Mocha Mousse: How to use pantone’s 2025 colour of the year in interior design

Each year, designers across the globe wait with anticipation for Pantone to reveal their ‘Colour of the Year’. In 2024, we had 13-1023 Peach Fuzz, a delicate, pastel, sherbet orange that popped up in contemporary interior design schemes across the world. In 2023, it was Viva Magenta 18-1750, and we saw bold, wine reds painting homes, cafes, and runways.

This year, Pantone’s decided to go back to basics – well, back to neutrals that is. But unlike 2021’s 17-5104 Ultimate Gray, 2025’s 17-1230 Mocha Mousse is looking to be a neutral shade that we can have a lot more fun with. 

A warm, chocolatey brown, Mocha Mousse has already been embraced by interior designers to create timeless design schemes. Here are just a few of the funnest, most chic ways you can incorporate Mocha Mousse into your own home design.

What colours pair with Mocha Mousse?

Mocha Mousse is a shade of brown, a lovely blend of coffee and chocolate. In terms of allegiance, brown is a neutral colour. It complements and enhances other colours without demanding the spotlight (unless you want it to). It evokes the earth, rustic living spaces. Cosiness. 

Think of the soil in your garden bed. Next to a lighter shade of brown paper bark, it looks right at home. It’s equally at home with an olive green stem sprouting from it and a vibrant sunflower perched upon the stem. That’s the kind of versatility Mocha Mousse offers. It just needs your imagination to bring it to life. 

Mocha Mousse takeover: room by room

Whether your ideas are humble or Grand Designs-level epic, there’s a lot you can achieve with Mocha Mousse, regardless of the space you’re working in. Let’s step through the main spaces you’re likely to use this colour.

The bathroom

A pristine white tub against a Mocha Mousse wall? You’re sold. And what if you prefer a more industrialist feel? Then get yourself a concrete trough sink in a beige shade and pair it with brushed brass fittings to create an elegant colourscape of tans, browns, and metallics. Like the kitchen, your bathroom will sing when it’s given the rustic treatment. 

The living room

If you’re excited to use Mocha Mousse, why not incorporate it in shared spaces where this warm tone can really be appreciated? If you’re leaning toward using a lot, consider painting the walls. In this case, the contrast will come from the architraves or a scene-stealing beige or tan sofa, like a splash of milk in a hearty hot chocolate.

If you’d rather be more sparing with your Mocha Mousse application, simply flip the contrast and use this warm brown as a rich accent tone that lifts the room’s mood. This can be done by incorporating dark wood furniture to act as your Mocha Mousse pieces. Just be sure to consider the undertones of your timber to make sure all your furniture and decor maintain a cohesive colour scheme.

The bedroom

Maybe you want Mocha Mousse all for yourself. If so, where better than the bedroom? A space of intimacy and rest, our bedrooms deserve a grounded, sensual colour to well and truly transform them into a warm and cosy haven. And as giving your walls a fresh coat of paint is one of the most affordable and impactful home makeover ideas you can try, why not start here when it comes to bedroom redesigns?

Same rules as the living room; either go big or go small. If you choose to go big, the contrast can come from linens. Bed linen is a wonderful conduit for mood, so get creative. If it’s a similarly neutral colour you’re after, try beige. If you want your bed to really pop, try burnt orange or a vibrant purple. 

The kitchen

When you look at Mocha Mousse as a raw colour, do you see visions of a Tuscan kitchen? You’re not alone. Nowhere is an earthy tone more at home than in the kitchen. Mocha Mousse pantry doors against a sandstone floor? Yes, please. 

The best part about using this colour in the kitchen is that it contrasts wonderfully with the shifting colours that visit this room. Think fresh produce from the markets, think pot plants on the window sill, think morning sunshine on the bench. Our kitchens are inherently earthy spaces, so you’ll find that incorporating some chocolatey Mocha Mousse will vibe perfectly with the atmosphere of your kitchen – and hopefully all with minimal changes.

The home office

We can’t let your home have all the fun. If the office needs a fresh lick of inspiration, give it a little Mocha Mousse. Again, the earthiness of this colour will help create a common foyer that’s calming and conducive to a comfortable day’s work.

Another benefit of having brown, natural-look decor or even brown walls in your home office space is that they pair perfectly with light and airy interiors, with natural dark wood grains adding an organic element to your home office. As light and a positive atmosphere are conducive to working productively in any office space, having Mocha Mousse as a defining colour in your office colour scheme can hit not only the light and airy boxes, but can also help ensure your office feels earthy and organic with minimal effort.

Colour your Home with Mocha Mousse in 2025

As a name, Mocha Mousse is literal and suitably evocative. As a colour, it’s warm and inviting, qualities that make it brilliant for interior design. Our biggest takeaway? Use Mocha Mousse for the right reasons. Disciplines like fashion design and graphic design can follow trends at whim, given their chameleon-like natures and cyclical output; interior design has no such luxury. You have to consider the long game if you want to create something you’re proud to share with others.

Inspiring interior design does this. It sticks in our memories because it’s timeless, because it looks brilliant and fresh every day, regardless of season or popular opinion. If your gut is telling you to go with Mocha Mousse, listen. It could prove the decision that transforms your space into something unforgettable.

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