Valspar reveals its 2025 Color of the Year as a timeless and grounding dark blue – here's how to decorate with Encore

While 2025 is still many months away, we'd be safe to assume that decorating with blue will be one of the biggest color trends throughout interior spaces.

We're seeing endless love for blues of all shades, and paint and coatings company Valspar is the latest to embrace this color for the year ahead, choosing a rich, dark blue paint as its 2025 Color of the Year.

A much richer and darker hue than its previous 2024 Color of the Year: a bright and playful blue-green paint, Encore is a timeless shade that feels sophisticated and transitional to suit many homes and decorating styles.

Here, we've explained all you need to know about this latest color trend and the best ways to decorate with it to ensure an on-trend look as we approach 2025.

What color is Encore 8002-45G?

Encore 8002-45G is a cool-toned, rich navy blue paint with a subtle muted quality that makes it soothing. While it's undoubtedly a bold paint color, it maintains an uplifting look that feels welcoming.

Sue Kim, Director of Color Marketing at Valspar, says that Encore was chosen as its 2025 Color of the Year due to its calming appeal and ability to create inspiring atmospheres within our homes:

'With everyday stress reaching a crescendo, we are often compelled to build peace and restoration into our routines, lifestyles, and surroundings.'

'Encore allows us to reach for more as we reclaim our imaginations and embrace a more joyful version of adulthood. From form to function to color, our home is a place where we rejuvenate and find happiness with our family, friends, and community.'

Whether you're looking to use this on-trend paint color indoors or for your home's exterior, almost every Valspar paint product can be tinted in this shade, from furniture-specific formulas to exterior paints for decks and sheds.

How to decorate with Encore

'Encore is a color for any space or application. Its atmospheric deep blue tones emulate both the elusive luxury of Old World design and the futuristic blending of our physical and digital world, making it a color that feels familiar and unexpected at the same time,' says Sue.

'This makes it an ideal backdrop to ground a room, leaving space for spirited pops of complementary colors. Encore’s versatility means it also can shine on its own through playful applications inside and out, such as on wood, decks, or concrete pavers.'

To lean into a calming look, Valspar recommends pairing Encore with any of the following paint colors: Lavender Escape, Sprig of Sage, Gosling, or Graceful Gray. Each of these shades is soft and earthy, helping to achieve a balanced and restful interior space.

If you want to make more of a statement with Encore, read on to learn two decorating with blue ideas as recommended by Valspar color experts.

Create a tonal scheme with complementary blues

Layering Encore with other shades of blue will create a monochromatic color scheme; embracing the soothing quality of blues while ensuring the room feels dynamic and layered.

In this living room, Palisade Blue 4006-3B is used across the walls, with Encore used across the ceiling, trim details, and door. This makes a far more flattering alternative to pairing this statement paint color with white, which would create a high-contrast scheme. By sticking to a palette of blues of varying hues, a cohesive and tied-together look is achieved.

Go bold with color drenching

For a much bolder and more dramatic look, Valspar also recommends using Encore as a single paint color in a room for color-drenching ideas. Much like the color scheme of this bedroom, color drenching will see all the walls, ceiling, and any woodwork painted in the same shade to create a modern and on-trend look.

Although bold, using this rich paint color in this way will help create a cozy and cocooning space, which is ideal for transitioning into fall and an especially good decorating idea for bedrooms that aim to feel restful.

Encore can be purchased exclusively at Lowe's stores nationwide and on Lowes.com, and you can find out more about the 2025 Color of the Year at Valspar.com.