13 Living Room Trends Of 2025 That Are Getting Updated In 2026

2025 proved to be a great year for interior design. Consumers drenched their living rooms with color and incorporated lots of floral patterns. They brought in more vintage pieces into their designs and moved away from lighter wood finishes. But, trends never stay constant. In 2026, these movements are already starting to evolve, and the next iterations of these trends have buyers and designers excited for what's next.

Many of the same living room trends from 2025 are carrying over into 2026, but they won't look exactly the same. With a new year comes a new mood. So far, the mood for 2026 centers on connectedness and bold self-expression. It's about letting go of self-restraint and embracing the looks, patterns, and textures consumers love personally. Maximalism is back in a big way, but it's not exactly the same 1980s trend. It's about telling a personal story through bold design. 

Now, that 2026 mood is finally ready to turn those 2025 trends into something original, and Sarah Stafford Turner, House Digest's resident architecture and design historian, has exclusive insights on how these trends may evolve over the course of the year. Here are the 13 living room trends of 2025 that are getting updated in 2026.

Floral patterns gained momentum in 2025, and they're staying for 2026. Consumers loved the vintage look in both maximalism and cottage-core designs, as well as the soft, feminine vibes that the pattern provided. Instead of looking dated, buyers modernized tired florals to make them feel new again. But they're not going to be alone in rooms for long. Now that consumers have seen how fun patterns can be on soft goods and accent furniture, they're looking to build on that foundation and bring in other designs.

Instead of one floral pattern, expect to see more layering with additional complementary patterns. You might have one statement pattern in a room and then several other less exuberant designs that enhance it. For florals, this could manifest as a bold floral pattern in wallpaper paired with thinner stripes on throws and accent pillows. Plaid designs could also stand out with florals. "Plaids upon florals upon different rich textures make for a dynamic look that is on-trend for 2026," Turner says.

Color-drenching, the trend of covering a room from the ceiling to the floor in color, took off in 2025, and it's still going strong for 2026. After years of minimalist decor and walls covered in white and gray paint colors, consumers appear ready to break free of these designs and coat their rooms in as much color as possible. Living rooms may not have been considered the best area of the house to try color-drench paint trend at first, but those embracing the trend are ready to go all out. Last year, designers often focused on drenching with just one hue. The look proved to be so popular that now consumers want more.

In 2026, color-drenching is bringing in multiple complementary shades, or what Turner calls "color-blocking." This pivot for the trend could make it last longer, as monochromatic rooms often look striking for a few years, but they tend to look dated much faster. As colors come in and out of popularity, finding decor to match with that once-popular color can get difficult. With color-blocking, consumers can still embrace the colors they love, but by mixing them among decorative accents, they can move colors in and out of the design as they get tired of them.

Cottagecore or Grandmothercore, a trend that blended coastal and traditional designs, picked up in 2025. Pale blues, chunky knits, floral patterns, and warm neutrals captured the feeling of cozying up in front of a fire on an overstuffed coach like the one your grandma had in her basement. The furniture tended to be heavier and included intricate designs, such as scalloping and carvings. The modern cottage design that took over 2025 started on social media, but now it's maturing and moving in a much more curated direction.

In 2026, expect those same colors and textures to stay in living rooms and expand to dining rooms and other formal spaces, but this time leaving the cottage behind and moving more towards the English manor look. Icy blue is making its way to upholstery, cooling down warmer wood tones, such as mahogany and espresso, commonly found on traditional furniture. Here, floral, stripes, and other patterns are heartily embraced, and consumers can expect to see them on dining chairs and in entryways. "The cozy textiles and rustic patterns of the English countryside are now becoming appropriate for every room in the home," Turner explains.

The year 2025 saw a shift away from lighter oak finishes on wood furniture. Buyers and designers were initially drawn to lighter finishes as a way to brighten rooms and fit a more minimalist aesthetic. Throughout the year, a pivot happened, and they started embracing walnut and cherry finishes. These heavier tones bring warmth, and they evolved alongside the color-drenching trend. "Dark wood and maximalism tend to go hand-in-hand," Turner says. "A rich mahogany offsets the playful florals of a pair of chintz drapes in a way that a blonde wood never could."

