Design Anatomy

Spaces That Hold You: The Mood Shift Shaping 2026 Design

• Bree Banfield and Lauren Li • Season 3 • Episode 3

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Feeling overstimulated by screens and underwhelmed by white-on-white rooms? We dive into the real interior shifts shaping 2026 and explain why homes are moving from performative to restorative—spaces built for calm, conversation, and everyday joy. Drawing on years inside the industry, we unpack how cultural mood, technology, and cost-of-living pressures are changing what good design looks and feels like.

We start by reframing trends as signals of how we live, not flimsy fads. That lens reveals a decisive turn from digital gloss to tactile craft: honed stone with movement, handmade tiles with irregular glaze, timber with grain you can feel. Planning follows suit. Open plan fatigue makes way for thoughtful zones that support work, rest, parenting, and hosting without throwing everything into one echoing space. Kitchens become emotional centres with islands that meet dining, softer materials, and art on the walls—rooms that invite people to gather and stay.

Warm colour palettes continue their rise. Think ochre, nettle green, duck-egg blue, tobacco, and clay—tones that ground timber and ease the eye. White still has a role, but as accent rather than default. Bathrooms evolve into living spaces with layered lighting, joinery that feels like furniture, and even home saunas as wellness settles into daily life. We also make the case for personality: eclectic, collected objects, family photos curated with care, and flea-market finds that carry stories. The outcome is a home that feels human—not a showroom or a shop-the-look grid, but a place that holds you.

We also share a special invite: one final spot on our insider Paris and Milan design tour, with private access, line-skips, studio visits, and a guided morning at the legendary flea markets. 

For more info about the tour reach out to us on insta:  @Design.anatomy.podcast, @sisalla_interior_design & @bree.banfield

Want your home to feel calmer, richer, and unmistakably you? Hit play, then tell us the first trend you’re retiring and the material you’re bringing in next. If you loved this conversation, subscribe, share it with a design-loving friend, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Bree is now offering a 90-minute online design consult to help you tackle key challenges like colour selection, furniture curation, layout, and styling. Get tailored one-on-one advice and a detailed follow-up report with actionable recommendations—all without a full-service commitment.

Bookings now open - Book now

Join Lauren online for a workshop to help break down pricing & fees for 2026! You'll learn:

  • What has worked for Lauren over the past year
  • What hasn’t worked, and what she has changed
  • The exact fee structure Lauren now uses across all projects

For more info see below

The Pricing Shift: How I Structure My Fees in 2026.

Welcome And Tour Opportunity

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to Design Anatomy, the Interior Design Podcast hosted by friends and fellow designers, me, Bree Banfield.

SPEAKER_01

And me, Lauren Lee, with some amazing guest appearances along the way. We're here to break down everything from current trends to timeless style.

SPEAKER_00

With a shared passion for joyful, colour-filled and lived-in spaces, we're excited to share our insights and inspiration with you.

SPEAKER_01

And I guess to kick off the year, we thought that you might want to know about the trends that Brie and I are predicting for 2026. So that's what we're going to talk about today. But before we get stuck in, it is the countdown is on to Paris and Milan in April. And we are really excited. We've got our group together, but unfortunately, one of our gorgeous people has had to step away due to her own thing that's going on. So that means, lucky for you, we have one spot opened up. Just opened up literally last night. We got the news.

SPEAKER_00

We take you through places and you have experiences that are not available to anyone else. I'm really proud that we've been able to do that. And even better than that, you just get to hang out with an amazing bunch of people doing all the design things that we love to do. Like that's probably the best part of it, I think.

SPEAKER_01

It is. It's it's just, yeah, it is quite rare. Um and we are already, you know, scheduling through the itinerary. I've got some incredible apartment tours that I'm super excited about. They are just, if you think of a Paris apartment in your mind's eye, it's like that, but 10 times more gorgeous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And you get to be in it. So it's like the difference between flicking through a magazine page or seeing it online or on Instagram and being there inside that apartment and seeing how it all works and fits together in real life is incredible. Like that's just next level.

SPEAKER_01

And I think also what makes it so special is the people that we've met.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

You know, super warm and friendly and hospitable. Because it's quite a it's quite a thing to say hi. Can I come over with my eight closest friends?

SPEAKER_00

And just hang out in your house. Oh, there's been we've had just the most lovely people who have been amazingly welcoming, you know, pastries and coffee and all of that sort of stuff. Um, and then, you know, in Milan, we're gonna get you ahead of the lines. And if you saw any of the footage of lines from last year, I feel like it just grows every year. Um, you know, those are the places that we're taking you into, and you do not have to stand in line. We're gonna go straight through, we're gonna get a little private tour, we might talk to some of the artists and the designers that are behind the installation. And yeah, and we eat at great places, both in Paris.

SPEAKER_01

We like food. We do, we do. We see a lot of furniture, we eat a lot of food, we meet cool people, um, and we drink a few apple rolls or ten.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yes, you know, I'm a little prone to an apple roll or two or three or a negroni or a bit of wine, all the things.

SPEAKER_01

So fun. Um, so if you are thinking, hmm, I wouldn't mind getting a little bit of more information, just um shoot us an email. There's an email in the show notes, or just DM us either Bru or myself on Instagram and we can send you through the info. Because last time we actually did have a spot open up, it was like a frenzy.

SPEAKER_00

It was, yeah. So yeah. And we're still we're still at that point where I think people are just thinking about whether or not they want to head to Milan. So um I think it'll get snapped up now that it's available.

