By Elizabeth Betts Hickman
The Tennessean

Chocolate - not only is it a perfect dessert, it's a pretty popular color these days.

Perhaps you've noticed it drizzled throughout various home catalogs this fall, tied up in a big bow on the cover of House & Garden magazine, or just looking warm and sophisticated in someone's living room.

After all, it is fall, and the predictable fall color palette usually includes brown, but now it's fresher and smarter than ever.

"It's a color that we're using a lot," says designer Louise Kitchell, of Kitchell and Brown Interiors in Nashville, Tenn. "It's a color people are talking about ...

Designer Andrea Broxton used various shades - from warm tobacco and terracotta to cordovan brown - in the dining room, family room and guest bedroom of Mark and Anita Pirtle's Murfreesboro, Tenn., home.

"Brown looks good with so many colors," says Ms. Broxton, who hung colorful paintings against the dark walls and also specified a clear, pale blue for the ceiling in the family's breakfast room.

The fact that brown is so versatile isn't lost on designers, who love it as a soft alternative or accompaniment to black. Brown also easily moves from traditional interiors to ultra-contemporary.

Brown works well to make large spaces seem cozier, but it can be used with equal effect in a small room. It's a smart, dark shade that makes other things look good and stand out on their own.

"I think back in the '90s, black was always the color you set things off with, but now I think it's dark brown. Brown's a lot softer than black," says Nashville designer Gillian Pilgrim.

Mixing brown with color is a favorite technique that creates a "wow" factor.

"You can make it much more contemporary by using it with the brighter colors," Ms. Pilgrim says.