That pivot will continue into 2026, and now consumers are going even darker in living rooms. They're reaching for deep espresso and mahogany finishes that look both understated and elegant. Belleze's Sideboard Buffet Console Table comes in an espresso finish and offers plenty of storage options, including glass doors to show off books or decor. In mahogany, SimpliHome's Burlington Solid Wood Storage Cabinet fits well in traditional and transitional spaces, and its adjustable shelves make it suitable for living and dining rooms, as well as bedrooms.

Vintage furniture and decor never go out of style. As trends come and go, thrifting and vintage shopping allow buyers to refurbish old designs with something completely new, which was a big trend in 2025. Consumers repainted their vintage finds and reupholstered them in the prints they loved. Now in 2026, there's a shift happening in vintage furniture that highlights the strengths of the furnishings, rather than searching for ways to modernize them.

More thrifters are looking to restore vintage furniture that's always timeless, instead of repainting it or completely overhauling it. This lets them preserve the piece's original beauty and history. They're doing the hard work of researching eras and finishes to match the piece, and spending the time to refinish the pieces themselves. They're also being selective about upholstery patterns. Although florals may be big, they're prioritizing patterns that don't clash with the age of the furnishing. "It's a welcome sight to any lover of antiques," Turner gushes. "Some of these pieces have not been seen as they were intended for decades!"

Wallpaper made a big comeback in 2025. For a long time, buyers considered wallpaper dated, and they weren't enthused about the time and effort it took to put up or remove. But as they moved away from white walls, buyers needed more than just a can of paint. They wanted to cover them in bold designs with traditional motifs, such as florals and stripes. Wallpaper, now easier than ever to install with peel-and-stick designs, stepped in to fill this need.

Since buyers are already looking at their walls, they're now noticing another space that could use some zhuzh-ing: windows. Like wallpaper, heavy drapes and curtains fell out of fashion after having a moment in the 1980s. Now customers are looking to window treatments as the next step in revitalizing the look of their walls and doing away with the minimal aesthetic altogether. Turner calls curtains a "sign of luxury," adding that they offer the "flexibility and flair" that buyers seem to be craving in 2026. Instead of simple blinds and curtains, consumers are going for a more layered look with sheer curtains, like these NICETOWN White Sheer Curtains, covered in heavier draperies that are patterned, such as the Meikelor Floral Linen Curtains.

Nature-loving buyers ushered in a green movement in 2025 by merging the designs of indoor and outdoor spaces whenever possible. This created a sense of continuity between areas and eliminated the separateness of indoor versus outdoor. Finishes in both spaces matched, and the shades used outside found their way inside. The trend also warmed up neutrals and brought deep greens into more spaces as accent colors. Now this trend is moving towards upholstery in 2026.

Sofas and chairs in deep greens such as sage and olive are becoming the "it girl" of the furniture world. Consumers no longer want just a touch of green — they want it to cover the most dominant piece in their living rooms, going for a sofa color trend that fills the home with richness. "Emerald and jade shades of green make the perfect complement to a cozy, moody living room when used for upholstery on a structural loveseat or other hero piece," Turner says.

Sofas in traditional designs — think heavy pieces with intricate carvings and overstuffed with wide arms and curvy backs — gained steam in 2025. Consumers appreciated the attention to detail and the look of fullness. For many millennial and Gen Z buyers, these sofas harkened back to the ones they sat on in their grandparents' houses, the same sofas that lasted decades. This trend spilled over into 2026, but for the new year, more texture is coming.

Pleated skirts, tufted backs, and tassels are returning to sofas in 2026. These designs beg to be touched and bring in a more layered effect to the living room. Pleats, tassels, and ruffles along the bottom of the sofa, as shown on Myeypel's Loveseat Sofa, give it a feminine vibe, while the tufting makes the room feel more inviting. "Look for sofa skirts to make a comeback, along with the other ruffly hints of Victoriana sneaking back into our decor vocabulary this year," Turner advises.

More living rooms in 2025 cleared areas for gaming spaces. As people seek ways to connect and bond with others, many turned to board games and card games to get guests off their phones and engaging together. "In 2026, consumers are moving ever more towards screenless games — board games, cards, and other low-tech fun," Turner says. Especially in large homes, gaming spaces in living rooms provided a central, comfortable location where families and friends could spend valuable time with each other.

