Brown Is The New Black

Brown can range from a soft beige to rich amber to deep cocoa. The colour might lean purple, grey, or green; it may be subtle, inviting or intense. No matter the shade, brown can be comforting, sophisticated, chic and fit into any décor style. These days, designers are incorporating the classic colour more and more, sometimes even replacing black with brown.

“A chocolate brown has much more depth than black; it is a colour versus a shade,” said Cindy Rinfret, a designer based in Greenwich, Connecticut. “While black can help create contrast in a space, using a chocolate brown can give you the same effect but in a much richer and layered way.”

We asked a group of design pros about the relevance of brown in interior design and how to use this classic colour successfully. Here’s what they recommend.

Go for Contrast

“Brown is coming back into favour, we are seeing shades of browns with other tones that can read aubergine or grey, and they are handsome colours.

“I like to use very dark shades of brown, and those are often juxtaposed to a shade of white to give it a pop. My personal favourites are chocolate browns and the more purple tones of brown. Pinks, purples and some shades of orange and yellow work well with browns. A Hermes orange shade against a chocolate brown looks incredible. It’s all about contrast and introducing a splash of colour against it. Brown is a backdrop but put a magenta pillow against it, or a perfect shade of yellow, and it can come alive.”

— Christopher Peacock, founder and CEO of Christopher Peacock Cabinetry in New York City

Vary Tone and Texture

“Brown is a great way to make a space more dynamic as layering intensity of colour allows the whole design to pop. Brown is very versatile and can be used with a myriad of other colours. It is a timeless classic.

“Choosing the right brown can be tricky. You should identify your goal first and then go from there. For example, is it being used as piping to highlight a pillow fabric, or are the walls lacquered in chocolate brown to create a sexy space? Either way, if you are planning on using a lot of browns, make sure to vary the tone and texture of its use throughout.”

— Designer Cindy Rinfret in Greenwich, Connecticut

Hang Abstract Art on Brown Walls

“Brown gives all the richness and depth without the harshness given with black. It is also easier to mix brown with other colours than black.

“I prefer cooler browns with hints of green and gray. ‘Salon Drab’ by Farrow & Ball is my preferred shade. In some light, it can almost look olive. I also love a palette of cognac and tobacco for a room with a masculine feel.

“When using brown on the walls, I don’t like to use white as a contrasting colour––it is too harsh. Instead, use olive green or French gray. Brown walls look great when you hang vibrant abstract art on them. Or add wall-to-wall carpet in beige or orange.”

— Designer Alexander Doherty in New York

Use Pattern to Bring Brown to Life

“Browns should be a little complex, in my opinion, and not like the brown crayon in the crayon packet. They should lean in a direction that has depth and mystery. I prefer browns that do not have red undertones but are more like a mink or a seal––it’s like they are on the verge of becoming something else.Our favourite browns are:

‘Tanner’sBrown’ by Farrow & Ball, ‘Rural Brown”’ by Benjamin Moore, and Sherwin Williams’s ‘Sealskin.’

“To make brown feel fresh and alive, I rely on pattern, unexpected colours and contrast. For example, for a space with light floors and a brown wall, add a touch of red or even lilac to add interest and excitement. Lavenders and lilacs are really pretty when paired with brown. We just did a Florida house in deep brown, light greys and lavender. We used white plaster accents, a touch of black, and lots of rattan and sisal. It felt fresh and comfortable, not so seaside-obvious.

“Nina Campbell has the greatest wallpaper with a brown ground and grey, stone and white accents. It’s dramatic yet somehow understated and really highlights the staying power of brown.”

— Designer Liz Caan in Newton, Massachusetts

Former President Donald Trump said he would ban undocumented immigrants from obtaining home mortgages, a move he indicated would help ease home prices even though these buyers account for a tiny fraction of U.S. home sales.

Home loans to undocumented people living in the U.S. are legal but they aren’t especially common. Between 5,000 and 6,000 mortgages of this kind were issued last year, according to estimates from researchers at the Urban Institute in Washington.

Overall, lenders issued more than 3.4 million mortgages to all home purchasers in 2023, federal government data show.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, made his comments Thursday during a policy speech to the Economic Club of New York in Manhattan.

Housing remains a top economic issue for voters during this presidential election. Rent and home prices grew at historic rates during the pandemic and mortgage rates climbed to levels not seen in more than two decades. A July Wall Street Journal poll showed that voters rank housing as their second-biggest inflation concern after groceries.

Both major candidates for the 2024 presidential election have made appeals to voters on housing during recent campaign stops, though the issue has so far featured more prominently in Vice President Kamala Harris ’s campaign.

Trump has blamed immigrants for many of the nation’s woes, including crime and unemployment. Now, he is pointing to immigrants as a cause of the nation’s housing-affordability crisis. Yet some affordable-housing advocates and real-estate professionals said Trump’s mortgage proposal would fail to bring relief to priced-out home buyers.

“It’s unfortunate that given the significant housing affordability crisis that is widely acknowledged across most partisan lines, we are arguing about a minuscule segment of the market,” said David Dworkin, president of the National Housing Conference, an affordable-housing advocacy group.

Gary Acosta, chief executive of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, a trade organization, said, “It’s just another effort to vilify immigrants and to continue to scapegoat them for any issues that we have here in the United States.”

A Trump campaign spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. can obtain an obscure type of mortgage designed for taxpayers without Social Security numbers, most of whom are Hispanic. The passage of the USA Patriot Act of 2001 allowed banks to use identification numbers from the Internal Revenue Service as an alternative to Social Security, extending a number of financial services to people without legal status for the first time.

Mortgage loans for undocumented immigrants are typically higher interest and borrowers include legal residents who have undocumented spouses, Acosta said. Lenders include regional credit unions and community-development financial institutions.

In his speech, Trump said that “the flood” of undocumented immigrants is driving up housing costs. “That’s why my plan will ban mortgages for illegal aliens,” he said.

Trump didn’t elaborate on how he would enact a ban on such loans.

Though mortgages for undocumented people living in the U.S. are relatively rare, residential real-estate purchases by foreign nationals are big business , especially in expensive coastal cities such as New York and Los Angeles. These sales have declined in recent years, however.

Close to half of foreign purchases are made by people residing abroad, while the other half are made by recent immigrants or residents on nonimmigrant visas, according to an annual survey by the National Association of Realtors. Many affluent foreigners buy U.S. homes with cash instead of obtaining mortgage financing.

In his Thursday speech, which focused mostly on other economic matters such as energy and taxation, Trump proposed other measures to bring down housing costs, including cutting regulations for builders and allowing more building on federal land. Similar ideas appeared in the housing policy outline Harris released in August .

The former president has spoken on housing-related issues in speeches at other recent campaign stops, including in Michigan last month, where he touted his administration’s 2020 overturn of a policy that had encouraged cities to reduce racial segregation .

“I keep the suburbs safe,” Trump said. “I stopped low-income towers from rising right alongside of their house. And I’m keeping the illegal aliens away from the suburbs.”

Brown Is The New Black

Whether it’s covering walls or adorning accent pillows, the colour is popping up everywhere.

The Republican nominee says it would help bring down home prices, though these buyers account for a fraction of U.S. home sales