Home Design Trends
INSIDER PERSPECTIVE BY JENNIFER ADAMS ENGEL & VÖLKERS LIFESTYLE AND DESIGN EXPERT
In 2026, the home is expected to do more than look beautiful. It is expected to support health, emotional balance, and the realities of everyday life.
Homeowners are making more deliberate choices about how their spaces function and how they feel. Design is no longer driven by aesthetics alone. It is shaped by well being, comfort, and personal meaning. This shift influences everything from material selection and layout to color, light, and how spaces are used throughout the day.
Wellness has become foundational. Natural light, air quality, and materials that support comfort are treated as essentials rather than upgrades. At the same time, homes are becoming more personal. Uniformity is giving way to individuality, and perfection is giving way to authenticity.
The 2026 Engel & Völkers Home Design Trends reflect these changes. Each trend represents a clear and practical direction that homeowners, designers, and real estate professionals can understand and use. Together, they point to homes that are not only visually compelling, but deeply supportive of how people live.
Jennifer Adams Engel & Völkers Lifestyle and Design Expert
The Wellness Home is the New Standard
In 2026, wellness is no longer an upgrade or a luxury feature. It is the baseline for how homes are designed.
Homes are expected to support both physical and mental well being. Materials are chosen to promote clean air and water. Natural light is treated as essential and shapes layouts and daily routines rather than serving as a decorative feature.
Wellness is built into the flow of the home through flexible, multi-use spaces. Yoga and stretch areas, cold plunge zones, steam or red light corners, and quiet recovery spaces are integrated seamlessly rather than separated into designated rooms.
Color, scent, and organization all play a role. Calming blues, grounding browns, and revitalizing greens are used intentionally for emotional support. Aromatherapy is planned as part of the design experience. Decluttering is viewed as an act of mental clarity, creating homes that actively support daily rejuvenation.
Key Takeaway
Homes in 2026 are designed to help people feel better every day, not just look better.
Design is Guided by Harmony With Place and Feeling
Homeowners in 2026 are designing spaces that feel aligned with their surroundings and their inner pace.
Design choices respond to the landscape, but they are not limited by it. Coastal homes may naturally incorporate layered blues and mineral tones, while mountain or desert homes lean into earthy palettes. Those same colors are also used beyond geography, selected for the emotions they create rather than the setting alone.
Soft neutrals inspired by stone, sand, and hillside greens create a sense of ease. Patterns reference water movement, topographic lines, and woven grasses. Scents follow this grounding approach, from sea minerals that support clarity to warm woods that create comfort and fresh botanicals that add energy.
Key Takeaway
Homes are designed to feel emotionally aligned, not stylistically imposed.
Warm Earth: Supports Slower, Grounded Living
Warm Earth reflects a growing desire for comfort, stability, and a slower pace of life.
These interiors feel grounded and welcoming. Sun kissed browns, spice tones, clay, taupe, and chalky neutrals create warmth without heaviness. The emphasis is on how a space feels, not how dramatic it looks.
Texture plays a leading role. Woven throws, boucle accents, brushed knits, and relaxed linens add softness
Key Takeaway
Warm Earth interiors prioritize comfort, ritual, and a sense of grounding.
and tactility. Patterns are inspired by sediment layers, sun-faded stone, and easy retro-modern geometry.
Scent reinforces the experience through combinations such as amberwood with wild clay, cinnamon bark with resin, and sandalwood with cedar, enhancing emotional warmth and comfort.
Seaside Cool: A Sensory Reset for Mental Clarity
Seaside Cool reflects a desire for calm and clarity in a fast paced, digital world. These homes are designed to feel airy and restorative, offering a sensory reset rather than a literal coastal style.
The look is defined by pale to deep blues layered with warm woods and soft greys. Hand painted textures and modern ikats reference tides, sky gradients, and shoreline grasses, creating movement without feeling themed.
Spaces feel open and breathable, with an emphasis on light, flow, and ease rather than decoration.
Scents such as sea mineral with eucalyptus, driftwood with musk, and salt air with citrus peel reinforce freshness and mental clarity.
Key Takeaway
Seaside Cool creates calm and clarity through color, texture, and atmosphere, no ocean required.
Garden Green: Nature Is Integrated Into Daily Living
Connection to nature is a central part of wellness-focused design.
Garden Green interiors bring the outdoors inside in a way that feels intentional and livable. Color ranges from soft sage to deep leafy greens, paired with warm neutrals and clay tones. Watercolor botanicals and layered textures are woven throughout the space, echoing foliage, light, and natural forms.
Design supports wellness rituals through fresh air, indoor greenery, purified water, and spaces dedicated to calm. Nature is not treated as decor, but as an essential part of how the home functions.
Scents such as fresh herb with sage leaf, fern with moss, and soft mint with clay complete the experience, creating a peaceful, nature-forward atmosphere.
Key Takeaway
Homes are designed to feel connected to nature every day, not just visually.
Personal Expression Shapes the Modern Home
Across all design directions, individuality is the unifying theme.
Homeowners are moving toward spaces filled with meaning. Collected pieces, heirlooms, artisan work, and travel inspired objects are celebrated. Imperfection is embraced. Homes feel layered, personal, and lived in. Warm Earth interiors highlight natural materials and heirloom objects, Seaside Cool spaces reflect global and artisanal influences, and Garden Green environments showcase hand-painted and organic forms.
Fragrance becomes part of the story, with layered, expressive combinations such as fig with amber, cedar with citrus, and botanical mint with soft wood.
Key Takeaway
Homes are curated reflections of how people actually live.
The Wellness Home of 2026 restores, nourishes, and supports—mind, body, and mood.