What Trends Really Mean

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's coming, it's on the horizon. It's not far away. I can't wait, Bray. The most fun ever. So, what should we talk about? Um, trends. I think that's good old. It's a good topic. So I'm sort of curious from your point of view, how do you see what a trend is? How what's your definition?

Global Mood And Tech Shape Design

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we we love to have this chat sometimes, don't we? Because I obviously have worked in trends well for a really long time. And I think that it's shifted a bit from when I first started to work on trends, that people were very into it. They really wanted to know it was quite practical to being, I think the the era of uh social media has pushed trends along and made them a lot more like fads to me. Like that's a different word, where it's like a quick flash in the pan. It's something that's just like everyone wants it and then it's done. So it's a bit more, I guess, um, throwaway culture, you know, like that fast food throwaway, fast fashion culture that people now associate trends with. Whereas for me, trends are more about lifestyle and how we live. Um, you know, obviously there's lots of different types of trends, but we're talking about interior specific. They're more related in uh to what we are doing in our homes, how we want to live in our homes, how that impacts what um people are looking for, the things they want to feel, so um, which is influenced by what's going on in the world around us. So, you know, some really basic things are like, you know, if we're all feeling a little bit worried and scared and uncertain in the world, then we often will want very cocooning, calming, nurturing homes that allow us to kind of escape from that and make us feel safe. Like it's it's that's some really basic kind of psychology that goes behind trends. Um, so I do get kind of, and we we've had these conversations, I I do find it fascinating when designers talk about, oh we don't, well, we don't pay attention to trends, we don't follow trends with trends have nothing to do with us. When I just call that out, it's they have everything to do with you, even if you're not getting online or getting trend reports and going, well, we're gonna follow these specific things, which I I would I would say most designers don't deliberately do that. We're interested in what's happening, but we're not gonna go, oh well, we have to now everything has to be blue because that's the trend for this year. Like we're not all switching, right? We're still following the the brief or um, you know, our own tastes and mixed with the client's tastes, whatever it is. But often designers are part of the trend world because they're influencing trends. So when they're picking up on how a client's feeling, and then they interpret that into say, let's keep using that example. The client's like, oh, you know, we just want it, we want our own space, we want it to feel really safe and calm. And because of the things that they're going through, maybe they're in financial world, maybe they work in um, you know, law enforcement, maybe they're lawyers who need calm spaces, like your client. Um, then we interpret that into what that is, and then that can be something that starts to happen to multiple people in design with their clients' brief. And when I start to pick up on trends, it's because things are happening that are unrelated to each other in terms of um, say there's an artist in New York that created this particular wallpaper, and then there's a designer in Melbourne who created this fabric. Um, and then there's someone in London or China or wherever, and they're all kind of picking up on the same mood or something that's making them gravitate towards craft or you know, Eve's climb blue or whatever it is, and you start to notice these threads through people who are kind of not personally connected, but they're connected through, I guess, the energy that's happening in the world. That sounds slightly woo-woo, but it's you know, it's a real thing, like that mood, the global mood. Is that nice? And they don't even know that they're. I mean, sometimes you'll hear them have explanations about why they designed a certain way or why they did this, and someone else will have a similar explanation. But I love it. I get really quite nerdy and fascinated when it happens, like it's not happening because they're all like talking to each other or seeing each other's work, it's all happening individually. It's amazing. And that's that's how you know that's that's a real thing that happens in the world. It's not a made-up um, you know, company kind of going, well, this is going to be the trends because we want to sell a whole heap of this blue stock, like but I think that's what kind of happens is um even without capitalism, trends would still exist, I think, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01

That's a good, that is a really good angle to think about it. Yeah. Um, you know, what you were saying about at the top there, you were saying about um when things are kind of crazy in the world, do you want to feel cocooned? And I feel like that's where we are at now. And I was thinking, well, what's the reverse of that? And I was thinking about okay, the opposite of cocooned is feeling really open. And do you know that um the Farnsworth house? It's that Philip Johnson one where it's basically a floor plane and a ceiling plane, a roof with glass all around. And that was the end of World War II. Yeah, so people are feeling like, okay, let's shake off. Yeah, shake that off. What's what's new? What can technology do? How could we live differently? How can we look forward? Um, whereas I think now it is much more, I feel like people are looking back to nostalgia and thinking more comfortable, a little leaning towards traditional, lots of solid timber craft handmade whereas you don't want to the machine like 3D printing, like it's not really the farm.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, and I think that comes down to like, you know, and this is where technology plays a huge part. And it's not always, it's sometimes to do with manufacturing or a new material, and then that sort of shifts it into a trend because it's able, we're able to, like you said, like, you know, have like huge planes of glass in a home that we couldn't do before, just due to, you know, potentially steel beams or something like that, or types of plastic where suddenly we can do, you know, inject uh injection molding and these uh shapes and things that weren't able to be formed before. So that definitely also influences um trends. It's not just about mood. There's definitely that part of it. But yeah, the that connection back to um, I guess in this case with technology, seeing a lot of these sort of fake images. Um, well, not fake is kind of a harsh word, generated digitally images because they still exist, they're not fake. They might project fake things. Um, but we had kind of this like lead, we were leaning into it a little bit and now I feel like we're leaning away from it a bit and going, well, actually it's like I don't know about this. I feel like I don't know what's real anymore. Like there's people going, well, you know, you know when how many times have you been sent something from a friend, probably outside of the industry, because I think we're probably slightly better at picking up on uh images that are real and not real than the general consumer, and then you go, you know, that's AI.

