
Earthy living room decor schemes provide an ultra relaxed yet stylish and cosy space which makes the colour scheme perfect for a living room.
We continue to lean towards richer, warmer shades in 2025, and an earthy colour palette is easy to nail, with like colours working seamlessly together. From browns, greens and terracottas to creams, there’s so much to love about the combination of these.
If you’re looking to refresh your living room colour palette and looking for some inspo, take note from these stunning earthy living room ideas that we’ve compiled.
What Colours Are Considered Earthy Tones?
Earthy tones are inspired by the natural colours found in dirt, moss, trees, and rocks. These colors are often muted and soft, reflecting the hues seen in the natural landscape.
Common earthy tones include browns, greens, oranges, yellows, reds and greys. If you want to move to more of a coastal theme, you should definitely consider using nuances of blue too.
21 Stunning Earthy Living Room Ideas For A Warm, Cosy Space
1.Use Cream As Your Base
Cream is a more preferred base to start with than a traditional bright white. It’s warmer, more forgiving as a colour and it’s just a great colour to build on.
We love Dulux Egyptian Cotton, Natural Calico and Farrow and Ball Skimming Stone for a warm beige that’s got good depth and works in North facing spaces too.
2. Layer Tonal Shades of Green
The easiest way to create depth and cosiness is to layer with differing tones of the same colour. It makes a colour scheme look well executed and sophisticated.
Take note from the below image which uses a soft sage green on the walls. A darker green sofa with a fabulous texture is used with deeper tones on the cushions. Using the same tone more than once can make a room feel flat and boring.
Like this shade? Recreate the look with Farrow and Ball Ball Green.
3. Incorporate Natural Tones For An Earthy Feel
If you’re putting together an earthy living room, introducing some natural tones with wooden furniture or decor accessories is a great way to fast track this look. Use a warm off-white on the walls, such as Schoolhouse White by Farrow and Ball.
Opt for a key piece of furniture such as a coffee table, it will work in the grounding the space too.
4. Create An Accent Wall In Olive Green
Now, that’s what we call the most perfect earthy colour scheme! Elevate those walls with a feature wall of panelling, it adds instant depth and character.
Looking for the perfect olive shade for your walls? If you’re on a budget look at Dulux Overtly Olive, and Farrow and Ball Cardamom like the below is a more expensive shade that we love for a rich, earthy feel.
Recreate the look by sourcing a vintage rug, they’re often one off pieces but bring gorgeous warmth to a living room.

5. Don’t Forget To Add A Black Accent
Just because earthy colours don’t tend to point towards black, a black accent is the secret ingredient that will tie together any room scheme.
Add a few well placed black accents to benefit from its definition, be it small pieces of furniture, chairs, decorative accessories or interior hardware. The paint used by Justin here is Greenback by Paint and Paper Library.
6. Use Key Pieces of Furniture To Introduce Earthy Tones
When planning your living room, you don’t need to go all out with earthy tones everywhere. Just starting with one key piece of furniture such as with a sofa will help to lead the rest of your colour scheme.
We love the addition of the industrial style side table and wooden table lamp in this living room shown below. Use a similar off-white for a subdued, soft look like Wevet from Farrow and Ball.
7. Be On-trend With Brown In Your Living Room
Brown is in in a big way in 2024, it’s rich, cocooning and it’s perfect for a cosy living room. It really is the perfect base to introduce other earthy colours.
Take a look at our favourite brown paints to find the perfect shade for your space. Recreate this look with Wainscot by Farrow and Ball.
8. Use Green Throughout As Your Main Earthy Colour
This renovated cottage living room is what dreams are made of. The colour scheme is in keeping with the style of property and the running theme of green throughout creates a cohesive and intentional colour scheme.
Note how differing tones of green are used throughout the textiles and furniture for a really visually interesting space.
9. Brown & Cream Is A Classic Colour Combo
Brown and cream is the new black and cream in our eyes. It’s not as oppressive as black, yet still brings gorgeous definition to a living room.
