Goodbye to white baseboards: in 2026, chic interiors are making them disappear with a trick that makes rooms look bigger

For generations, the rule was simple: color on the walls, bright white on the trim. That crisp white line along the floor is still the default in many homes. In smaller rooms especially, designers now often do the opposite, and the change costs nothing more than the paint you were already planning to buy.

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The trick: baseboards the same color as the walls

Instead of white, the baseboards are painted in the same color as the walls. Homes & Gardens gathered several designers who use the technique in small living rooms, and their explanation is consistent: a white baseboard draws a hard line around the room, and the eye follows it.

“The fewer visual breaks in a space, the larger it seems,” says Diana Almeida, co-founder and head designer at CoolAIid, quoted by Homes & Gardens. Architect Beril Yilmaz of By Design & Viz describes the effect as a continuous line around the perimeter of the room.

Why it makes a room look bigger

When the trim matches the wall, the eye moves up and down the wall instead of around the room’s edges. The baseboard effectively disappears, and attention shifts to what you actually want people to see: the furniture, the windows, the fireplace.

It’s part of a broader approach often called color drenching, where walls, trim and sometimes the ceiling share one shade. Homes & Gardens has gathered rooms that prove color drenching makes small spaces look bigger, and the baseboard is the easiest place to start.

How to do it

Choose the color: paler tones feel safer in small spaces, but Homes & Gardens notes that mid-tones and dark colors can look stylish too.
Think about the light: the article says good lighting matters more than the palette itself.
Look at the whole room: interior designer Benjamin Ibanez of FCI London advises considering the room’s style, color scheme, flooring and furniture before picking a baseboard color.
Start small: a single room, like a small living room or a hallway, shows the effect fastest.

If you want more impact on one wall afterward, wallpaper works well over a drenched base, because there’s no white line competing with the pattern.

The limit

White trim isn’t wrong. Homes & Gardens points out that it still works with neutral schemes, where there’s little contrast with the walls, in traditional interiors that rely on white trim, and when you want one unifying look from room to room. White is also cheaper to buy and apply in bulk, and easier to live with if you repaint often. And painting trim takes careful prep and taping, so set aside more time than for the walls alone. For a room that feels pulled together rather than overdecorated, the change is about fewer lines, not more color.

In a nutshell

Designers paint baseboards the same color as the walls to remove a visual break.
Fewer breaks make a room read as larger, especially a small one.
Pale, mid or dark tones can all work; lighting matters most.
White trim still suits neutral, traditional or whole-house schemes.

The Trendir take: the room didn’t need more space. It needed one less line.