Forecasting 2026

Where is interior design headed in 2026? The Wall Street Journal, Good Housekeeping, Business Insider, and Architectural Digest each queried leading designers about what to anticipate in 2026, and it turns out their predictions echo each other in many important ways. Here are some trends with broad agreement:

What's OUT: Mass produced furniture.

What's IN: Heritage furniture featuring high quality craftsmanship. "I think the desire to fill a home with antiques and thoughtfully sourced items stems from a desire to be more unique, especially with the internet flooded with a lot of rinse and repeat ideas,” Kara Thomas, founder of Studio KT told Business Insider. 

What's OUT: Light wood finishes.

What's IN: Darker wood and the patina of antiques. Piggybacking on the desire for furniture with a history and substance comes an embrace of darker tones. Laurie Saab of Saab Studios told Architectural Digest, "Designers are moving away from pale oak toward finishes that feel richer and more architectural."

What's OUT: Neutral walls, bland furniture, and boucle chairs.

What's IN: Color, bold images and patterns, and-- most importantly-- creating spaces that reflect individual personality and taste. The impetus to design a room that looks cut from a catalog has passed. “Designers and collectors alike are gravitating toward pieces with soul," Annie Downing of Annie Downing Interiors told the WSJ.

What's OUT: Furniture destined for landfills.

What's IN: Earth-friendly choices with low carbon costs, like antiques that have retained their beauty and integrity for decades.  But the best furniture design mixes substance and authenticity with something modern and unexpected - like pairing an antique Eastlake settee with strikingly contemporary upholstery.

At Pryor & Peacock we use only vintage and antique frames and give long forgotten art new life by turning old prints into fabric, sustainably manufactured using digital printing.

Hello, 2026. Turns out we’re on trend!