By Arca Jalee Interiors 30.12.2025

The 8 Interior Design Trends Set to Define 2026

Clashing metals, unfinished corners, and a farewell to beige – this is what you can expect to see this year.

Here's something that might surprise you: those pristine white Greek and Roman statues we associate with classical taste? They were originally painted in vibrant colours. When researchers recreated the original palettes, the public reaction was visceral: gaudy, people called them ugly.

It's a revealing insight into how ‘good taste’ became synonymous with restraint, and how we came to conflate minimalism with sophistication.

Building on 2025's leading styles in ways that encourage self-expression over aspirational perfection, we consulted architectural designer Dominique Hage of D. Hage Designs to tell us about the trends on the rise in 2026 and the ones we're leaving behind.

1. The End of Beige

If there's one aesthetic that's on its way out, it's the half-hearted-wabi-sabi look that's dominated interiors for years. We love a wabi-sabi look and a neutral moment done right, but spaces with zero hint of colour or personality look like they'll be left in 2025.

"It's in the hands of developers at this point," Hage says. "Micro-cementing your space from head to toe, pale oak, Carrara marble, earthy beige palettes, stuff that's ridden hard to the point that people are really steering clear of it now."

While some are leaning into muted wall colours this year, Hage is unmoved by Pantone's 2026 Colour of the Year, Cloud Dancer, a shade of white she calls "devoid of humanity."

"Humanity is necessarily really messy and ugly and colourful and gaudy," Hage says. Which brings us to everything else on this list.

2. Designing Off-Algorithm

For years we've been trained to design for the scroll: clean lines, cohesive colour palettes, everything camera-ready at all times; resulting in millions of living rooms optimised for the same platforms rewarding the same visual language.

"It's a different type of curation now," Hage explains. "It's based on authenticity, not trying to emulate what the Kardashians have. Even in our really luxurious projects, it's all based on whether those references are true to the client; their culture, their history, their life."

Her team has been embedding what she calls ‘easter eggs’ throughout projects: details that connect to a client's heritage, inside jokes, references that visitors might never notice but that make a space feel genuinely inhabited.

"In 2026 we're seeing the home as a real expression of self," she says. "All these different sides of yourself, rather than this matching design throughout."

3. High Impact, Humble Materials

In a decisive shift away from what Hage calls "hyper-luxury," 2026 is embracing materials that are affordable yet striking. While you may have seen marble coffee tables dominate your feed in recent years, prepare to see high-gloss plastic in its place.

"We've hit a saturation point," Hage explains. "You see it in the food scene as well, fried chicken with caviar on top. Everything became very much of muchness. Now there's a leaning towards things being a bit more undone and a bit more humble, but still really high impact. Less heavy on the luxury, less heavy on the marble, less heavy on the brass."

There's an '80s quality to it: synthetic materials, aluminium accents, finishes that pack a punch without an eye-watering price tag. Hage points to some examples: "A school chair, or that pockmarked ceiling finish you associate with a super old building. Now you're seeing it a lot in design projects."

"The point is that it's still going to pack a punch," she says. "And we're not just doing this in projects where we don't have a big budget, we're doing it in projects where we do. It's just cooler."

4. Gloriously Gaudy

Here's your permission slip to embrace gaudiness. Those Greek statues were painted in bright, true-to-life, sometimes clashing colours. Our aversion to the colours on the statues we’d come to associate with an invented ‘purity’ aesthetic, comparatively speaking, is a reaction to abruptly subverted expectations.

"Interior design doesn't have to be all so 'tasteful'," Hage says. "We'll be seeing lots of clashing colour blocking. Allowing yourself to have gaudy elements is the point."

The key is high contrast: "We wouldn't go pastel everything, but we would go pastel with a jewel tone." Think lavender paired with forest green, or a soft pink against a dark cacao.

5. Metals That Clash

The era of matching your tapware, lighting and hardware in the same finish is done.

"That matching idea is something people are moving away from," Hage notes. "Having a combination of brass, bronze and stainless steel in the interior palette."

The shift extends to how we use silvery metals. Rather than making stainless steel the hero, it serves as visual negative space, (like beige when used sparingly) a neutral anchor that lets bolder elements pop. Hage described a kitchen that embodies this perfectly: pink ceramic tiles, a blue floor and metal cabinetry as the negative space. "It feels so strong but not overpowering," she says. "It's indulgent, you know? But that indulgence doesn't mean excessive or luxurious in the traditional sense."

She's also steering away from black steel framing entirely: "It's been done so much that it's lost a bit of its soul. Now we're doing a lot of off-black, like a dark purple steel. It's a nod to it, but more authentic and less 'tasteful, tasteful, tasteful'."

6. The 80% Finished Home

Perfection is boring. The most sophisticated interiors in 2026 will look deliberately incomplete.

"We're talking a lot about taking something 90% of the way there design-wise, or 80% of the way there, rather than having every little detail be fully finished and curated," Hage says.

It's the design equivalent of an untucked shirt, the sense that a space is never really static, always becoming. Layer a linen throw casually rather than styling it into submission. Let your shelves be a little chaotic! Resist the urge to make everything match.

7. Vibe Zoning

The idea that every room should flow seamlessly with a cohesive aesthetic throughout? Over.

"I don't want to feel the same in each area of my house," Hage says. "There are textural variations throughout, there's a space for playfulness and there's a space for cosiness."

Call it dynamism: an emotional journey through your home where different rooms evoke different moods. Your bedroom might wrap you in warm neutrals; your living room might have wild colour blocking; your kitchen might be an eclectic collection of different materials. Different rooms, different moods, different versions of yourself.

This is also what distinguishes a home designed for living from one designed for resale. "That idea of having everything matching is one we need to leave with developers… in 2025," Hage says.

8. Substance Over Status

Perhaps the defining philosophy of 2026 interiors is this distinction Hage draws between indulgence and excess.

"It's indulgent, not gluttonous, it's indulging in the authentic self." she says.

Indulge in what genuinely brings you joy, whether that's a velvet cushion in an unexpected colour or a piece of furniture that speaks to your heritage. Don't accumulate for accumulation's sake.

If you like something because of how it makes you feel, put it in proximity. If that changes, swap it out. We don't stay the same, so why should our interiors?

What's Out for 2026

Arches that don't belong: "Being true to the architecture of the space you have, rather than trying to increase the romance of it by sticking a bunch of arches on there, is the way to go," says Hage.

Wabi-sabi overload: The beige, organic-finish-everything aesthetic must be approached with caution.

Matchy-matchy everything: Mixing finishes is in, coordinating is out.

Hyper-luxury: Aspiration fatigue is real. People are tired of living in a mood board. When your interior design is indistinguishable from a hotel lobby, you've stopped saying anything about yourself.

Remember, authenticity is key. You can't go wrong by embracing your personal taste; if you love something and it's not 'on trend', that's okay. Everything comes in cycles, and the most stylish thing you can do is choose an aesthetic that you really love.