Thoughts of trends from Bay Area’s top luxury home agents
At the start of each year, we feature our home design trends cover article as we step into a new year and explore new looks for our homes. Our home is our most important sanctuary and often our biggest investment, too. The year 2025 comes with new trends in color, architectural styles, interior décor, and other design aspects to embrace.
We have asked top luxury home agents in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Napa Valley, and East Bay to share their thoughts of new design trends in this article. Examples of the homes they are selling are pictured in this article, following my observation of design trends and pictures of three newly built luxury homes I am selling in Belvedere-Tiburon areas.

The Colors
The Pantone Color Institute™ is recognized around the world as a leading source of color information through seasonal trend forecasts, custom color development, and palette recommendations to leverage the power, psychology, and emotion of color in their design strategies. More than 10 million designers and producers around the world rely on Pantone products and services to help define, communicate, and control color from inspiration to realization.
Each year, Pantone selects a color that captures the global zeitgeist. Pantone has announced its 2025 color of the year to be Mocha Mousse (pantone.com/color-of-the-year/2025). A warming brown hue imbued with richness, Pantone 17-1230 Mocha Mousse nurtures us with its suggestion of the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee, answering our desire for comfort.
Several year-end design magazine articles define a warm taupe (similar to Mocha Mousse) as the color of the year, too. This rich, versatile shade has captured the attention of trend forecasters and industry leaders alike for its unparalleled ability to bridge contemporary elegance with timeless coziness.
Veranda Magazine states, “Warm taupe exudes a quiet sophistication, offering a perfect foundation for creating spaces that feel both grounded and inspired. With its medium light reflective value, this shade reflects a balanced amount of light, making it ideal for a variety of lighting conditions. Light reflective value is a fascinating concept in design; it’s a fun and intriguing way to understand how colors interact with light and shape the mood of a space.”
The Styles
Residential architectural styles have distinctively changed over the years. In San Francisco, we have massive numbers of Victorian and Edwardian style homes built from the turn of the 20th century to the 1920s. Those were followed by the elegant Mediterranean style villas and imitation French châteaux trending in the 1920s and 1930s, simple, basic wartime housing in 1940s, and the mid-century modern style in 1950s and 1960s. Italian villa style homes with stucco walls and red tile roofs became popular in the 1970s through the 1990s, followed by contemporary style homes in the early 2000s and continuing now.
In recent years, open floorplans with living-dining room combinations opening into the kitchen, tall ceilings, wall-to-wall windows, light and airy interiors with wood and glass, and rectangular, boxy exterior designs have been very popular. Contemporary white and gray furniture with artwork, decorative pillows, rich textures, and a touch of color from shawls on beds and sofas have been popular in most high-end homes and enhance the more elevated beauty while keeping a relaxed and uncluttered look.
I have been staging homes for my sellers since 1998. I have followed this trendy aesthetic with some touches of colors here and there. (See my listings at 26Peninsula.com and 465BelvedereAve.com.)

In the last half-century, the kitchen became the focal point of the home, a place where family and friends gather, unlike the 1920s and 1930s when luxury homes were built for families with chefs who did the cooking and kitchens were tucked away in the back of the house. Another modern development was the media room where families watched television together after TVs became widely available in every household.
An in-house office and a gym with sauna and steam room also became luxury home amenities, plus exterior amenities such as tennis courts, golf putting greens, pools and cabañas, and outdoor entertainment spaces with wet bar, kitchen, and pizza oven. (See the poolside kitchen and bar with pizza oven at SpringMountainEstateNapaValley.com) Also popular are wall-to-wall sliding doors that disappear into the wall pockets and create a wide-open, indoor-outdoor lifestyle. (See 2215VistazoEast.com designed by Sausalito-based architect Scott Couture.)
The Décor
The most popular home décor trend last 10-plus years has been the “quiet luxury trend” with neutral white and light gray colors and rooms with minimal decoration. This look has been shown on almost all staged homes and at design stores. However, I am tired of this aesthetic which many call the “white shoebox” look, and I know many designers are ready to depart from the monotone color scheme and see it evolve into something more stylish and colorful.
Especially, the wives of high-end home buyers want more color and richness in design. They are over entire homes drenched in gray-on-gray and white-on-white interpretations of quiet luxury. They want more accents and contrast and stronger visual impact, but are not ready for overcrowding rooms with furniture and antiques yet.
I also added more color and uniqueness to my recent staging. The light and airy look—such as glass dining tables—is still popular, but the glass-and-chrome aesthetic is too cold-looking now. Glass with richer looking brass is more popular now, and wood is back—but not dark wood yet. Light, wide plank French oak flooring and light, neutral wood cabinets and consoles are popular and have replaced monotone stone tile floors.
Social media trends and mass-produced furniture are fading away. More unique and enduring luxury furniture, crafted with high quality materials and artistic designs, that may be an investment and collector’s items and last for decades are back. The color palettes that will last the test of time are calming colors, neutrals, rich jewel tones, natural greens and blues, and earthy browns such as Pantone’s Mocha Mousse.
I don’t think most of the population is ready for antiques yet, contrary to the predictions of several design magazines and designers. (Many decorations in recent issues of Architectural Digest are full of antiques.) Having formerly owned two 17th century French châteaux, I was an antique lover for many years, but I sold the châteaux in 2012 and changed the décor of my other homes, including a classic London condo, to contemporary styles. I liked that interior design aesthetic ever since I redecorated and removed my antiques.
My London condo pictures are on LuxuryRentals-London.com.
Joel Goodrich

