2026 Design Trends to Keep

0:00Hello everyone, welcome to Dear Alice. Today we are talking about 2026 design trends to keep. Oh my gosh. So many people have asked us about these things. They have. And I feel like we're far enough into the year that we can definitively give them a list. I always hate it at the beginning of the year when they're saying, these are the trends. How do you know? I think we've been far enough into the year. We've been working on projects. These are legit the things that we're experiencing and we can confidently record a podcast about this today. And why it's important too. We're talking about the home.

0:29This isn't fast fashion. This is stuff for your home. So when it comes to doing things to your walls, to your cabinets, to stone, all those things, it's important to know what is actually sticking. And we're here to talk about it. And I hate putting a date on it like 2026 because this will be continuous into the next, I would call it five years or so, that these are the things that we've really experienced that feel fresh and new, but are really everlasting. And I have to say, look so much better than what we've done in the past. I'm so excited. I am too. As we've reviewed these things, they have a point of view.

0:59Some of them you'll like personally. some of them you might not like and pay attention to that because that will obviously be the most everlasting is developing your taste and understanding what you like for the long term. So if anybody's new here, thank you for joining us. We are the designers behind Alice Lane. We've been doing this for about 20 years now, custom homes, remodels, interiors. Each week, we're just sharing the design principles, mistakes, insider knowledge that we're using every day with our own clients. Okay, so let's get into it. These are our 2026 design trends that are here to stay.

1:30Number one, color drenching, guys. You know how I feel. I love a color drenching. How long have I said I feel nothing in a neutral space? You've been saying it forever, Sue. Forever, thank you. Yeah. But the fact that we get to be surrounded by a color and a mood top to bottom, side to side in different textures and glosses and all the things, it's so enveloping. Maybe it's not for the whole house, but it is for certain environments. Love it. And I love when you speak of different textures. I particularly want to say color drenching in high gloss. High five. It just completes the whole experience.

2:01I love this look so much. This look is just so holistic. It's so considered. It's so all in. And I really feel like this is just going to be here to stay for a long time. When I was going to school, I'll heard of the great Jamie Drake, right? King of color. And I was learning about how saturated he loves his environments. He was doing this color drenching. It's not a new something, but it's something that we all have just been craving since the days of beige and gray and black and white. It also, to me, is a signature of interior designer. To me, it says I hired a designer because there's confidence about it because it is all in color.

2:39It's not like they went neutral on the walls and maybe did a little bit of a pattern on the sofa. It's that the entire room is considered right down to the ceiling and being included in this colorway. We're not leaving our ceilings white anymore. Yeah, someone with taste has touched this. Yeah, that's what this means. I think it's also leading the charge a little bit. It's the biggest departure from where we were, let's say, eight years ago. I also love it because it's not tearing everything down and starting from scratch. It's something you can apply to your home now. Okay, another one that we're loving.

3:09Go ahead, Sue. It's warm, deep woods. When you're talking about, we work on homes every day. So we're picking out the flooring. We're looking at cabinetry. We're looking at, again, just different textures to just bring a feeling in. And we're feeling warmth. We're not feeling gray. We're not feeling whitewashed. We're not feeling dry. We want to feel something that's giving back that feels historic. We're loving Burl Woods. The way it contrasts against other materials, also kind of the high lacquer. When you put a warm wood in conjunction with all that, you just get the gooeyest sandwich ever.

3:39How sandwich? Is that a thing? Yeah, how sandwich. The gooeyest how sandwich. 100%. We're going to make it a thing. Okay. You heard it here first, everybody. So applying a dark stain to wood too brings out things in it that when you try to neutralize that same wood, it isn't there. So again, it's a departure from the blondes, the neutralized blondes, adding a darker stain to it. And it's giving you more grain. It's on burl. It's accenting that. It's more of the fiddleback or the texture that's in wood. It's pulling all that out. It's really celebrating the grain because we're still using oaks, but you're seeing more of that quarter sun and you're seeing more caramels and just these warm cognacs.

