Interior Design Trends to Carry Into 2026
As 2025 comes to a close, we’re not looking for what’s new for the sake of novelty. We’re paying attention to what lasts. What continues to resonate in the spaces we design. What clients respond to. What guests linger in.
At Siren Betty, trends are never the starting point. We pay attention to how people move through a space and what makes them stay. This perspective shapes how we approach interior design trends heading into 2026, especially within hospitality and residential environments.
Interior Design Trends That Defined 2025
This past year marked a departure from overly restrained interiors. Spaces softened. Texture returned. Rooms felt layered and personal rather than polished for perfection.
We saw this firsthand across hospitality projects where warmth became essential. Natural materials, deeper tones, and tactile finishes replaced flat, minimal palettes. In spaces like Layla and Ringo’s, connected to DJ’s Great Room and The Anteroom, layered surfaces and low lighting create an environment that carries from day and evolves into night. As you move through the rooms, the energy shifts, becoming more intimate and atmospheric. These interiors are built to hold people and let the experience unfold.
“The spaces people return to are the ones that know how to hold energy.”
~ Siren Betty Design
The focus moved to how a space holds people, not how it appears on first glance. We explored this idea further in The Siren Call: A New Lens on Hospitality Interior Design, where objects, surfaces, and material choices take on an even deeper role in shaping experience.
What’s Evolving as We Move Into 2026
What’s carrying forward into 2026 feels like an evolution rather than a shift.
Ornament is returning with intention. Pattern feels bolder, yet more considered. Classic references are reappearing, reworked through modern proportions and material choices. The result is expressive without excess.
Color is gaining confidence. Warm neutrals remain, but they’re layered with richer tones and unexpected moments. Clients are more open to contrast and depth, especially in hospitality environments where atmosphere matters most.
There’s also a renewed focus on longevity. Materials are chosen not only for how they look on opening night, but for how they age over time. Sustainability is no longer a talking point. It’s an expectation.
The Ideas We Believe Will Last
Some shifts feel permanent.
Emotion-driven design is one of them. The most successful spaces create an immediate feeling. Intimacy. Ease. Anticipation. That emotional response will always outlast aesthetics alone.
Layering remains essential. Mixing old and new, refined and imperfect, creates rooms that feel collected rather than staged. This approach has long shaped our work. In projects like The Anteroom, surfaces lead the narrative. Pattern, texture, and material establish mood before furniture is even introduced. These elements create memory. Guests may not always articulate what draws them back, but they feel it.
The Anteroom at Dj’s Great Room Chicago
What This Means for Hospitality Design
For hospitality spaces, these shifts matter deeply. Guests aren’t just looking for a place to eat or drink. They’re looking for an experience that feels immersive and intentional. Design shapes that experience, from how a room sounds to how long people choose to stay.
A room shaped for connection.
Designed for gathering.
~ Dj’s Great Room
In our work, we think carefully about how texture absorbs noise, how lighting controls mood, and how layout encourages connection. Trends inform these decisions, but they never dictate them. Context, narrative, and atmosphere come first.
As we move into 2026, hospitality interiors will continue to reward spaces that balance comfort with character and visual impact with authenticity.
Looking Ahead
As we enter a new year, design feels more expressive and more grounded than it has in some time. There’s confidence in embracing character again and in creating spaces that feel layered, emotional, and intentionally imperfect.
For us, 2026 isn’t about chasing what’s next. It’s about refining what already works and pushing it further.
That’s where meaningful design lives.