Modern minimalism has dominated home design for two decades with sleek lines and monochromatic palettes. However, classic architecture, with its timeless charm and craftsmanship, remains highly appealing. Styles like Colonial, Victorian, and Georgian offer history and character through features like arched doorways, wainscoting, and coffered ceilings.
We are seeing buyers increasingly value unique, personal homes over cookie-cutter trends, blending Old World charm with modern amenities. This reflects a desire for spaces with stories and soul, as classic designs provide warmth, depth, and enduring beauty. While trends fade, the love for classic architecture proves true style never goes out of fashion.

For example, see one of my recent sales at the iconic 1001 California Building, dubbed “Paris meets Park Avenue” on Nob Hill. Step into a world of timeless glamour in a spectacular San Francisco residence situated in one of the city’s most legendary Beaux-Arts style buildings.
This super-elegant, full-floor residence enjoys stunning views of the world renowned, classic Fairmont Hotel, Mark Hopkins Hotels, the Pacific Union Club, Huntington Park, and Grace Cathedral, with the shimmering waters of the bay and glittering towers of the Financial District and Bay Bridge as a magical backdrop.
The grand scale of the interiors and extraordinary architectural detailing, as well as the irreplaceable design and finishes, are reminiscent of a grand Park Avenue co-op in Manhattan or a historic hôtel particulier in Paris.
Starting with the dramatically opulent circular entrance foyer, the unparalleled nature of the public entertaining rooms has been extensively captured in a variety of design and lifestyle publications, including the ultimate Architectural Digest feature, while the luxuriously outfitted private areas create a serene retreat. Details and photos on 1001californiast3.com/.
About Joel Goodrich
One of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most prominent luxury real estate agents over the past 25 years with over $1,000,000,000 in sales, Joel Goodrich works closely with clients in the sale and purchase of prominent estates, penthouses, and investment properties.

He has listed some of the most expensive homes in America, including the historic, 35,000-square-foot Tobin Clark Estate in Hillsborough, and represented the sale of some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most exceptional properties, many of which have been featured in Architectural Digest and many other design and lifestyle publications. Goodrich has also sold celebrity estates such as Sharon Stone’s oceanfront Sea Cliff mansion and the Kim Kardashian/Kanye West estate in Bel Air Crest.
His listings have also been prominently featured in major media outlets, including television appearances on CBS Evening News, CNBC television, BRAVO Fox Television, as well as in interviews and editorials in Forbes.com, the Wall Street Journal, Mansion Global, MarketWatch, SFLuxe.com, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Nob Hill Gazette, Bloomberg News, Town & Country, SFIS, Haute Living, and Gentry Magazine. He has been the number 1 agent for the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury Pacific Heights office in San Francisco for the past five years and has appeared on the Wall Street Journal’s real estate trends list of the top agents in the United States.
Michael Dreyfus
The COVID-19 trends of buyers wanting larger, move-in ready homes with amenities such as pools and lush gardens continued in 2024 and into 2025. Buyers also continue to seek modern, open floorplan styles over traditionally styled homes. Homes needing work languished on the market as buyers feared the high cost of construction and supply chain issues.

As listing agents, we are making more pre-sale improvements to homes to try to enhance their chances of selling. Prices in Silicon Valley and the Peninsula held steady despite rising rates, as inventory remained scarce, and actual sales remained low. Silicon Valley’s growing population and high-tech industry buyers are in need of more new housing construction. We look forward to easier development approvals and building permits process as well as lower construction costs in 2025.

About Michael Dreyfus
Michael Dreyfus has had 30 years of repeated success in residential real estate. He currently ranks as one of the leading sales agents in the Silicon Valley/Peninsula area and has regular appearances on the Wall Street Journal/Real Trend’s list of America’s top 250 agents. He is a co-owner and the top sales agent for Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty with over 450 agents in 20 offices across the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California. His recent sales included some of the highest sales recorded in Palo Alto, Woodside, Portola Valley, and Atherton.