4:15and down to even some of the deeper, richer woods, like in the furnishings. I still think that we're on team medium, stained for the floor, a mid-tone for the floor. But I think there's so much available saturation we had in your cabinetry and in your furniture. And I think just all those layers of those warm woods give so much back to a space. And it makes it feel historic. This is the most shocking to most people when I talk to them. Because we have been in this white oak land for so, so long that when we say that the woods, your wood floors, your wood paneling, like we did in our Desert Oaks project, your cabinetry, your primary bathrooms, or your islands.

4:51The island's not a surprise. I think Kitchen Island, they're used to doing that in Walnut. But something about their primary space, also people are shocked. They're like, wait, what? Dark wood? No what? They can't wrap their brain around it? Yeah, exactly. We just want to say it now because if you're making decisions and you're going to be remodeling, you're going to want to know what's happening and what's coming because you don't want to make a decision on the clotting edge. You want to make that on the cutting edge so that this decision is going to last with you for the next decade, 15 years.

5:20So you're going to be really happy about this. And this is what we're seeing is that everybody's really going that direction. Some people are having a hard time with it because the last time dark woods were in it was alder. And so I would say warm woods, but also warm, fine woods, oaks, walnuts, even ash, or in some cases hickory. But just to be honest with you, alder is a pretty bottom of the barrel wood. There's a lot of imperfections in it. When you put a dark stain on that, it highlights all those imperfections. And so that's kind of not what we want now. That's where it's a departure from what was kind of going on in the early 2000s.

5:54I have seen some premium alders stained as a walnut, which I think that that is something that you can do when you are looking at the spectrum of prices and things. So I have done that. Not naughty. But the premium alder, I think, is a good one. It's a level of richness. And it's not to say that we're not introducing medium. and there might be some light toned woods in certain spaces. We don't want it to feel flat and all feel light. We want dimension. We want warmth. And that's what we're feeling. Corey, how do you feel about the swirl off crotch mahogany? A lot. I feel like what you're saying though is the exotic woods.

6:24Yes. What is so, so. It's like fine furniture is a thing where the early 2000s, it was more casual, if you will. People were adding timbers to their exterior structure. Rustic. Tuscany. It was rustic. Yeah. Where today we're a more refined, more sophisticated, more these hard to get wood grains, which are veneers a lot of the time if we're using those really exotic woods. Yes. I'm loving. Squirrel crotch mahogany. Now I know what he's mean. It's a burl that's in mahogany. Mahogany is always a little bit more red. So that's not 100 % my thing. But if you can put even darker stain and ebony on mahogany, it kind of dilutes those reds a little bit and does pull a little bit more brown.

7:04I love that. Mahogany's great. Also, Bird's Eye Maple. And that's a lighter one, but there's still such history. I feel a lot of mid-century furniture was made in that. It was made in Walnut. And so it's just, it's interesting. One of the prettiest I've ever seen is your vanity. Oh, thank you. Sue has a burled Walnut vanity in her bathroom that is so handsome and textured. The veneer he uses is just beautiful. I asked him, I'm like, where did you find these things? He just took a long time. So he's not given the source. It's so pretty. It's really pretty. Anyway, these are your warm, deep woods, guys.

7:37They are here to stay, and we're getting on board. Everybody's getting on board. So excited. We obviously have some projects that are already shot, so we've been doing this for a few years. But everything going forward, everybody's really, really adopted this. So it's here. Again, a celebration of the mix. And I think as you're developing your style, really trying to attach to what trends are going to stay in your house, make sure that you're introducing some of these things that you love because it will add dimension and character and a really great, soulful story. A richness, too. It's likening to when things were built well and thoughtful.