SPEAKER_01

I've had clients send me images and they're like, I've done a reverse Google image search and for some reason I can't find this sofa. I'm like, that image is not real. Like, I don't know what it is as well. I think we're quite in tune with what's real and what's not real, and there's subtly subtle, it's got better. But yeah, yeah, so clients are presenting spaces that don't exist and wanting something that doesn't exist. I mean, that's fine because we can create anything, but um yeah, it's a very, very strange time.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I guess that well, that let's say that's trend number one is that rejection of digital. And you know, we did have trends like a few years back that were really even the colours became quite super real, like you know, hyper real is the word I'm looking for, not super real, that were related back to us spending a lot more time in digital worlds, even. And now I feel like we really want to be grounded. So it's coming back to, like you said, more handcrafted, um, you know, imperfections, which has been happening for a long time, but things that feel authentic and real and we know that they're they've been made by a real person.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. Uh and you know, you were saying about um technology and and the digital age, and because we're of a mature age, I remember why.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know about you, but I'm very young.

SPEAKER_01

Um, I remember Y2K and how exciting that was, you know, like the the turn of the century and what was design looking like back then. And I remember like Mark Newson, it was very futuristic, blob sort of shapes and and the colours, like um Karim Rashid, you know, that cool industrial designer. Like it was very optimistic and really exciting. Um, and I think we have this digital fatigue where we're like, oh God, like I am overstimulated with so much screen time. Like, I'm not talking for myself, of course. But um, yeah, it's that return of something that's real, something with a texture.

SPEAKER_00

For that exact reason. Like we've been talking about screen fatigue for years, and I think COVID boosted it even more because obviously, then suddenly we were also having all of our meetings, looking at the screen literally all day. We weren't even having in-person meetings, we weren't leaving the office to go for a walk to the coffee shop and have a conversation with a real person. So that pushed that whole trend to move even faster towards us needing more grounded spaces with real things around us and focusing on craftsmanship and things that were made by hand um and gardening and and plants. Like that's another big thing that hasn't really it's definitely dropped off that sort of biophilia trend, but it's still really stuck around. And that that trend also just was bumped up by COVID because we were like, okay, we need nature in our house now because we're not allowed to go outside and experience it. That's so true.

Enclosure Beats Open Plan

SPEAKER_01

Well, I feel like for the last decade and before, homes were open, efficient, visually quiet, and it was all about productivity. Whereas now we want our homes to hold us, make us feel calm, yeah, protect us and feel human again. So I think that the first thing that I've noticed is enclosure is back. Yeah. So, you know, I'm banging on about that all the time because I feel I see so many clients in open plan homes, they do not work. It's really, it's actually really I'm passionate about it because that it actually really upsets me because when I see um the mum and she's like, we can't sit comfortably in this space in our living space. So my kids go upstairs and I just want to be able to sit and chat with them. I'm like, that's actually really sad. And this dining table, these chairs are just so big and bulky, they're not comfortable, so we don't even sit around the table anymore. And plus, it's so loud in here because the the um range hood, the dishwasher, it's such a noisy, loud room because there's all of these glass bifold doors that nobody ever opens.

SPEAKER_00

Right?

SPEAKER_01

It bounces around, all of this big open space. Like, what is it for? So if you can, you know, think about if you're building or renovating, don't just put a big box on the back and think I'll figure it out later. You really want to feel figure out okay, how are we going to be using the space as a family? Are we going to have a TV here? If so, where will it be located? Like, I mean, it's so and so basic, but I mean, we see floor plans often where there's windows everywhere. I'm like, are you not thinking of having a TV in here? Oh yeah, we will. We'll just what where?

SPEAKER_00

It's gonna drop down from the ceiling, which isn't which is a real thing that people do. But um I I I agree. I think that I love how I feel like we need a better word than enclosure because I I think I said this too before. It's like I think of like putting your children or in an enclosure or a zoo enclosure or something.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I'm actually all for that too, because sometimes I just need my own space. Can I put them in a cage? No.

SPEAKER_00

Um But I think I think what's happened is um, you know, we'll we're all very excited about open plan at some point, right? And then we all kind of like latched onto it. I think particularly in Australia, like out of all of the places, all the new builds and everything. But then we stopped thinking about function and how you use a space, exactly like you said. Like, okay, well, you're gonna watch TV in here. No one's even really thought through how they're gonna use a room. What are you gonna do here? How do you want it to feel? They've just kind of go jump straight into a floor plan being like this, because it's what it's kind of expected to be now. Exactly. And not and not catering to how you live. Yes. It's not, it shouldn't cater to how everyone lives. It needs to cater to how you live, right? Some people maybe they love the open plan. No, I think it can work, but I think there's just more and more, it's just being, I don't know, bastardized to the point where it's just about okay, we just need this big space because it feels impressive. Exactly. I think that's what it's become about.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. You know, um, during summer we had our replays and I listened to Brem again, and he made so many great points. Uh he said that if you're entertaining, you don't just walk into someone's home and sit at the dining table. So I've I don't know if you've ever been to someone's home where you sort of don't know where to perch. Like it seems quite formal to pull out a chair. Can I sit on the sofa? If there was like a bench, a stool to chat while someone's in the kitchen or something like that. So it is really breaking it down. If you are someone who entertains, where are people going to gather? And then they're going to go into this area and then they're going to come out to here. Like it's um, it doesn't happen by accident. You do need to plan for it. So I think, yeah, open plan, um, you know, everything happens at home, work, rest, parenting, TV, delivery.