In addition, he has represented sellers and buyers in high-end transactions throughout California, most recently representing ranches and vineyards in Northern California and an estate in Montecito/Santa Barbara area. Dreyfus is considered a thought leader in residential real estate and is often interviewed in local, regional and national press for his opinion on the residential market. Michael is a licensed real estate broker as well as an attorney-at-law.
Damian Archbold
I specialize in vineyard properties in Napa Valley. What attracts buyers to Napa is a penchant for wine. Living among the vines in large, open vistas with a vineyard view distinguishes Napa from other bucolic locations in California. Optimized private views from the valley floor or among our beautiful rolling hills are all that some buyers require, while others want to take the next step.
Owning a small, sustainable, turnkey vineyard where one can explore a new, more intimate relationship with their land and perhaps create their own wine label is also a popular choice and may represent the ultimate expression of what it means to move to wine country. Whether you produce your own wines or simply collect from the hundreds of award-winning vintners in the area, most buyers will also seek a home with a substantial wine cellar or entertainment cave.

Luxurious wine country vineyard estates are timeless, no matter the design trend. The 110-acre 4 Winds Winery at 5870 Silverado Trail is a great example of a spectacular vineyard estate I am currently selling. It borders Stag’s Leap Cellars and overlooks the entire eastern slope of the acclaimed Stag’s Leap AVA. This ultimate private compound in Napa Valley includes an 8,681-square-foot, Provençal-inspired country vineyard style house; a 998-square-foot guest cottage; a 1,500-square-foot caretaker home, and a beautifully finished, barrel-laden cave with dining room.
The three-acre, state-of-the-art vineyard (with capacity to expand) has been developed by renowned winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown. The estate’s fruit is used to create 4 Winds Vineyard’s highly coveted, small-production wine. The estate is a singular environmental haven employing the most technologically advanced methods of land management.

Fully insured, it includes turnkey programs, currently securing USDA grants for grazing and fertilization. In addition, a robust wildfire defense system and an infrastructure of spring-fed and well water systems ensure the ongoing sustainability of the land. 4 Winds Winery is exceptional, impossible to replicate, and full of possibilities.
About Damian Archbold
Damian Archbold is a premier real estate advisor in wine country’s Napa Valley region. With a notable career spanning over three decades, as a CEO, entrepreneur, and investment banker, he possesses a wealth of invaluable expertise. For the past decade he has focused on his real estate career, offering clients unparalleled guidance and support. His success is rooted in his extensive business background, which he seamlessly integrates into every professional transaction.
Archbold prioritizes transparency and acts as a trusted fiduciary, ensuring his clients receive an exceptional real estate experience. He has had the privilege of representing esteemed vineyards, winery, and residential properties, leveraging his background to achieve remarkable results. His specialized expertise lies in assessing the long-term financial value of properties, particularly within the wine industry. Notably, Archbold represented the list and sale of Seven Stones Winery, sold at the full listing price of $34 million—a testament to his valued expertise.
Herman Chan
Millennial “greige” is over. The color palette (or lack thereof) that once seemed sleek and modern now appears cold and sterile. My clients grew tired of the “white shoebox” aesthetic. Expect to see more tinges of neutral earth tones like taupe showcased in homes. People want warmth and coziness with more colors. Arches are making a comeback.

That quintessential 1990’s semi-circle has been popping up in graphic design, and it was just a matter of time before it returned to architecture. Keep your eyes out for arched windows and hallways. Again, it’s a return to a softer aesthetic. Even decorations are more textured now, like fuzzy furniture, tactile decorative pillows, shawls on beds and sofas, and wallpaper.

About Herman Chan
After brokering over half a billion dollars’ worth of property, it is no secret that Herman Chan is a leading expert in all things luxury. For over 18 years, Herman’s award-winning marketing strategies and millennial tech savvy combine to afford his devoted clientele an artful approach for unprecedented success.
As a trilingual (English, French, and Chinese) mass communications major from UC Berkeley, Chan’s combination of traditional marketing strategies and millennial tech savvy rewards clients with an award-winning, artful approach, realizing unprecedented results. With his rapid ascent to becoming one of San Francisco’s premier real estate agents, the entertainment industry quickly took notice.

In the years since—as an author, speaker, and TV personality—Chan is routinely sought after to provide key insight into the real estate market and beyond for television and news outlets, such as HGTV, CBC, CNET, MSNBC, Huffington Post, CBS, PBS, CNN Money, USA Today, and US News & World Report.
While his charismatic personality shines on camera, it’s his passionate pursuit of excellence for his clients that elicits praise throughout the industry. Today, with renowned local expertise and storied track record of success, Chan continues his unwavering effort on behalf of his devoted clientele to not only realize their goals but exceed them.
Chan has been featured as a real estate expert on CNN Money, Huffington Post, PBS, Logo, and the San Francisco Chronicle and as a national public speaker on luxury real estate, branding, and marketing. He is the best-selling author of Looking Up.
As a real estate agent ranked in the top 5% by the Wall Street Journal’s Real Trends Report and Zillow, he is also ranked in the top 100 realtors in sales volume by San Francisco Magazine and as a 2017 Top 100 Influential by Inman News.