8:08Furniture was built with thoughtful design to that less of, like I said, the early 2000s. I thought you were going to compare it to a song. Oh, I should have. And adding instruments. Yeah. That too. John Denver, everybody. Yeah, exactly. Next on our trends to keep for 2026 is statement tiles. Statement colored tiles. I love this trick. Yeah, where are you doing it at, Sue? Where are we doing statement colored tiles at? A lot of bathrooms, kitchens. I think there's just that integration for the last decade plus we've had slabs in the kitchen and then slab backsplashes which is still really beautiful but we're adding additional tile to it to make it more interesting if not omitting the slab and doing just tile we're seeing that a lot on floors too we're doing a lot of more interesting floors and adding tile wherever we can and not just in the entry in your pantry in cute little powder bathroom anyway any time you can get tile in space.

9:00It's just going to give so much credit back to the space. Shower walls. Yeah. Is a really fun one to do. We did a cabin. We did a lot of really fun tricks there because it is in the mountains. And so you want to fill these rich textures. She's like, let's be artistic about this. And so we did a lot of really clever applications with colored tile. Those are some of my favorite installations that we've ever done though. I would say is as important as the tile itself is the pattern that you're laying it. Say it louder. So people in the back. I think it's not just your standard brick set, but just to kind of take the tile that you want to use and build a pattern with it to create that interest.

9:36Because that's going to do as much as the tile itself. And it also gives a really fun opportunity to color block. So again, doing the color drenching kind of thing, bringing that into your bathrooms and kitchens and things to this hard material. And we did that in one of the bathrooms at that cabin where we use pinky tile with a mustard yellow tile and talk to the wallpaper and when you see it what is this disco dance that I'm in and I'm here for it and I love it so so much and it feels very intentional I can't imagine just going up going there for the summers and winters that would be such a memory point again I think tile gives a lot of memory points I think we can probably all remember our parents tile and the homes that we grew up in our grandma's tile and those were there was so much less available then so what's available now there's a lot of opportunity for you guys to do something great And so just don't omit that.

10:23Keep doing it. Be clever about it because the stuff's out there. Yeah, we're seeing this a lot in the back of house rooms. So these are your laundry rooms, your mud halls, your pantries, sort of those secondary bathrooms, obviously powder baths. But this is a real chance to start to infuse color and design and color block, like Suze is saying. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to do it in your entryway. It does make these spaces really interesting and fun and meaningful. yeah a little london mosaics and things like that pulling in several different colors inside something that feels so historic but making it your own how cool is that love so cool you guys you will not believe what i got in the mail the other day that i've been wearing for the last couple weeks that has changed my life it is the cozy earth bamboo stretch knit pajamas and you guys i love these things not only are they comfortable to put on i got them in the size large because i wanted it to be just like really really drapey and just have that cool girl loose fit but like the breathability and the coolness factor is so great I like I'm so excited to get home take a shower put on my new jammies and then get into bed because like they move easily with me at night and I don't overheat they have been like such a game changer and I want to get them for everybody in my circle their next level and even the detailing the trimming on it I got the black with the white and I love them and I want them in every color now and I just cannot say enough good things about these things.

11:46Head over to CozyEarth.com and use our code DEARALICE for up to 20 % off home and sleepwear. That's code DEARALICE for up to 20 % off on home and sleepwear. And if you see a post-purchase survey, please be sure to mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here. Next one is wellness spaces and gyms. Wellness space. There's not a home that we're doing now. And I feel like even for the last five years, that doesn't include a big emphasis on this. People want a really thought out gym. They want to be beautiful like the resorts that they go to. They want it to be monogrammed on the dumbbells. They want mirror that's clad in wood trim.

12:23They just want a thoughtful space. They also want a spot to do yoga, cold plunge, saunas, massage table are all number one requests from all of our clients. Every time we design one, I get it. And it's usually their second level or a ground level that goes out to a great view. I think I'd work out if I had this. That's one of the things that the pandemic, I think, taught us is just to take care of ourselves. Whatever, as far as our output, we have input to. And that's the stuff that our body needs. And so people are really, I think, paying attention to the wellness factor. And I think it's awesome.

