Have Indian homes finally broken up with brown?

There was a time not too long ago when the Indian colour wheel for home interiors rarely spun beyond cream, beige, brown or pale pista. Walls were always white, ceilings even whiter and colour, if it made an appearance at all, was relegated to a stray embroidered cushion or a multicoloured bedsheet. But that’s changing, and fast.

A new wave of homeowners and designers are breaking away from this chromatic conservatism, ushering in an era of bold choices, personal expression that embraces vibrant colours. Walk through newly built flats in Mumbai, Bengaluru or Delhi and you’ll see it: teal kitchen cabinets, electric blue sofas and even black walls. From dopamine interiors to maximalist nostalgia, the quiet tyranny of beige has finally been broken. This is not just a passing trend. It is, as many designers agree, a cultural reclamation.

FROM BROWN TO BOLD

The roots of beige supremacy run deep. Liberalisation in the 1990s brought with it a flood of Western design magazines, international catalogues and a desire to emulate minimalist, ‘tasteful’ aesthetics. The result was a domestic visual language stripped of regional nuance, skewed towards grey, taupe and ‘egg-shell white’. Minimalism became synonymous with sophistication, where the absence of colour signalled refinement.

FROM CREAM MARBLE TO PAINTED MURALS

I’ve watched this change unfold not only through the lens of my work but also at home. Growing up in the 1990s, my first home was all Kashmiri woodwork and heavily framed tapestries that covered most of the walls. When we moved into a more affluent neighbourhood in Mumbai, my mother declared that our new home would be entirely white—walls, ceilings and flooring too. Except for one thing—her wardrobe doors. She had them covered in a geometric print and topped with glass. That one statement has been the highlight of the house ever since.

Years later, when we renovated again in the 2010s, she still chose cream-coloured marble but this time added a shimmery ivory-gold accent wall (the textured kind that had just entered the market and felt thrillingly new) and bright floral fabric from Marimekko on the cupboards. Today, she has a hand-painted mural of flowers spray-painted onto the same wardrobe shutters in tones of sky blue, orange and pink. And the rest of the house? Still white.

The difference now is that the white is a choice, not a default. And that a mural doesn’t feel like a radical decision, it feels natural. The arc from fearful experimentation to confident self-expression is evident in how so many of us now approach colour.

INSTAGRAM INTERIORS AND PINTEREST DÉCOR

What might have remained a gradual evolution to bringing more colour into the home became a revolution through the dual catalysts of pandemic lockdowns and digital inspiration. “People spent six months at home and realised their houses should look better. Even my friends who never cared for interior design started asking me what plates to serve in,” says Devika Narain, who runs a wedding design studio best known for creating high-profile ceremonies across India. The pandemic brought on an era of nesting. And as we began spending more time inside, we wanted our homes to reflect not just our routines but our personalities.

FROM POP TO PERSONAL

Devika explains how her own journey with colour charts this evolution. Raised in a home surrounded by gardens, decorated with bright curtains and floral sofas, her aesthetic has always been rooted in colour. “I have a theory,” she says. “You can tell how evolved someone’s aesthetic is by the amount of colour they use at home. Everyone starts with the white-walled look. Then slowly, a cushion comes in, an artwork, a painted wall.”

In her current home, Devika has an L-shaped wall painted black in her study, paired with a black-and-white wallpaper from Asian Paints on an adjacent wall. The house has been styled entirely by instinct, without any formal interior design training, and she describes her decorating process with an almost sartorial analogy: “I think your home is a lot like what you wear. You get up in the morning and you pick a mood and colour is a part of that mood.” For her, green is a neutral shade and the décor shifts constantly with the seasons. “I’ve brought out objects and linens in lavenders because a lot of my wildflowers are in bloom now,” she says. “There will be yellow cushions when the sunflowers arrive.”

Shabnam, too, shares an evocative picture of her own bedroom: “I have birds and butterflies and whimsical trees painted behind my bed. The headboard is Jamdani woven, with a thread work featuring the tree of life. But the rest of the room is off-white. When I wake up, I see quiet. But when I enter the room, I see joy.”

Arun Shekar, a designer based in Kochi and co-founder of Humming Tree studio, recounts a vivid project in Bangalore where the living room was painted a deep Russian blue. “The couple loves to party, entertain guests with cocktails. The darkness suits their lifestyle,” he explains. “Their child’s bedroom is jungle green and their guest room is terracotta, both a nod to their Assamese roots.”

He says that exposure to international travel also plays a key role in colour selection. “When people travel, they see homes abroad that use darker palettes or bold colour in a confident way. They return saying, ‘Why not try that here?’ Now clients more open to testing, to sampling, to playing around with wall colour and furnishings before committing.”

In many cases, it’s the clients themselves who lead the charge. Arun recalls Chitra and Raghunath, a couple in their late 50s who had lived in Mumbai and travelled extensively. During their travels through Portugal and Spain in their mid-30s, they fell in love with colour and pattern and decided they wanted their next home to reflect that same spirit. “They wanted orange, red, blue, houndstooth, patterns on patterns in their Bangalore home,” says Arun. “They’d gone to other architects who said no. But they told us, ‘We don’t care what anyone thinks. This is who we are.’”

FROM AMAR COLONY TO ASIAN PAINTS’ CHROMACOSM

Designers say the shift now is as much about mindset as it is about access. And the market has responded. “Earlier, you had to hunt in places like Amar Colony in Delhi to find painted furniture,” says Devika. “Now, brands across price points are doing colour.”

India’s design market has followed its own rhythm. A dacade or more ago brands like Play Clan and Chumbak were just starting to gain momentum with their rickshaw motifs and Bolly-pop icons. Back then, colour was still mostly reserved for quirky cushions or illustrated coasters. Rarely the wall. Rarely the furniture. But somewhere between that phase and now, colour’s grown up.

Emerald sectionals and mustard-yellow armchairs are popular, rugs also have become anchors of expression with brands offering contemporary designs rooted in Indian craft. Even tech has turned aesthetic: TVs come with ‘Art Mode’ and wooden frames.