What Paint Colors Will Rule 2026? Designers Make Their Predictions

Predicting color trends is a skill not everyone possesses. It relies on years of experience and, typically, hours and hours of research—sometimes with a bit of intuition added into the mix. In the interior design industry, as paint technologies evolve and advance to create more user-friendly options, the popular shades do too. Once dominated by cool tones and stark color-blocking, interior paint trends are now leaning more personal and expressive.

“I’m seeing a return to tones that feel lived-in, mineral, and rooted in the natural world—colors that hold emotional weight without demanding attention,” Blair Moore of Moore House Design says. No more all-white, impersonal spaces that were designed specifically for resale value; homeowners want personality and character in their homes, and paint is one of the fastest, easiest, and most affordable ways to get it. With these trends in mind, we asked designers and other paint experts to predict which paint colors are about to be the next big things in 2026.

Oiled Bronze

Moore predicts this “rich, near-black tone with undertones of brown and metallic charcoal” will be one of the most popular paint colors in 2026. “Elegant and anchoring, it replaces flat black with something more nuanced,” she says. “It’s ideal for cabinetry, powder rooms, or high-drama accent walls.” In the past, Moore has used Sherwin-Williams’s Superior Bronze and Urbane Bronze for oiled bronze tones.

Weathered Clay

A muted terracotta, like the shade just under the ceiling in this dining room, will be popular in the next year, predicts Moore. “It reads like a memory—evocative of plaster walls in sun-drenched European towns,” she says. “It’s warm, tactile, and deeply grounding.”

Ashley McCollum, color expert for Pittsburgh Paints Co., echoes this belief that warm rusts and terracotta tones will be trendy, specifically Cinnamon Spice by Glidden.

Sky Blue

To bring a brighter shade into the mix, Woelfel suggests a sky blue, specifically Aerial View by Behr, will get its moment in 2026. It promotes peace and relaxation, and is a great hue to light up a room.

Plum

Lucy O’Brien of Tartan & Toile encourages homeowners to move away from gray interiors, and predicts full-bodied yet brighter shades like plum will gain momentum.

“Purple Basil by Glidden will continue to trend as a continuation of the versatile, warm, and cool hues we’re seeing in 2025,” McCollum adds.

Muted Rose

Melissa Oholendt, founder and principal designer of Oho Interiors, is so confident in her prediction of a muted rose becoming popular in 2026 that she painted her own primary bedroom in Farrow & Ball Sulking Room Pink.

Nocturnal Black

Sue Kim, director of color marketing at Valspar, sees a nocturnal black shade emerging for the next few years, and Nevermore is just that paint color. It's an elegant deep violet black reminiscent of the night sky, and it would look perfect in the carved out spaces in your home, like a reading nook or dining room.

Muddy Green

Calling Farrow & Ball’s Reduced Green “the perfect green-brown paint color,” Oholendt is already starting to present this shade to clients. Moore also believes an “aged, earthy green with a brown-black base” will be more popular in the next year, saying that it feels masculine and refined.

Creamy White

While these designers all adore color, they recognize the importance of neutrals. However, rather than a bright white, Moore and O’Brien all believe a more creamy tint will be trendy. Designer Breegan Jane calls out Snowbound by Sherwin-Williams as one of her favorite creamy whites. Moore simply adds that white should be clean but not stark, with notes of chalk and raw linen.

Light Teal

“Teal and teal-adjacent shades like Quietude by Sherwin-Williams are going to be everywhere,” Jane says. Punchier tones that bring personality and life into a space will come into fashion.

Magenta

Along with her prediction of plum shades, O’Brien also expects magentas to gain momentum, such as Gypsy Pink from Benjamin Moore. These brighter hues add so much personality to a space even when they’re only used for accents like trim or on a ceiling.

Mustard Yellow

Erika Woelfel, vice president of color and creative services at Behr, calls out Behr Celebration, a bright mustard tone, as one she thinks will trend in 2026. It’s an evolution of the current butter yellow color trend, offering a slightly deeper shade for those who don’t want their walls so bright.

Atmospheric Blues

“Consumers are looking to infuse their spaces with colors that do triple duty: nurture, bring joy and inject a space with personality,” Kim explains, which is why she predicts this atmospheric blue with violet undertones will be trendy in the next few years. Encore by Valspar is bright, joyful, and futuristic.

Gold

It’s not just colors that designers are expecting to see more of, but textures too. O’Brien states that she thinks gold—whether in paint or wallcovering form—will pop up more and more in jewel box spaces. She specifically likes Giallo by Little Greene.

Warm Green

Both O’Brien and Moore predict a warmer, foggier green to trend alongside the muddier one. “Somewhere between eucalyptus and stone, a misty green-grey feels both serene and architectural,” Moore says. “It’s a tone we return to when we want a space to feel layered, calm, and quietly complex.” O'Brien enjoys Green Ground by Farrow & Ball when incorporating this paint color into an interior, which is a bit brighter than Moore's pick of Svelte Sage by Sherwin-Williams.