12:55I think that's a great thing to model for future generations who are building homes. I love it. It's not going anywhere. Making your health a priority. Yeah, that needs to be a common thing in every home. A dedicated space to your health and wellness. Again, something that kind of the pandemic robs like we had no other choice but to figure out a space in our home. Yeah. But it can be beautiful. You can throw a bunch of equipment down on the black mat. There's so many really great materials now. You're like, I have to pick out a mirror anyway. I should trim it out. Or just, I don't know, consider some of those details.

13:25I think it's worth it for the longevity of the space that we'll hopefully get back and back. Yeah, the industry is only getting better. I know even just the rubber mat type flooring that's available now is just so beautiful and design forward. And it's not like trying to create a gym even 10 years ago. And specialization, there's a lot of wealthy people that love a beautiful gym. And there's great resources to make an extraordinary wellness room. And whether you're classic and you want to feel like a resort or whether you're a little bit more street and you want to use the recycled Nike ones, those are so cool.

13:56And there's a lot of options for you regardless of your style. So next up is curves in cabinetry. We're seeing radiuses in hallways as well as ceilings. I can't get enough of it. There's something about being graduated through a space with a little bit more arcuation. Anytime that we can add it to islands. In the kitchen, when you're moving fast and you're giving Tommy some food and then you've got to quickly get around this corner and stuff. How many of us have clipped our hip on a sharp corner? Those days are long gone. We're adding softer corners, not only for the functionality of it, but just for the overall look of it.

14:28We talk about this a lot in kitchens and functional spaces where you're living in a 90 degree squared up land with your cabinetry. And so it's so important to figure out how can we soften the space with your lighting, with your cabinetry, with your countertops. There's so many different ways to pull that organic shaping. Yeah. And sometimes it doesn't come with the home from the architecture. Maybe it's a remodel. And so these tricks you're going to use in, like you said, the cabinetry, you're going to use it in your countertops. You're going to work that into the interior architecture with some of the shapes that you're using.

15:00And then other times you can start to do this. I also love in our Chestnut Row project where even the edge of the hood is radiused. All of the moldings have these beautiful soft shapes. And then, of course, we get this big radius edge on the end of the island. It really feels like custom cabinetry because you're not going to get that off the shelf. It's just every little thing feels very considered and custom. them and the cool thing about chestnut row is that again this was built in 1808 but actual doors have curves that were built then and the shapes of the room had some of that arcuation so even when we say trends in that case it just was proof positive that it wasn't trend it was something that was successful and it gave so much back to the space because when I first if anybody's ever used a cabinet a corner cabinet that has a curve on it and you're how did they do that yeah a drawer that's curved?

15:50How did they shape that? That's nuts. Especially one of like that historic nature. You're just like, that's amazing. They did this with their bare hands. It's a sign of artisan and something that we're loving. So definitely keep adding it. I'm going to say this. I was doing some research in prep for this episode. There was a lot of cabinetry with tight radius that I saw where the countertop did not follow that same radius. So yeah, you have to keep those both wrapping at the same radius. So the countertop was squared off, even though the cabinet was had a radius on the edge. So this was not in our work, was it?

16:21No, no, no. This is just online. You can find anything there. It's crazy. So yeah, just, I thought I'd mention that because I saw it a bunch on Pinterest. Next up, texture and pattern maxing. I love this one. I do too. I just love the word maxing. The whole maximalist movement. I'm like, when we think of that too, we're thinking pattern on pattern with not only the textures that we're filling on our walls with murals, with fabrics of different like patterns. That's an art. It really is an art to mix master all of those things. But I think it's even in the texture. Yeah. We're not using flat dry walnuts anymore.

