The Year We Went Deep Into Dark Woods

"Suddenly, dark woods were everywhere: in vintage furniture drops from resellers like Rabbit Hole Vintage and Dobbin St. Vintage Coop, in design week exhibitions, in new restaurant designs, and in some of our favorite homes, like Walton Goggins's Hudson Valley sanctuary, with its wood-panelled walls and antique furnishings. AD100 designer Jake Arnold's latest project, a Hamptons residence for clients Jen Rubio and Stewart Butterfield, tapped into the same regal tone of timber with its scalloped custom millwork and assemblage of antiques."

"Fittingly for a look that's oh so cozy, it seems that fatigue over those ubiquitous hygge-friendly brights is one contributing factor to the dark woods trend. "I would love to do really good light wood design right now, but I do think that it has been overdone to the point of potentially being slightly cheapened," designer Susannah Holmberg tells AD. She's noticing her clients are more inclined to go to the dark side, too, after years of obsession over the sun-washed Scandi look."

Dark woods dominated interior design in 2025, appearing in vintage furniture drops, design exhibitions, restaurants, and notable homes with wood-paneled walls and antiques. High-profile projects embraced rich timber tones through custom millwork and curated antique assemblages, allowing dark wood to steer room composition rather than being tempered by light walls and furnishings. The longstanding dominance of Scandinavian simplicity softened as preferences shifted toward moody, sumptuous retreats. Fatigue with ubiquitous hygge-bright palettes contributed to the move toward darker materials. Designer Susannah Holmberg reports increased client interest in dark woods after years of sun-washed Scandi obsession.

Read at Architectural Digest