Brown Is Back: Five Ways I'm Letting It Take Over My House (and My Closet)

I never fully broke up with brown in my home. While the rest of the design world spent a decade chasing gray everything (gray walls, gray floors, gray sofas ).My home has always been full of antiques with a mixture of tones. We tend to gravitate toward the painted, decorated pieces, but natural wood has never been far behind. I wore a lot of brown once when my hair was still dark brown. Once it went white, I put brown away, convinced it would wash me out. I’m only now finding my way back to it.

But there’s no denying it now: brown is officially having its moment again. Brown furniture, the kind our mothers grandmothers, (and moi) collected, is suddenly the thing designers can’t stop talking about. And over on the fashion side, brown has quietly replaced black as the color everyone is reaching for first. Richer, warmer, and perhaps more flattering on most of us over 60 than a flat black ever was.

So this week’s five favorites live at the intersection of those two worlds. Home and wardrobe, both leaning into brown, both proving that the “new neutral” isn’t beige at all. It’s brown. Let’s chat about Brown Is Back: Five Ways I’m Letting It Take Over My House (and My Closet).

1. A Real Wood Chest (Please, Save It From the Curb)

If you have an inherited “brown” antique cupboardd or a walnut chest sitting in a guest room because you didn’t know what to do with it, this is your sign. Brown case goods, the ones with actual grain and patina and a little history in them, are back in a way that makes all those white-painted dupes look like what they are: a trend that already came and went. Mix a vintage brown dresser or a leather chair into a room with linen, brass, and something unexpected on top and it reads current, not dated. I am so glad that what I have had in my (collected home) is once again apparently “chic”.

den-leather-chair-blanket-chest-cindy hattersley design

Fave Birch Lane “Brown Furniture” Sale Items

2. A Rich Brown Leather Bag

This is the fashion half of the equation, and it might be the easiest switch on this list. If black has been your default bag color for the last decade, try brown for a season and see what happens. It’s softer against most skin tones, it pairs beautifully with denim and cream and olive, and it somehow looks more expensive than black even when it isn’t. I will be reaching for anything in a rich brown tone come fall, and it goes with almost everything I own.

Shop My Favorite Leather Bags

3. Tortoiseshell Anything

It is no mystery I am a huge tortoiseshell anything fan.Tortoiseshell is brown’s fancier cousin, and it’s everywhere right now, on eyewear, on jewelry, . There’s something about the pattern that keeps brown from feeling flat or heavy. If you’re not ready to commit to a full brown sofa, a tortoiseshell lamp base or a pair of sunglasses is a low-risk way to test the waters.

Shop My Fave Tortoise Accessoriese Here

My Favorite Tortoise Home Accessories

4. A Camel Coat That Actually Fits

Every woman my age owns a camel coat. Fewer of us own one that’s been tailored properly in the last five years. If your camel coat is doing more hiding than flattering, this is the year to either get it altered or replace it with one cut for the body you have now, not the one you had when you bought it. Camel, n coat form, is quietly one of the most age-flattering colors there is. It warms up your whole face in a way black coats simply don’t.

Shop My Favorite Camel Coats

5. Warm Wood Tones in the Kitchen

This is the one that’s sneaking into everyone’s inspiration boards. After years of white kitchens and then a hard swing into black cabinetry, warm walnut and oak tones are creeping back in, especially on islands and open shelving. You don’t need a full kitchen remodel to get this look. A butcher block cutting board left out on the counter, a set of wood-handled utensils, even swapping cool metal hardware for something in a warm bronze, all of it nods to the same shift. Brown is coming home, literally.

Brown Outfit of the Week

The Frame jeans are from Nordstrom Rack, the fabulous tunic from Johnny Was. Love the new Gentle Souls Driving mocs in rich brown suede, absolutely adore the pricey Parker Thatch bag (I was gifted the same bag in leopard and carried it to NYC). I have also linked some less expensive calf hair options. Accessories from Raen, Bauble Bar and Machete.

What I love about this particular trend is that it isn’t asking us to buy something entirely new. It’s asking us to look again at what we already have, that dresser we almost sold, that camel coat in the back of the closet, and see it with fresh eyes. That’s a trend I can get behind at any age. How about you? Are you reassessing your relationship with brown or are you absolutely not on board?

If you missed any of my Sunday favorites you can find them here

Want more of this week’s finds? Head over to see what my pals are featuring