16:54We're not using, I don't know, sterile materials that feel sad. We were presenting something to a client and I didn't think it was soft sadness, but he's got soft sadness. Yeah. I think everything is sort of alive right now. The finishes feel alive. We have a lot of really beautiful examples of work that's been recently installed but a real favorite and a lot of you can picture this if you're not watching is like the muraled wallpapers we've got a gracie wallpaper just beautiful turquoise walls with a mural on it and then we've got this inset cabinet with all these beautiful exotic woods inlay to make these drawer fronts the amount of pattern that just comes from wood grain so special not to mention the tiled ground the muraled walls this is just such an all-in space You know what makes me so excited?

17:41Because when you look at that project from our Berkshire project, that cabinetry is not old. A cabinet shop made it within the last 12 to 18 months and installed it. I'm just like, how neat is it that we're giving opportunity for craftsmen to do something great? So as far as the pattern mixing, the things that designers you're designing, make it more creative. Change the grain direction. Do little things to make that again. That's part of the pattern texture mixing. So make it look like fine furniture. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I think doing that as well is, I think about this often. We're losing a lot of the artistry.

18:14I mean, in everything from music to cabinetry and designers, designing things like that and pushing the manufacturer, the builder, that's going to raise the tide for everybody. People are going to get confident that they can do it. Eventually we'll make it cheaper again. But you look at homes that were built in the early 1900s and they have these ornate casings and moldings. they didn't have the cncs and machinery to do back then but they still found a way to do it and your average person could afford that pushing the boundaries of design we will get there again on the pattern mixing i think we talk about the gracie wallpaper we're talking fabrics we're talking stone just the actual veining of everything all that gets layered on top of each other to create these spaces all that should be intended to really amp up this pattern mixing what are the things that you stop at on Instagram it's usually those the most dynamic spaces if you really start to dial in have so many have a pattern on everything whether it's an actual fabric textile or it's just something that mother earth threw into a slab and they're just playing with each other with such tension and purpose it's just so good it's a concert it's a concert yeah there's so many beautiful things happening all at the same time it's so fun to be in those spaces and usually and then there's something thrown in there too that makes zero sense and that's part of the mix too and that's what makes pattern mixing so much fun yes so love love love this one I hope it's here to stay for a long time it's here to stay in my house it's here to stay in your house yes yes love it and it is kind of a collector's paradise right where you my gosh where you are just collecting over time these patterns and these things and the story just gets richer as it goes yeah so designers just create that great foundation for it and get them started and then they'll start to have eyes for it because they find that our clients become collectors because they're living this life and they're seeing it happen and they know the more that they get in there the more interesting it becomes yeah we just had a presentation from our maharam rep maharam is a textile line it's usually used for commercial but they are also they use edelman leathers and she put up these pictures of the most darling beautiful old couple and those were the edelmans that started this leather company and just they realized that there wasn't beautiful leathers here in the U.S.

20:25so they brought it to the east coast they started this company but purpose of the story is she flashed to a photo of their space in New York and when you looked at their space it was so collected this is what you were saying and I counted three different leopard patterns at different scales and the profiles were interesting and everything had a story and that's part of the mix that's part of pattern mixing and it was just gosh it will live rent free in my brain forever and ever you can't get rid of stuff like that so we're here for it keep pattern mixing. So good. Okay. Our next one is cocktail bars and lounges.

20:58We're entertainers. And we're talking residential. No, this is residential. People are entertaining. I think also from the pandemic, I think this is something that just, we want to be in our home and we want to entertain well in our home. And a lot of time that means having a space dedicated to not only the kitchen and dining, but to the after party, which is the bar and the lounge. And so I'm here for it. It's very speakeasy. Most often it's polo bar and just again, a lot of pattern mixing and textures and deep richness. And yeah, it's definitely an after party drink kind of situation. Yeah. Both of these were actually his quote unquote spaces, the man cave, right?

21:35And so we kind of leaned into what they wanted to use these for their aesthetic. I know in other projects where it's obviously his and hers more neutral, it's maybe in a living room where they can also enjoy it. But yeah, speaks of this. Okay. So in our Desert Oaks project, they wanted this man cave area and it, the whole home, they don't want to feel like a Seattle rainy day. And I want to feel deep and moody and just, I want saturation and not dryness. And so for this man cave, they wanted it to feel really dark. So we literally, we did a black on the walls, got all the things. I'm trying to rich woods on the actual bar.