SPEAKER_00

Right, is even just since I mean, I hate bringing up COVID all the time, but it was a massive shift in the way we were we are living and changed a lot of directions in that. But everything does happen at home now. To some extent, there was sort of lots happening at home, but now, and then add to that, you know, just the cost of living that's gone up so much. There's now generations of people living at home, or you know, even older children, like in in my case, where they do need their own spaces as well as, you know, the space where the family can kind of come together. So there's just so many more factors to take in that you shouldn't just be kind of like defaulting to something that you really need to think about all those aspects. You really do.

SPEAKER_01

And I think you make such a good point. When I moved out, I was 20. Like it was possible, but these days it's different.

SPEAKER_00

And also I moved out when I was 17.

SPEAKER_01

My sister was 17. Me and my sister, it's so young, Brie.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I couldn't drive. So young, yeah.

Hosting At Home Returns

SPEAKER_01

So my sister couldn't drive. And you know, that was it. We we were out on our own, you know, we that was it. And it's a different time, but you know, even as you were saying, everything happens at home. The cost of living, I'm not we used to go out all the time for dinner back then, and now I'm like, no, I I want to go out for an occasion. I'm a bit more like, you know, it it really adds up. Whereas before you could go out for dinner and you didn't really like think twice. I don't know if it's just me. But so, you know, I guess the cost of living, maybe instead of going out for dinner so often, we want to stay at home. So, how can we make home somewhere that we really want to be?

SPEAKER_00

And especially if um, you know, you are someone who was going out for dinner to be social with other people, then it starts to become about okay, let's have dinner here. And so what does that space look like? So if that's something you want to be able to do, you need to think about that. And it's like, and and you almost do need to kind of like breakout spaces.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

A big open plan is I mean, I guess it works if it's just like a big party, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Well, you know what it's sort of reminding me of? It's like back in like the 80s and 90s and stuff when I was growing up, like we always used to go to friends' houses, like the parents would have dinner parties, and I don't know if that still happens. Well, it uh we always would go out, but I mean our apartment, you know, back in the day was tiny, but maybe people are inviting friends over for dinner, like entertaining more at the home. Maybe that could be a new trend. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

I think it is. I think it definitely um there's a shift to that. I know that, you know, even just in my friend group, just as an example, we're all talking about starting to do that more and just hanging out at home, literally just to save money. Because it's very easy to spend if you're someone who's um, you know, not having a a young family at home and needing to be at home, and you are all kind of like meeting up and there's a group of people, it gets very expensive to just go out all the time. It does. So I think there's just there is a shift towards probably a younger generation starting to normalize hanging out at each other's homes more and not like house parties, more like dinner parties or, you know, movie watching or whatever it is, and just hanging out together. So I think that would definitely influence even. As that generation sort of becomes, you know, looking at building houses or renovating or settling down even as families, I think that will kind of maybe have a resurgence of exactly what you're talking about. Like when you were younger and you remember how cool it was when there were people over at your place or when you went to someone else's house and you got to hang out with the other kids and the the parents were having their dinner mints that you weren't allowed to eat.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I know all those foods from the 80s, like I don't know, what was that cheese with apricots and stuff in it?

SPEAKER_00

Oh yeah. And apricot chicken, that was a big one.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Are we gonna bring that back or are we gonna leave that in the 80s?

SPEAKER_00

Maybe I'll leave that there.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So um, you know what you were saying with like younger people and stuff like back in the day, we would go out every weekend and midweek to go out dancing and whatever. And apparently, like the cost of doing that and buying drinks is just peep places are closing down. So yeah, that where are they going? Hopefully they are meeting in real life and not just virtually, but going to each other's homes to yeah, the culture's just shifted. So I think this is you know interesting because it's not we're not talking about Millennial Pink here. We're talking about a shift in the culture, a trend, and how that is going to perhaps influence our homes. Because if you're entertaining more, then maybe you might care a little bit more about what your home looks like. Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_00

I think most people would, wouldn't they?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. My house is a bit messy right now if you're okay with trucks and stuff on the floor.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, in the stage of life, that's exactly that's different. I know I give I reckon I could challenge you at the moment. My house is like a bomb site. I had a shoot last week and then I just took off for the weekend, left everything here. There's stuff everywhere in that, like hopefully you can't. I did have to. This actually was covered in stuff and I had to remove it all. And then as you continue down into the rest of the house, there's just like because I haven't been here for a couple of days, everyone's just been doing whatever. That have me in their ear going, you need to put that away, clean that up. Yeah. But I'm the messiest one, by the way.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, but you know, where everything is, it's organized chaos.

SPEAKER_02

Sort of.

Bathrooms As Living Spaces

SPEAKER_01

So another trend that I have noticed is bathrooms as living spaces. So I'm obsessed with this house, and it's in the UK, it's by the designers of Pinch, you know, Pinch furniture and lighting, and they have this gorgeous home. And the bathroom is like a living space in terms of it's there's a bath against a big window, there's plasterboard walls, there's artwork, there's a bit of built-in joinery, like a cupboard, and there's um layered lighting and yeah, sort of furniture almost in the bathroom. Like loose furniture. Yeah, like an armchair, maybe. Yeah. Uh, or it could be a table or a store.

SPEAKER_00

Kind of almost combining like a dressing room. So the bathroom sort of becomes a space where you can have obviously multiple functions and not just shower. Exactly. Wash your face. Yeah, it's about like you might read a book or I love that.

SPEAKER_01

Your face. You'd have a bath, but you're not feeling like I'm in this utilitarian space and cold.

SPEAKER_00

Even even with warm colours, bathrooms can feel quite cold, right? There's a lot of tile, um, tiled areas or a lot of waterproof spaces. They don't feel like places you necessarily want to spend a lot of time in.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, that just sounds like heaven to have a beautiful bath in a a space that just you've got artwork, you've got some plants in there or something like just to make it feel like a lived-in space. But even, you know, home saunas, like that's a relatively huge new thing.

