Interior design trends 2026: which ones have staying power?

The playroom full of toys today could become the place your teenagers retreat with friends in ten years, and later, a room for guests. Homes change because families do.

That’s why the interior design trends worth watching in 2026 aren’t just about a colour of the year or the latest stone. They’re about the way people want their homes to work.

We asked Belinda Miles from Playoust Churcher what she’s seeing in client briefs right now, and which of those shifts she expects to last.

Four requests are showing up more often in the client briefs Belinda is seeing:

• a second, more formal living zone alongside the open-plan kitchen and family room
• a flexible room in place of the dedicated media room
• bedrooms that can work as independent suites
• outdoor spaces designed with more functionality

None of these trends is about a particular finish or colour. Each changes how the home works day to day, which is why Belinda believes they’ll stand the test of time.

Not entirely, but it’s changing. Belinda has seen the appetite for fully open-plan living continue to ease. The large casual kitchen and living area still anchors most briefs. More often now, clients want a more formal dining and lounge zone as well.

“I feel this is a really happy medium,” she says. “It provides the flexibility for a changing family, and I definitely think it will be around for a while.”

This approach is often called broken-plan living. It isn’t a return to small, closed-off rooms. The main living area stays open and connected, with a second space that can be shut off, used differently or kept for entertaining.

Picture a weeknight. Dinner is on in the kitchen, the television is going, one child has homework, and another has a friend over. In a single large room, everything competes. With a second living zone, your household can spread out.

The useful question for your design is where you want connection, and where you’ll want a door you can close.

“The obsession with the dedicated media room has all but disappeared,” Belinda says.

Clients are asking for a flex room instead. It’s a space that can move from a baby playroom to a teenage hangout to a spare room for guests.
A room built around a screen and fixed seating does one job. A room designed with flexibility in mind can take on many roles over time, as long as the design doesn’t lock it into one specific use.

It’s one of the simplest ways to future-proof a family home. You don’t need to predict how you’ll use the room in fifteen years. You only need to leave it free to change.

We asked Belinda which interior decisions should follow the architecture rather than current trends. Her answer: “All of them!”

She doesn’t see architecture and trends as separate things. Architecture and interiors should be designed together from the start, so the materials, joinery and lighting belong to the same idea as the rooms around them. It’s why interior architecture is a core stage of our design process.

That doesn’t rule trends out. It changes who decides.

“The biggest advice we give our clients is that it needs to be their decision, not a fashion magazines or a neighbour’s,” Belinda says. “They’re the ones living in it.”

That depends on who you’re designing for.

If you’re designing to sell, keep the choices less personal. Bold colours and wild design decisions that might deter a buyer are worth reconsidering.

If you’re designing a home to retire in, trends mean something different.

“Any trend will date your home if you don’t love it to begin with,” Belinda says. “One person’s ‘last season’ might be someone else’s ‘forever’.”

If a trend is something you love and want to live with for the next 10 to 20 years, it’s the right choice for you. Her advice is to follow your gut.

That’s also why timeless interior design doesn’t have to mean neutral. A scheme chosen only because it felt safe won’t necessarily age better than a bold one you still enjoy every morning.

“Quality is always a good investment,” Belinda says.

She gives materials, lighting and joinery equal weight, because each affects how well the finished home lasts.

Our usual approach is to establish a high-quality baseline throughout the home. If there are particular elements a client wants to emphasise, the investment can then build on that solid foundation.

For Belinda, it comes back to one question.

“The most important aspect is to consider how the house will be, or could be, lived in,” she says. “That is the defining factor as to whether the house makes sense or if it feels driven by trends.”

A room that can change use, a bedroom with space to become a suite, a second living area for when the house gets busy. Decisions like these keep a home working as its people change.