This is eye-design lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style a...
Curator of interiors, furnishings, and lifestyles.
Hosted by Tiffany Woolie, an interior designer, and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott. Eye-design lab is your ultimate design podcast, where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends. Welcome to the eye-design lab podcast. I am your host Tiffany Woolie, along with my co-host and husband Scott Woolie. Today, we're diving into something that feels less like a passing trend and more like a true shift in the way we live and how interior design in
“2000 and 26 is becoming more personal, more emotional and honestly, more human.”
The year's design was all about perfection, minimalism, shop lines, white walls, spaces that look beautiful in photos, but sometimes didn't actually feel comfortable to live in.
Exactly. And now we're seeing people move away from that perfect showroom feeling and towards spaces that actually support their lives.
Homes are becoming warmer, softer, layered, and collected spaces that tell a story. And you can feel that shift immediately when you're walking to a room now, especially through color. Yes, we're definitely moving away from the cool grays and the stark black and white palettes that have dominated for years now. Instead, we're seeing rich, earth tones, terracotta, think, all of greens, deep browns and muted clay colors. Colors that don't scream for attention.
Exactly. Colors that settle you into a space, they create calm. And we like to call that quiet color, sophisticated, grounded, and incredibly livable.
“And honestly, it feels timeless, too. People are wanting homes that feel comfortable instead of just trendy.”
That's a huge part of it. That's also a bigger larger philosophical shift happening where homes are no longer designed to just look perfect. But they're designed to feel real and inspired. Which is why we're seeing more collected interiors instead of perfectly matched furniture sets. Exactly, no matchy matchy. A vintage chair beside a modern sofa. Think books that actually look like you've read them. Personal objects with meaning.
It's less about styling a room for social media and more about curating a life that's within the space. And honestly, those spaces usually feel more interesting. Exactly, because they reflect the people who live there. There's personality. There's history. There's a connection. There's emotion. We're also seeing that softness shows up in architecture and in furniture itself.
Absolutely. Curves are everywhere right now. Rounded sofa, sculptural lighting, archdoorways, curved islands. We're moving away from harsh geometry. There's something welcoming about those curves. They feel more organic. Right. Exactly. More human, more approachable. They invite you into a space instead of making you feel like you can't touch anything. Now, another really interesting shift is happening
with floor plans. floor plans. My favorite part. Hoping concept living. It's not disappearing. But it's evolving. Right. Because people still want connection, but they also want separation. Exactly. We're seeing intentionality, divided spaces, partial walls, arches, changes and flooring, ceiling treatments, and strategic furniture placement. It's creating groupings, destinations, zones within a home. This is something that we're doing constantly with
almost every home that we're doing. So, homes still feel open, but each area has a purpose. Exactly.
“It creates an intimacy without closing things off, which is really important when you are”
designing. Right. And that leads into one of my favorite design evolutions. Right now, the invisible kitchen. The invisible kitchen. I love this trend. Kitchens are becoming beautifully integrated into the home instead of looking just purely functional. Appliances are hidden, cabinetry is more seamless, and clutter is just disappearing. It's like a house that we just did in Del Rey where we hid, getting how you found the little laundry room. It's like a hidden
cabinetry within the kitchen, which was very cool. And kitchen almost always starts. It's
starting to feel like part of the living room experience. Well, they are so close. So, elegant, clean,
Understated, but most importantly, still incredibly functional, because that ...
Yeah. And another idea that's gaining momentum is something called slow decorating. Yes. So,
“think about this one. It's like a healthy shift. It's happening in design. Yeah. Because people are”
realizing they don't have to finish their home in one weekend after a move in. Exactly. The best interior is evolved. They take time. They're thoughtfully collected. They're curated. They are developed naturally organically. There's less pressure to make everything instantly perfect, which ties it into a sustainability. Absolutely. People are becoming so much more
intentional about what they bring to their home. Instead of all of this disposable furniture,
they're investing in craftsmanship and longevity. Natural materials are having a huge momentum
“at this time. Yep. Think wood, linen, stone, homemade handmade textures, materials that age”
beautifully, that are actually from this earth. And they gain more character over time. And then there's wellness. Probably one of the biggest influences shaping interior is right now. We've really done a lot of podcasts about wellness within our home. And without a question, your home today is no longer just a place to sleep and eat. But their environments that support your mental wellness, your restoration in your life and create balance and harmony. Yeah. People are creating
reading this corner. It's meditation space. There's wellness rooms. Home gems. I mean, it's it's
“running the gamut. And lighting is a big part of that. It's becoming more intentional”
designers are thinking about a space and how spaces affect our moods, about how they affect stress in our body, our overwhelm focus, and most importantly, overall well-being. There's also this really interesting return to nostalgia happening. Yeah, that makes me really happy with some
people call the Grand Millennial or Grand Meshique. It sounds funny at first, right? It does. But when
it's done well, it's incredibly beautiful. It's traditional. It's vintage textiles. Antiques. It's classic silhouette. It's truly timeless. But it's reimagined now through a modern lens. It feels familiar and fresh, which I love. Me too. And it's not about recreating the past. It's about honoring it. And then blending that into this new modern lifestyle. And one last thing we're seeing, people are finally paying attention to the surfaces that used to be just ignored. Flores and ceilings
are becoming design moments now, pattern flooring, textured ceilings, soft tonal, paint treatments, even wallpaper. These details add depth, dimension, and such an elegant way of a wow factor. So when you step back and you look at all the trends together, there's really one big message underneath it all. Design in 2026 is no longer about perfection. That's correct. It's about connection. It's about creating homes that feel layered, personal, emotional, and most importantly,
authentic to the people living in them. So think about it, spaces that tell a story. They tell your story because at the end of the day, the most beautiful home isn't the most perfect one. It's the one that feels like you, which it should. Thank you for joining us on the iDesign Lab podcast today. We'll see you next time. IDesign Lab's podcast is an SW group production in association with the five star and TW interiors. To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW interiors,
please visit TW interiors.com.