SPEAKER_00

Infrared in particular, because I think it's just easier, yeah, than um than a traditional sauna. I would I would dare to say, and I don't have the statistics on hand, that the sale of infrared saunas or the planning for infrared saunas in homes would have um gone up incredibly even over the last two years, I would say. Wow. So that's almost mainstream. Yeah, I think there's also look, I think it's connected to just a general, you know, surge in wellness. And wellness is such a broad term, but I think I'll say more health and fitness, and then you know, like people wanting to be stronger, train at the gym, and then they'll learn more about things like infrared um and sauna to improve their recovery um and general fitness, and there's all these other health benefits to it. And they you can pick them up for, you know, like if you've got the budget, they're not crazy, crazy expensive. So, and you can get them where they're not, they're not huge, like you can kind of just sit comfortably in it, a bit like a phone box or something, like the old stuff. Yeah, and they're really good for you.

Wellness At Home And Saunas

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's yeah, an interesting addition to the home that you know was probably only reserved for ultra high-end. But now, I mean, in in our local shopping center, there's a store where you can buy a sauna. So you know, that's a suburban shopping center, so it's definitely trickled down.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, definitely become more accessible. I think they would have been just for the rich people with their saunas and their pools and things. And now I think it's become uh like part of that wellness experience that can be accept accessed by by all. Yeah, I guess it's interesting, isn't it, with even with wellness itself and what that means. Like I feel like there was such a focus on that. And then it's almost become a bit of a it's a bit like the way greenwashing went. Wellness has been a become a bit of a like fad word in a way.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, I mean, I think it's a real thing, but I just think it's when it sort of becomes too much like it's a trend and not a not something that people can actually adapt and make part of their lives, then it's becomes a bit not very useful.

SPEAKER_01

True. So I was also looking at kitchens as emotional centers. So what I mean, it's like an island bench that merges into a dining table. So it's a space for gathering. Yeah, there's so many great ways you can do that, but you don't see them that often. I don't think as often as you should. I like seeing artwork in kitchens, less commercial finishes. I mean, sometimes I mean we're seeing a lot of stainless steel, but also mixed with luxurious stone and just softer materials, no white, shiny two-pack. Like that's just so obviously dated. It's yeah, lots and lots of timber.

Kitchens As Emotional Centres

SPEAKER_00

I would say, and this could probably be a broader trend as well to add, is materiality is like a huge direction. And I know that's quite broad, but I think if you look at the difference between, say, you know, a 2000s kitchen of yellow white Tupac or melamine, and everything's kind of the same shiny surfaces, you know, glass splashback, you know, fake stone bench tops. I was gonna say brands, but I think I'll just leave that one out for that for those. Engineered stone. Engineered stone is the one on the um, and everything kind of feels like the same coldness and same gloss level and very kind of flat in a way. And now we want character. So with materiality comes character. So there's like a beautiful stone that maybe it has like a honed finish and it's not shiny, has lots of detail in it, or there's tiles, like lots of beautiful imperfect tiles, or um, you know, the glaze isn't like a solid colour, it has a little bit of nuance in it. Um, we want timber with potentially painted finish or or laminate, but there's a mix, like it's not just one thing for all. And then mixing, you know, colours together, whether that's tonal or whether it's a contrast to create a feature. I think that huge shift is what also is makes it, what did you call it? The heart of the home? What did you say? Oh, I called it the um kitchens as emotional centers. Right. So I feel like you can't, it can't be an emotional center without character. Oh, yes. So it has to, so that's kind of what makes it more connected or like emotional. If it was, yeah, if it was like the white, glossy kitchen, how can you be emotionally attached to that? It's so not divine. Some will, some will say they are. Um it's fair. It's a nothing. It doesn't provide what is it saying? Whereas when you bring materials together that you've either helped select, like you know, through a designer, or you've done that yourself, there's thought and to think about how they work together, you think about how they relate, what you think about each of those materials. There's a lot more kind of in it. So there's an emotional connection to the creation of it in a way.

SPEAKER_01

And I think it goes back with what we were saying before. I mean, we're we're talking about white, shiny two-pack. It looks off a production line, it looks fake, it looks synthetic, it doesn't look like anything that you see ever in nature. Yeah, and all the materials you're talking about is a natural stone, a timber, or even a painted where you see that somebody with human hands has created that paint strokes finish. It's not perfect. The ziliege tiles all made by human hands. So it's we we don't want that flat screen feeling for our cupboards. It's too uh digital, it looks too fake, and it's nothing real.

SPEAKER_00

There's also more longevity, I think, in those type of kitchens when things are super perfect. The moment you get like a crease in a vinyl or um a little scratch on a surface, game over, even fingerprints that get wrapped off.

SPEAKER_01

It's so uptight. Getting obsessed by that is not how I want to live.

SPEAKER_00

Definitely not.

SPEAKER_01

No, and also um, yeah, I think we have we're obsessed with like filling every inch of the space with storage. And don't get me wrong, I've lived in tiny kitchens, it's very challenging. However, if there's overhead cupboards that you can't reach without a stool or a chair, how often are you going to access them? And what are they filled with? Like it's like random stuff, appliances that you haven't used for 10 years.

SPEAKER_00

So why do you still have them, right?

SPEAKER_01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

So I think the only time that that sort of inaccessible storage is appropriate is for suitcases you might use once a year, Christmas or Easter or seasonal things. Maybe you put away your seasonal clothes, but what else would you like? I don't know, moving boxes for the next time you move.