This need for community will certainly be moving into 2026, as more consumers seek out tables designed for games. Rounded tables with plush chairs keep people comfortable and the dice rolling. Some tables, like Lausaint Home's Board Game & Card Table, lean into the trend with cup holders and even trays for tokens, cards, and fake money. For those who need to prioritize dining first, the Soohow Solid Wood Round Table fits four to six players and has an airy base for stretching legs out when it feels like that game of Monopoly just won't end.

As designs became bolder in 2025, it was only a matter of time before it came for lighting. Instead of solely serving a purpose like desk or decorative, ceiling fixtures and floor lamps are embracing glam and style, and taking up space. As Turner notes, ceiling heights have risen over the last several decades, and that's made space for dramatic fixtures that enhance the style of the room instead of just blending in with it. Designers are pulling from styles of the 1910s and '20s when newfangled electric lights encouraged daring designs. Colorful lighting is also on trend for 2026, so lighting need not skip out on color drenching.

Oversized lighting will be the big move in 2026. These fixtures and lamps cannot be ignored, and they can do heavy design lifting, especially in small spaces. The sky's the limit, so be bold! Longree's Nordic Bubble Ball Chandelier features a cluster of swirled glass bulbs covering a gold-finished base. When lit up, the finish is diffused through the glass balls, creating a lovely glow. For an icy, natural look, this Witkey Modern Tree Branch Chandelier is dripping in crystal pendants, which dazzle when the light shines through them. Depending on your choice of size and finish — silver, gold, or black — you can set the tone for how much you want this fixture to stand out.

As wood finishes warmed up in living rooms, so did the metals. Gold and brass accents have been popular with the mid-century modern craze that's dominated for a long time, and while they're not going away, they aren't all staying either. Consumers are beginning to look wistfully at patinaed brass, old-rubbed bronze, and even silver. In 2026, they're noticing that these finishes have much more in common with each other than initially thought.

Instead of the matchy-matchy look with metals, consumers will start mixing and matching warm metals together with iron, aged bronze, and nickel for 2026. "Clever design has hinged on rule-breaking for decades, and we're about to break another rule: Your fixtures don't have to match," Turner says. While brass or gold may dominate in the lighting fixture, aged bronze may be mixed into decor or finishes on furniture. Adding pops of different metals, like these Amerelle Aged Bronze Wallplates or Quoowiit's Thinker Statues, shake up the flow of the room, so it never feels boring.

Natural stones like marble and granite have been staples in kitchens and bathrooms in 2025. These stones feel cool to the touch, but they're elegant and immediately elevate these rooms. They're also highly durable and long-lasting, perfect for eco-conscious consumers trying to make climate-friendly decisions. Many buyers loved these materials so much that they're now bringing them to their living rooms. "Extending the richness and authenticity of these materials to other rooms in the house is simply an extension of that trend," Turner explains.

Heavy veins in natural stones will be making a big splash in living rooms for 2026. No two slabs of natural stone will look the same, so highlighting those differences will be key. In small ways, they will be showing up topping surfaces like this adjustable Goodinough Marble Drink Table or this ChicAura Modern Coffee Table. Homes with statement fireplaces may see the rounds done up in marble or covered in individual stones with contrasting grout.

Rising furniture and design costs due to tariffs and other factors forced some buyers to slow down and rethink their designs in 2025. They spent more time considering what they truly wanted from their living rooms and how their furniture selections may tell their own special story. As a result, more consumers became comfortable slowing down their design process and exercising more patience for lead times.

Instead of buying everything at once, more consumers in 2026 are reaching for hand-crafted pieces made by artisans and will be willing to wait for what they want. That can translate into saving up for a very special piece designed specifically for them. It could also mean visiting vintage stores regularly until the exact right piece has been found. The effect created is a more lived-in living room that feels personal to the consumer. "While mass production is now seen as a reflection of the consumerist culture that has led to waste of ecological resources, pollution, and economic instability," Turner unpacks, "repurposing something old and unique is revered as an eco-friendly way to amass collections of housewares that can then, again some day, be repurposed in an eco-friendly cycle."