We still recommend introducing black accents as shown below for subtle definition and a touch of modernity. Take inspiration from the below, using Brave Ground on the walls from Dulux. Alternatively, Cardamom is a great match for this room colour.
10. Use Brown To Ground The Space
If you don’t want to use brown on your walls, use furniture and architectural details to carve the way for your earthy colour palette.
The wooden cladding on the ceiling draws the eye up and adds natural warmth. A brown leather sofa is always a classic in our eyes. Build other earthy colours into your scheme with textiles, lighting and decorative accessories to finish off the look.
11. Set A Boundary & Colour Scheme With A Large Area Rug
Best advice? Always use an area rug in your living room. It will set a boundary in the space, stop the feeling that your furniture is floating, and it’s a great way to set the colour scheme in the space.
This oriental rug works beautifully in grounding the room. Draw the colours out from it and feature in the space where appropriate.
12. Even Grey Can Work In An Earthy Scheme
Yes, grey isn’t always considered a natural earthy colour, but warm tones of grey are often considered part of an earthy colour palette when used in tandem with other colours.
Introduce your reds, greens, creams and black accents to pull the colour scheme together.
13. Use A Light Taupe On Your Walls
Taupe is up there with being one of the hottest new interior colours, it’s got more depth and character than a white and some shades of beige.
This living room combines a little bit of everything from a large area rug, black accents and wooden tones for a workable scheme. Oxford Stone is one of my favourite dark taupe shades, it’s so beautiful and works well in all rooms.
14. Bright White Can Create A Foundation For Colour
This is an easy to replicate colour scheme that doesn’t mean having to transform your entire living room if it’s already a bright white.
I’m personally not a huge fan of bright white as it can make a room feel flat if the light is not right. However, in farmhouse style properties that want to inherit an earthy colour scheme, then a white foundational colour works really well, as demonstrated beautifully in the living room below.
15. Do Use Checkerboard In The Right Colourway
Checkerboard in different colour ways is on the rise, and how could it not be when it looks this good?
Layer your floor with the perfect rug, this brown colour way sets the tone for the rest of the scheme. It works so well with greens used throughout this space.
16. Use Differing Natural Wooden Tones For Character & Interest
You don’t need to stick to the rulebook by using only one type of wood in your living room. It’s the same with using the same tone of a colour, when you introduce differing types of wood, it only adds further visual interest and depth to the interior.
17. Wood Tone Backdrop
This look definitely isn’t for every type of property. But Shea McGee has nailed this interior project with a wood tone backdrop.
It’s the style that just makes you want to cosy up and hunker down for the night. We love the addition of the lighter tan brown armchairs, perfection.
18. Add Subtle Sophistication & Cosiness With Brown
Just in case you’re not convinced on the whole brown living room thing yet… Brown not only adds an earthy dimension to a space, but it’s sophisticated too.
Layer with different shades of brown on furniture, textiles, windows treatments and with wooden tones.
19. Bring Colour With Deep Maroon Tones
Greens and browns are running themes in earthy colour schemes, but how good does maroon look here?
Just a small pop of this colour and it defines and sets the room off. The type of fabric on the armchairs seals the deal with how cosy this makes the living room.
20. Add The Unexpected With Blue
It’s always good to be greeted by the unexpected in a colour scheme, when it’s intentional. Blue is not considered a traditional earthy colour, but it definitely works in a more coastal led scheme.
A couple of considered touches on cushions just adds the right type of visual interest.
21. Add A Natural Slat Wood Panelled Wall
Natural slat wood panels are a popular way to add an accent wall to a living room. They instantly transform how a space feels and it avoids empty walls from feeling flat.
Pair with differing brown tones, creams and green for the perfect earthy colour scheme.
Looking for a specific earthy paint colour? Leave me a comment below and I will give you some of my favourite recommendations!
@Nicole – do you know the paint colour for picture 3?
Morning! I believe this is Farrow and Ball Schoolhouse White: https://tidd.ly/47f18a6 thanks, Nicole