SPEAKER_01

Like what else? Let me show you. What else have you got in there? Well, um, what have we got up there? Stuff from childhood. I've got like a couple of old vintage suitcases.

SPEAKER_00

I think that's okay.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I mean, it's been funny because like over the past years you open up the suitcase and then my girls open them up and they're like, oh my god, all this stuff is so cool, like my old things. So, you know, I am sentimental in that way.

SPEAKER_00

You revisit it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it's part of your life. You don't have to throw everything away just because it's old, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um, I've still got all my CDs collection. I've got boxes and boxes of CDs.

Materiality And Character

SPEAKER_00

I reckon we'll have a few crossovers there too. Do you think one day there'll be, you know how there's obviously been a vinyl resurgence when I have all my old vinyl as well. But do you think there'll be a CD resurgence at some point? And we'll be able to go like, oh, we've got all the original CDs.

SPEAKER_01

I've been waiting. Well, it's funny because I mean, that's another thing, isn't it? A huge shift in a physical thing. Yes, is for I've bought music and I'm holding it in my hand versus Spotify playlists like kids these days. But we did buy my daughter a little CD player so she can have her like Taylor Swift and stuff. Yeah, so she listens to it in a room, it's really cute. But yeah, it's so you buy you're buying CDs now. Yeah. Oh wow, I know, I know. But um that's pretty cool. I also bought um, I was given a record player for Christmas, and I was I'm like super excited about it. But so I went to this gorgeous record store um in Fitzroy and looked at the price of records, and I was like, oh my god, they're like$70 to uh$100.

SPEAKER_00

I didn't realize collectible now, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's just different.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I've been looking at a record player as well, mostly because I already have all that vinyl. But I the only reason I haven't, literally the reason I haven't done it yet, is because of that, because I know what I'm like, and once I invest in it and get excited, I'll start spending money on vinyl, and suddenly I'll have this like huge collection of vinyl that like I probably shouldn't have spent that money on.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think that's because I could pay 70, like I thought maybe like they'd be$30. Like I had no idea, but they're like 17 upwards. Well, the ones that I was.

SPEAKER_00

Well, how much is a CD? Like 30, 30 dollars?

SPEAKER_01

It's always been$30 since 1995. I know that hasn't really changed, have they? It was such a cheap ones, yeah. But um, I think it goes back to you know trends and the way we live. Like um, one of my friends, her grandma had a mid-century house in Beaumoris. I loved going to that house, and they had a built-in record player stereo or built into the joinery. So that's how we used to live then. We don't need to do that now, but um we have invisible, you know, Google, whatever, like connected to Spotify, like it's just a different way of living.

SPEAKER_00

So isn't it interesting? Like, if I'm gonna like play that idea out in my head as the trend brain kicks in of that idea of permanence and that so much of what we do, like you know, if you have speakers that often not installed, they're maybe they're ones you can take anywhere or move around the house. And so, like that connectivity has given us kind of this idea that like we've got all this flexibility, but sometimes we actually want to have that feeling of something being a bit more permanent and like that it belongs to us. Yeah. It's a bit like especially if you you own a home, it kind of all also kind of parks back to to joinery that's built in for a particular purpose versus some stuff I ordered online that came and I built it and sort of stuck it there. Well you know that difference of how um I think there's this I think it is part of feeling grounded in a space is that's if there's things that feel a little bit more permanent and a bit less like they're all just kind of put there so they could disappear at any moment.

SPEAKER_01

And I think it's also I am committed to listening to records. I am going to build in a record player thing, like, yeah, you you're really like this is me, this is what I enjoy, and I'm expressing something that I really enjoy that I love in my space, and I'm having I'm I'm getting it, um, it's happening. Okay. So I was looking at colours and I was thinking about what kind of colour palettes we're gonna see.

Warm Colour Palettes Over White

SPEAKER_00

Well, I think that um we've been moving towards warmth for some time, and I don't think that that's going to change. I think there'll obviously be highlight colours that are that are cooler, but I think warm colours as an overall palette is still going to basically be the dominant palette for 2026. I think that we despite the fact that you know Pantone has announced the the bloody clown dancer or whatever the hell it's called, that quite dirty, semi kind of cool, cooler, it's not cool white, but it's not super warm either, right? Yeah. I I don't think that we're heading back towards white in interiors really at all, to be honest. And I'd be very surprised if there was suddenly this massive shift towards everyone going back to white. I think that there was a reason happened in the beginning, and a lot of it was also to do with open plan. Yes. Um, because I think it's easier to have uh, you know, one simple colour and that whole move towards, you know, minimalism, minimalism and white obviously went hand in hand. And, you know, having lots of glass and having lots of those kind of um surfaces, white worked so well with those. But I think with our move towards everything we just talked about with things that have character, um, you know, d using different materials and having imperfections, that white is like the opposite of that. We're talking about walls and furniture and and joinery. I think we want nuance and colour and subtlety. It doesn't mean white wouldn't exist. It just it's just not in the way that it did, I think.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. I think white is an accent colour. So if you are doing the the colour drench, which I still feel like that is still going to be happening, it's about having a white pendant light against the colour, sort of, or a white, I don't know, maybe a side table or something. It's it's more intentional.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. Yeah, just as a contrast. Yeah. Yeah. And you know you've heard me say that a million times. That I think that the the problem with white as a colour, particularly for, let's say, joinery, like kitchens, bathrooms, and paint colours, main walls, is it's just a default because people don't know what else to do, or they think that that's going to be fine. And then they realize how much they missed out when they're in in a different space.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That has character and warmth and and you can feel emotionally connected to it.

