5 Trends Shaping Homes in 2026

This blog post was adapted from an article in the Colorado Real Estate Journal by DTJ Associate Principal + Director of Business Development, Dawn Duhamel, and Unscripted Interior Design Principal and Chief Growth Officer, Kate Pourhassanian.

Every February, our team heads to the International Builders’ Show to pay close attention to where design is going. This year, Dawn Duhamel and Kate Pourhassanian hosted one of the show’s most attended sessions: An Insider Guide to 2026 Design & Product Trends. Here’s what resonated with us, and how it’s shaping residential design.

Curated Calm

The demand for sanctuary is real. We’re seeing more clients come to us not just with aesthetic preferences, but with a genuine need for their homes to feel quieter, less stimulating, and more restorative. Curated Calm is the design response to that: spaces built around muted palettes, soft forms, and deliberate simplicity. It’s grounded in neuroaesthetics, the idea that good design doesn’t just look good but actively supports how we feel. For us, that’s always been central to how we approach a project.

On the product side, we were drawn to Cosentino’s Mineral Harmony solid surface line, with colorways like Moonlight Mist and Silken Ash that move fluidly without ever demanding attention. Cambria’s three new warm-white additions—Claremont, Kenwood, and Traymore Bay—strike a similar chord.

MSI brought that same restraint to two very different categories. Their Aqualume tub and shower panels swap grout lines for a single, seamless surface, with colorways like Calacatta Golden Mist and Azure Regal Calacatta bringing soft, quiet veining to a space that’s meant to feel like an escape rather than a showpiece. On the floor, MSI’s Kelmore hardwood collection—genuine European White Oak in tones from soft blonde to rich brown—brings that same understated warmth underfoot, letting the grain do the talking without ever competing with the room around it.

But our standout find was Clopay’s Avante door with Click-to-Conceal panels: a garage door that shifts from architecturally expressive to completely private at the touch of a button. It’s a small innovation that says a lot about where clients’ heads are right now.

Modern Mood

Not every client wants to dial things down. For some, home is where they want to feel enveloped by color, texture, and a sense of depth that you can’t get anywhere else. Modern Mood is the counterpoint to Calm: rich, saturated, and confident. What makes it work is the restraint in form: clean lines keep the drama from tipping into chaos. It’s a reminder that boldness and sophistication aren’t opposites.

Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore, and Behr all leaned into this with their Colors of the Year: deep burgundy, velvety charcoal, and rich jewel tones leading the charge. Kraftmaid followed in cabinetry with Cocoa Blaze and Ember, an earthy dark brown and a deep cherry that bring that same intentional moodiness to the kitchen.

And Kichler’s Solen ceiling fan, with its translucent blades that nearly disappear into the space, is a great example of how even functional elements can serve the overall atmosphere.

EDM: Express, Dance, Move

If Modern Mood is a slow burn, EDM is a full statement. These are spaces where craftsmanship and personality take center stage—unexpected tile, luminous surfaces, materials that reward a closer look. What excited us most about this trend isn’t any single product, but the permission it gives clients to invest in the details that genuinely delight them. Great design has always lived there.

Emser’s Prismara glazed ceramic tile was a standout as it layers two types of 3D texture in a way that has to be touched to be believed. Cambria’s Saint Isley, a swirling blend of mushroom, taupe, and rivers of blue, was one of our favorite introductions of the year. Kohler turned heads with a pearlized iridescence sink that earns its place as a focal point. And marble is nowhere close to stepping aside; new lines from Emser and Dal Tile confirm it still reigns in high-end surfaces.

Heritage

Heritage is a tricky trend to get right, because the line between timeless and dated is thin. Done well, it’s about borrowing the warmth and familiarity of the past and giving it a contemporary edit— a finish that feels storied rather than old, a form that’s recognizable but fresh. We’re watching terracotta complete its journey from emerging to mainstream, appearing now across lines from Marazzi’s Curation to Shaw’s Seasons.

Visual Comfort & Co. brought two pieces we keep coming back to: the Marina chandelier, a nautical riff on a classic linen shade that feels genuinely new, and Lucinda, a textured-glass pendant that manages to feel both timeless and completely current. In finishes, the gold story is maturing away from shiny and toward something warmer and more burnished. Delta’s Bonacci Bath Collection and Moen’s expanded Lifeshine Bronzed Gold line are both making that case convincingly.

Chlorophyll

Our connection to the natural world keeps reasserting itself in design, and for good reason. Chlorophyll is the trend that reflects our innate pull toward organic materials, living textures, and the grounding quality of nature brought indoors.

Wood remains the most coveted surface in American homes, and what’s interesting is how far manufacturers are stretching to deliver that feeling across every category. James Hardie’s new TimberHue collection brings convincing wood texture to cementitious siding, including an ebony colorway that shows the wood-look desire extends well beyond the expected warm tones. Wayne Dalton’s Wood Impressions garage door offers a white-and-black plank option for clients who want the texture without the stain.

Inside, Kraftmaid added Muted Moss and Funrished to their cabinet palette: two green biophilic tones that bring the outside in more subtly than a living wall ever could. Dal Tile’s revival of slate in a modern 15×30 format is a good reminder that the most timeless materials just need the right reintroduction. For a state like Colorado, where the landscape is always just outside the window, this trend feels less like a moment and more like a permanent value.

The Bigger Picture

What struck us across all five trends is that they’re all answering the same question: what do people need their homes to do for them right now? The answers vary—stillness, boldness, connection, familiarity, nature—but the impulse is the same. Home has never carried more weight, and design has never had a more meaningful role to play in how people live.

Want to go deeper and explore the full list of 2026’s must-know products? The 2026 Design + Product Trends webinar is now available on demand.

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