The 9 best paint colors for creating cozy vibes

As autumn’s chill descends, many of us turn to primal comforts, whether it’s bone broth soups or flannel sheets. While paint colors don’t often fall into that category, they probably should. The right hue can be “something that envelops you,” said Young Huh, a designer in New York.

If you’re looking to cozy up your space with a paint color, look for something with some richness, said Sara Hillery, a designer in Richmond. But the boldest choices aren’t necessarily the snuggliest ones. “It depends on everybody’s version of cozy, but for me, I think of wrapping a nice warm blanket around me,” Hillery said. “And to do that, it needs to have a weight to it and a certain depth of color to not feel like it’s a linen blanket.”

The trick is to look for something with a bit of muddiness or earthiness — cozy hues shouldn’t be “pure of color,” Hillery added. You can even find a cozy blue or gray as long as it’s a warmer version, Huh said.

Here are nine shades that pro designers say will keep you feeling cozy all winter.

Van Deusen Blue by Benjamin Moore

You know a paint color is a winner when you have used it over and over, which is the case for Hillery with Benjamin Moore’s Van Deusen Blue. “It’s not loud, and it’s moody in a sophisticated way, so that it feels classic,” she said, noting that the client’s rug inspired the color palette for this room. “We tried to embody jewel tones there with the green velvet sofa and cognac leather chair, which reinforces a rich, cozy environment.”

Guacamole by Benjamin Moore

Designer Stephanie Sabbe chose a muddy green, Benjamin Moore’s Guacamole, for an “evening room” in a home in Nashville. For her, the color perfectly captures the mood of fall in central Tennessee. “In Nashville, the only true sign of the seasons changing in early October is rain,” Sabbe, the author of the forthcoming book “Interiors of a Storyteller,” said in an email. “What was scorching now just feels swampy.” The loamy shade looks extra cozy alongside the fireplace in the room, making the flames seem even brighter.

Drop Cloth by Farrow & Ball

Tasked with choosing a color for a Charlotte room that faces the garden and gets plentiful natural light, designer Gray Walker opted for something that reminded her of “when a charcoal’s been burned and it turns those different shades of gray,” she said. Drop Cloth by Farrow & Ball satisfied her hunt for a hue that would “have a warmness about it, but not be too dark.” (It is also a close match to the lightest shade in the pattern of the Kelly Wearstler fabric on the window treatment in the space. In short: It “goes.”)

Gentleman’s Gray by Benjamin Moore

Huh chose Benjamin Moore’s Gentleman’s Gray in a flat finish for this room with exposed grain wood details. “Our client wanted a really saturated room, and it has really high ceilings, but they wanted to feel really cozy in the space,” she said. “So we picked this blue, which is a really deep, deep blue.” It’s earned raves from those who experience it on a regular basis. “It’s funny, we’ve used this color a few times and every time we use it, someone in the family says, ‘This is my favorite room. I just want to be in this room.’ There’s something that makes you feel really comforted. It’s moody, but in a warm way.”

Oakmoss by Sherwin-Williams

Sherwin-Williams’s Oakmoss is a deep but cheerful shade of green, said designer Courtney Hill Fertitta, who employed it in this paneled nook in a Houston commercial dining space. It “creates a welcoming environment perfect for lingering over good food and great conversation,” she said in an email. Pairing it with a pleated lampshade ups the homey factor, while the plush banquette is meant to “envelop” people. The gilt frames on the paintings supply a nice note of reflectivity and glitz.

Anonymous by Sherwin-Williams

Hill Fertitta used Pratt and Lambert’s Diplomat Gray on the millwork and cabinetry in this Houston butlers’ pantry to give it a soft, supple feel. That specific color is no longer available, but a good match would be Sherwin-Williams’s Anonymous, Hill Fertitta says. “The undertones bring a depth to the gray color without drawing attention, creating a cozy and calming effect,” she wrote. The insides of the cabinets are painted a soft, rusty orange — Grand Canyon by Benjamin Moore — for an added layer of warmth. Brass rivet decorative screws on the edges of the cabinets and drawers complete the look.

Red Earth by Farrow and Ball

“I was dubious when my daughter said she wanted to paint her West Village apartment in this intense, red clay type color,” Mally Skok, a designer in Boston, said in an email. The color in question: Farrow & Ball’s Red Earth. Her fear — that it would make the space dark and gloomy — wasn’t realized. Actually, she said, the results were the opposite. “The velvety color bathes the room in an enveloping autumnal hug. Art and mirrors play beautifully against the depth of the color. It feels cheery, like that first whiff of wood smoke that drifts on the breeze of the first cool day in October.”

Dartsmouth Green by Benjamin Moore

Walker took inspiration from men’s suiting fabric when designing this space in Charlotte. She selected a Cowtan & Tout wool plaid for the window treatments, and from that, homed in on the wall color: Benjamin Moore’s Dartsmouth Green. “I’ll pick up on the darkest yarn or part of the design of a fabric, but then I’ll take it to a lighter intensity,” she says. They used a paint sprayer to apply the paint in a high-gloss finish, so it reads almost like a lacquer.

Dixon Brown by Benjamin Moore

“We did not originally plan to paint this bedroom this warm chocolate color,” said Caitlin Kah, a designer in Palm Beach, Florida. But when they had chosen all the fabrics and finishes, she said, “we were like, ‘White walls will not do!’” Kah looked to a room Tom Scheerer designed in the Lyford Cay Club in the Bahamas as a cocoa-colored inspiration, then called in samples of various shades from Samplize to see the hues in person. The winner? Benjamin Moore’s Dixon Brown. “Since then, we’ve used it in multiple projects now as a brown accent or whenever we need a chocolate brown,” she said. “It’s our go-to.”