SPEAKER_01

Like it's so uh can I just say that is exactly what happened to me today. I did a uh consultation and there is a um upstairs, there's uh the up the stair landing, but it's a decent living area that'll be like for the kids to like play video games and stuff, and then there's two rooms either side of it. So they thought, oh well, in those two rooms, we we want to be adventurous, we want to use colour. So we thought uh we we were looking at different, we're talking about different blues. So I I bring all my paint samples up, and uh I said, what about up here in that this living area? Like you could, there's a good transition where you could stop the white from up the stairs and just do all of the walls in this dark egg sort of colour. And I bought out a whole lot of different color cards, the A4 cards, and the client got so excited when she saw this colour. It's a porter's colour, it's called Frozen. We painted our studio in that colour a few years ago and the emotional connection, exactly what you said. It was just so awesome to see what they thought would, oh, we're just gonna do what she said, oh well, obviously, this will just be white. I'm like, obviously, you're asking the wrong person. It's not obvious to me. And I was like, we could do this, and then with the carpet, and then on the blinds, we could do this fabric. And I showed her one of the oat fabrics, you know, um Sarah in Canberra. I love that. Gorgeous. It was like a duck egg blue with a uh on on a raw linen back, so it had that that earthy colour, and it's just gorgeous. And the the excitement, the excitement that the client had, just the concept of painting it, because she was like, Oh my god, I love that colour. She just absolutely loved it.

SPEAKER_00

And wouldn't you rather that think, yes, of course. I know like a no challenge. I do like I know maybe less than five people in my life that would be happy with things to stay white. But then people who do have white just because they've moved in and this is what it is, and then they're like, Oh, we kind of feel like, but there's still definitely fear around that change, you know. And I I think I've told you like there's a a client of mine who has a a beautiful, a kind of penthouse apartment, so it's like almost triple story high, and it was all white, and now there's no white at all. Like we went through and we've painted. That is so awesome, but it's like straight away, like you and they were just like, oh my god, that like they were up for it, committed, and and it's not one colour. We've done multiple colours in different spaces and kind of called it all out, but it's just it changes the whole space. It feels so much more intentional and like it's their home.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Right? Like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

I just well, I mean, the client said it today herself. She's like, Well, we're gonna paint it. So what's the difference in a colour? Oh, absolutely. But the cost is the same.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, well, hear us now. If you're about to go, like, oh, I feel like we need to paint, think about it. Even just like get someone and get Lauren on an eye in just for like one couple of hours and we will pick colours for you. Yeah, it'll change your life. It doesn't have to be white. We really believe what it really does because your whole mood is affected by those spaces. And sometimes you don't know how much so until you see the difference after, and then you go, Oh, how I don't even know how I lived without this before. Yeah. Um, yeah, because it really, I don't know. I'm very, well, we both are very passionate about that.

SPEAKER_01

And I mean, this duck egg blue colour, this sort of uh colour by Porters. There was a there's another one called nettle, that's another one that I like to go to as well.

SPEAKER_00

That one too.

Anti Instagram-First Homes

SPEAKER_01

It's beautiful. It's I see that as a neutral, which is not really it's it's a colour, but it goes so well with timber, it goes so well with the beige sort of carpet, it goes so well with like ochre and terracotta. And actually, um, that was sort of another colour that I see that coming through that that ochre colour because it's got all that warmth and that richness.

SPEAKER_00

And I I feel like it goes with so many colours, it goes with mustard, like that those sort of dirtier um warm tones that have quite a lot of kind of character in that, or that have like maybe even a bit of green in them. And I think that's how. they work so well with other things as well, particularly warm tones like warm timbers and things like that. If you see a color that just has a little bit of green in it, it's it works so much better with those warm colours, I think.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. And um I've I've done online consultations as well. And I I actually got a screenshot of of one of uh one of the ladies that did an online consultation. She's she's put together a mood board herself because it's just a one hour thing on on Zoom. She's in Perth and she she had some of the main pieces picked out that color nettle she is so excited about it. She created this little mood board and sent it to me the other day and I was like so chuffed for her. Like yeah it just goes with all of the other things that she has.

SPEAKER_00

So I feel like I feel like we're I feel like we're calling it out trend for 2026 is still anti-where yeah it is I don't care what Pentone says you can come for that there in the big it is not the colour of this year.

SPEAKER_01

It is not so I like what you were saying Brie about what is it is not. So I thought that might be a good place to kind of wrap up I feel like it's not hyper minimal it's not purely open plan. It's not about trend led buying which I think you explained the difference between trend and fad sort of really well in the beginning and it's not about Instagram first homes. And what I mean by that is like two things. It's about not creating a home that just looks good on Instagram but you want to you know you might not be someone who entertains so make it feel good for you. It doesn't always have to look great. But the second part of that is you don't want to well for me I I find I'm a bit put off at the moment by homes that feel like you could just shop the look like everything is quite clickable and add to cart. Like it's cool to have stuff that's weird that you find in an option totally I love weird stuff. Yeah and people are like I I don't even know where she found that weird yeah like I got this carved crocodile out of wood from an op shop I'm like oh yeah you're coming home with me like it's just weird and I like it. And I think there's something nice about a home that is even if it's somebody else's story from an op shop somebody else's vintage thing well it has it has a past and you know who knows where that crocodile has been exactly and then it gets to be part of your life for however long.

