Key Takeaways
Designers say warm, personalized interiors are in for 2026, and gray color pallets and stark white and black interiors are out.
Replace faux plants with live ones, avoid overly minimal decor, and use high-gloss paint finishes sparingly this year.
Give rooms a personality with art, books, layered lighting, and personal items.
The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to refresh your space, whether it’s a fresh coat of paint on the walls or simply swapping out a couple of throw pillows. This past year saw a distinct shift toward warmer, more personalized interiors, and designers say this trend will continue in the coming year.
“As we close out 2025 and head into 2026, I am seeing a clear shift away from trends that feel overly formulaic or driven by quick social media appeal, toward deep curation and real living, says interior designer Erica Davis.
Today, designers are sharing the top decor trends that are officially outdated in 2026—and why it’s time to retire these once ultra-popular looks.
Meet Our Expert
Erica Davis is an interior designer and the founder of Eralyn Interiors in West Palm Beach, FL.
Fariha Nasir is an interior designer, DIY expert, and frequent guest on interior design shows.
1. Faux Plants that Look Cheap
“I’m not a huge fan of using faux plants unless it’s a very high-quality tree or a very realistic potted plant that makes you do a double take,” says interior designer and DIY expert Fariha Nasir. If you can’t keep real plants alive but want to add greenery to your space, it’s worth investing in a high-quality artificial plant rather than settling for a collection of faux plants that cheapen your space. “If your shelf is sporting a plasticky looking succulent, replace it with something else that looks more natural on a shelf,” Nasir suggests.
2. Stark All-White Spaces
After many years of stark, all-white interiors dominating the scene, designers say it’s time for a change. “Say goodbye to stark white walls and trim, all-white kitchens, and white furniture that lacks contrast or texture,” Davis says. She comments on the recent design shift toward warmth and depth, which makes all-white spaces feel cold in contrast. “While these spaces photograph well, they don’t wear well over time,” Davis adds.
3. Cane Overload
Furniture and decor featuring caned details can add a great textured detail, but cane-everything? It’s best to leave generic cane chairs, decorative trays, baskets, and vases in 2025. “I really don’t like seeing cane everywhere, especially on midcentury-style armchairs that look very generic,” Nasir says.
There are ways to thoughtfully incorporate detail through high-quality pieces, but using a plethora of trendy cane items will only make your space look dated. “Cane is a beautiful organic material that I love incorporating where it makes sense, but not if it’s used as a trendy accent piece,” Nasir says.
4. Fast Furniture and Generic Home Decor
Designers say overly trendy “fast furniture” and generic home decor are officially retiring in 2025. “Oversized boucle chairs, cheap curved sofas, and uncomfortable accent chairs purchased purely for scale or look, rather than comfort and timeless style, are a thing of the past,” Davis says.
The designer explains that these pieces dominate a room for a season before quickly feeling outdated. “Boucle-everything is falling out of favor—a piece here and there is lovely, but when the entire room is covered in boucle, it just feels wrong,” Davis adds.
The same goes for generic home decor, whether it’s generic abstract art canvases or bookshelf accents. “Also, mass-produced dough bowls with spherical fillers like moss balls,” Nasir says. “You can thrift an actual dough bowl and fill it up with fruit you’ll actually use.”
5. Matchy-Matchy Decor
People often think that bringing in matching furnishings and decor will ensure they get it right, but designers say it only makes a room feel clinical and formulaic. In 2026, the pull toward less matchy-matchy spaces and more layered, intentionally assembled rooms will continue.
“Don’t try to match all the colors of accent pieces and decor; try to find something from your home that doesn’t necessarily belong and throw it in the mix,” Nasir suggests. The designer notes that even matching wall colors to wallpaper can feel a little outdated at this point. “Instead of finding an exact match of the colors in your wallpaper, try to find something complementary or even slightly different in tone but in the same color family,” she advises.
Related: How to Use the Color Wheel to Pick the Right Palette for Any Room
6. Overly Minimal Decor
“Overly minimal and personality-free spaces are being replaced with collected and curated spaces that have depth and character,” Davis says. She shares that rooms that are stripped of art, books, layered lighting, and personal items are becoming less and less popular. “Homes that are expressive and feel collected are what we are seeing as popular in 2026 and moving forward,” she says.
7. High-Gloss Paint Finishes
There was a time when high-gloss everything was the trending aesthetic, but Nasir recommends varying paint finishes to avoid a dated look in 2026. “I love high-gloss paint, but when all pieces of furniture and/or cabinetry are high-gloss, it instantly timestamps it to the 2000’s,” the designer says.
8. Cool Gray
Color palettes and decor trends have been leaning toward warmer hues in 2025 and will continue to do so in the new year. Cool gray may have been the it-color for over a decade, but it’s time to rein in its overuse.
Nasir says gray kitchen cabinets paired with stark white countertops and matte black hardware are a look that will officially be outdated in 2026. “Cool-toned gray flooring and gray everything really makes a house look dated, too—I’m still working on replacing the millennial gray from our builder-grade home,” she shares.
Related: Designers Agree: This Color Is the Next Millennial Gray—3 Tips to Keep It from Feeling Overdone
9. High-Contrast Black and White Schemes
High-contrast black-and-white color schemes, whether in bathroom tiles or room decor, were a longtime go-to look, but experts say that’s changing in 2026. “Graphic black and white tiles and finishes can feel harsh—soft, layered contrast is replacing this look,” Davis shares.
Related: These 10 Interior Design Trends Are Already Defining 2026, According to Pros
Read the original article on Better Homes & Gardens