises: An emerging twist is applying wallpaper on the ceiling for a bolder aesthetic that adds some personality through an unexpected design choice.
- From traditional to modern: There’s a wallpaper style for every taste, whether you’re aiming for vintage charm or an intriguing pattern to personalize specific spaces.
Design a Custom Home That Reflects Your Unique Style
From cabinets to countertops, your new home should be a reflection of who you are, not mass-produced for everyone else.
At Petros Homes, we believe the best designs start with you. Experts like Tricia can help you explore today’s trends, starting with a tour of our professional Design Studio.
Petros Homes has helped Northeast Ohio homeowners create personalized, luxury residences since 1985. Contact us today to learn how we can build a home where every square foot is customized around the way you want to live.