SPEAKER_00

No I love that too. I think even uh I mean it still can be things that have been collected over time by yourself that were once new that you just love now and will have forever. But I think when everything feels a bit like it could be in a showroom. Yes um it it is yeah it's I think there's definitely a move away from like we're we're really leaning into you know eclectic interiors in terms of things are from different vintage the maybe even nanas whatever because it means something to you and it doesn't matter that it's not like cool and on trend or whatever we want to say.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

That's kind of what makes it cool that it's not cool.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah yeah and I think um one of the things that's not cool that I like is photo frames with people that I know saying that. Yeah and it's very much been poo-pooed against and there are some really daggy ones and maybe that's so daggy it's cool. Maybe that's what you're saying.

Personal Objects And Memory

SPEAKER_00

I don't know. Yeah yeah I know I look I I still I have reservations on some but I do think it's important and I I think that for me because I have spent so many years doing photographic styling that the immediate thing for me is like taking personal photos out and you know the whole like wedding photo thing. Oh that's a bit cringe I have to say I don't have one wedding photo outfit people no I'd like you know how much money do people spend on wedding photos too right and then half the time they sit in an album in a drawer somewhere so I think it's I think that if you're really if you get a lot from it being there and it's about you not about some kind of display I think those things are really important. But the personal touches of you know what I love seeing like I've seen in homes and particularly like even like teenagers or um young people's rooms where there's just a collage of images like printed images you know stuck on a pin board and there's like you know bit moments that they've loved or whatever. I love that and I think that's that's a thing. Like I do I've got stuff on my fridge and I'm I actually spent a lot of years having nothing on my fridge because I hated things on my fridge and now I'm like we just stick thung things on there and I kind of I kind of love it. Yeah. And then just this Christmas in our friend group love this haven't set it up yet a couple of friends came up with the idea of having a digital photo frame that's connected to Wi-Fi and we can keep adding so then it'll just so we've got all of our images from our friend group and they just rotate but we can just add to it. So one of us can go like oh we're putting this in whatever and so it's just these random images come up. Yeah who knows what might pop up on that photo frame. Oh I can tell you now it's probably diabolical I don't think we would we were having a laugh saying that's hilarious. You know a friend someone's gonna be over that doesn't really know us and sort of see these photos and go, um what the like what's happening here?

SPEAKER_01

Oh that's that's such a cool thing. I love that yeah that's nice yeah I have to say um when I'm never I've never been great at maths I know it's such a shock. But I had a maths tutor and the I can't remember anything that she taught me but I do remember that over her fireplace she had a huge big framed wedding photo. Yeah. And even when I was a kid I was like oh that's a bit cringe have you ever seen a good one?

SPEAKER_00

I'm trying to think if I've ever gone that's really classy or something.

SPEAKER_01

A traditional photo size, a postcard size it would have to be that size. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe double the size of that but nothing big like that is no yeah and especially they're very kind of posy ones which I always I never really loved that I like kind of like the that you know catching moments like real moments. The exception is if it's your grandparents yes like it's a vintage style and that was very of the time too right yeah that were posed and they were they're lovely.

SPEAKER_01

We've got Phil's parents photo and it's stunning Phil's mum and dad was so stunning.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah and I I so my Nana um who isn't with us anymore actually I assume one of one of my aunties has that photo where I try always loved her wedding dress was so beautiful and my pa was in his army um like handsex army outfit and there's just and that was like almost sort of sepia toned because it was of that age and I loved that photo so much. You have to get it framed put it somewhere at the end it was always framed like it was sort of oh yeah a decent size I would say like an A3 kind of size but I assume one of the one of the daughters probably has that now I must find out where it is and get it left to me in the next round that's so lovely. Or get a copy of it. I guess that's the thing right we could just make a copy of it now.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah that's what I mean and I guess like coming back to the trends thing it's about our home having meaning and connection that's meaningful for us and who cares what people think on Instagram.

Trends As Expression And Closing

SPEAKER_00

It's not Instagrammable it's not for exactly what yes yeah yeah homes that are for for the people that live in them what a what a weird idea I know who thought of that so I think that interior design for 2026 it's about restoration it's not just of homes but of people and that's why the trends really matter yes that is why the trends matter I think that trends are a snapshot of how we're all feeling right now and um you know I think you just did a really cool post um I think I might have seen something similar to that's talking about you know like looking back at interiors and why I guess I would talk about trends as being an expression of you know whatever's happening and whether that's you know feeling free uh feeling joy um feeling I'm trying to think of the word so that's why I paused then that's okay having a mental blank.

SPEAKER_01

Well that that reel that I made was what you shared a reel. You shared a reel on your stories which was a fashion take on why trends are important. And I was like oh well I need to do an interiors version of something like that. Yeah anyway.

SPEAKER_00

Oh they are I I think and the I think the key word is expression of self and then we can look back and see those moments in time and see that everybody was connected through a trend. Not because they followed the trend necessarily but because they were it was a particular time that was the mood and this is how it was expressed.

SPEAKER_01

Love it. Great chat Bree so if you want to pick up something really unique in at the Paris flea market yes we're gonna be going best mornings. Yes and we have got a tour guide for that so I'm really really excited. Somebody who's got a real insider knowledge from being there since she was four years old. Which is pretty cool. And we'll be she'll basically know everyone. Yeah so yeah reach out to Brie or I DM email if you just want to get a bit of information about the tour. Yeah we'd love to have you with us. Yeah all right thanks Brie. No worries bye bye we've got the utmost respect for the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. They're the OG custodians of this unceded land and its waters where we set up shop, create and call home and come to you from this podcast today. A big shout out to all of the amazing elders who have walked before us, those leading the way in the present and the emerging leaders who will carry the torch into the future. We're just lucky to be on this journey together.