22:08We did this brass netting on the front face of it. The stone was interesting. It's just, it's such a mood. We did a whole mirrored installation with open I think we did the Palmer shelving installation we use them a lot I'm sure designers you know what this is but it's just kind of the open bar metal shelving that you would display all your liquor and your stemware and things like that on and it just it gives such a mood I actually don't know what decade I'm in yeah when I look at this space was this prohibition was this town where am I because it just has such a story to tell and they find themselves I'm like Like how often do you use a space?

22:44And they're like, we're here every night. Yeah. This is where she watches her shows. Yes, exactly. Because it's just such a mood. It's usually a little bit smaller, intimate. And it just has that smoky feeling, you know, that just the bar would have. A calming feeling too. It's a calming feeling. And then on our Chestnut Row house, we actually did a bar right against, they have their kitchen and their dining. And then we did a bar space that kind of sandwiched the two. And it's so cool because it's part of the entertaining space because they know how they live. or like we need as far as we need a wine fridge in the party pantry and we need to have a bar the formal living and the kitchen can all access and so we did this great red walnut and just this gave this whole this little pocket of saturation in this moment amidst a lot of just as far as plastered walls i love that one because it's so integrated into just our everyday living you know that they'll really use it exactly not that these spaces aren't getting used because they obviously are people are drawn to it like a magnet but that one in the mix is also common all to say the cocktail bar and lounge is here to stay.

23:42It's here to stay. People love it. Regardless of how much room you have to dedicate a whole room or figure out how to integrate it into your space, it's a cool move. Next up is mirrored walls. Oh, mirrored walls. Yes. We love this trick. We just talked about doing it in the wellness space. It's great. It's space expanding. We love doing it. We have an example where we did it in a primary bathroom. Cladding the walls and creating a pattern with the mirrors and the cuts is so jewel box and sophisticated and sparkly. I love this. We did a project almost a decade ago and clad the master or the primary bath in mirrors.

24:16We often will use mirrors too behind bars, like you're talking about those Palmer shelves. We love antique mirror in that regard too. Where else are we loving mirrors? We use mirror applications all over, but I think anywhere where they just want to set a mood in this bathroom in particular, they just want, it was so dark before and she wanted the opposite of that and so we did this mirror trick to just reflect and bounce light everywhere because that's what she was craving and just the reflection of just the patterns of everything and we just loved the installation i feel like we saw in paris or something and it was a chanel store or something it had just all these polish cut edge mirrors just butted up to each other and it was like so chic so it wasn't trying too hard with a bubble that feels a little bit more formal but you're more mirror please it was so good and it was so memorable It was light, but it was interesting because it's reflecting a lot of interesting things.

25:03Yes. But it's not overwhelming me with a bunch of saturation on a wall in spaces that I don't want that. Yes. But the fun thing about it is if you do it in a bar, it's the sparkly like reflection of usually something deeper that it's reflecting because those spaces are dark. So just kind of depending on if you want to reflect light or if you want it to reflect depth, you can get that with mirror. And it's just such a sparkly player in the mix. We've heard mirrored walls in 2026 conversations as we've been trying to understand and look at trends. And this is really truly here to stay. People are doing it in the living room.

25:33They're doing it in entryways. We're really seeing this come on and it's fun to see how people are using it. It's large mirror installations. It's large mirror with interesting rhythms too. You can't just do square on square, but when you can be more laundry on artistic about it, I think that's when it really pays off. You'll start seeing it everywhere. Yeah. Next up, Sue, what do we got? Neurals and tapestry. I feel like in the wallpaper game, we've been saying murals for a while now. I would say for the last eight to 10 years, we've been using more murals than we ever have been. And it's not going anywhere.