Flooring trends over recent years have ensured that buying carpet, laminate, Luxury Vinyl Tiles, and hardwood flooring no longer feels like a thoughtless process. The days of anonymous grey polypropylene and Papier-Mache floorboards seem firmly behind us. Hurrah!

As a new year hooves into view upon one more flick of the calendar, 2026 is set to remodel flooring with major main-character energy. Flooring trends for 2026 will beckon warm and tactile fashions, based on what designers, influencers and stylists have spouted.

We’ve taken a deep dive into how 2026 is shaping up, to help keep you on trend and guarantee your home sets the trend; rather than follow it.

The Big Mood for 2026 Floors

Designers are talking about floors the way they used to talk about accent walls. Admit it. We all have one of them now, and if not, we’ve at least contemplated adopting an accent wall…

Anyway, flooring is now an “intentional design moment”, not just a surface you use and clean. The wider 2026 interior mood is warm, layered, and characterful. We are over cold simplicity and all that Yoko Ono minimalism. Thank God. 

Floors and ceilings are also no longer being treated as the ‘fifth and sixth wall’, with patterned and painted flooring used to zone spaces and add drama. Across multiple 2026 forecasts the themes are consistent, and we like where it’s going.

Warm, brown-based neutrals instead of cool grey. Matte and satin finishes instead of high gloss. Texture, pattern and luxury with a “lived-in” vibe over sterile perfection. Returning home to a bespoke sanctuary is now non-negotiable rather than a niche.

So, if your floor still looks like a rented safehouse last overhauled in 2008, next year is your nudge for a glow-up.


Warm, Natural Tones & Wide Planks

The biggest and safest prediction revolves around warm woods. They are set to rule 2026. Everyone - from big flooring manufacturers to influencers – have said the same thing. Cool l “millennial grey” is out, honey. Instead, we’ve got caramel, chestnut and mid-brown, across wood, laminate, LVT and even tiles.

For the key colour elements, you’ve got mocha, oak, sand, tobacco, walnut and latte, rather than the ashy blue-grey vibes of yesteryear. The incoming tones play nicely with the rich brown, terracotta and olive palettes forecast for 2026 interiors generally.

So, what about planks? The voices of reason state that wider and longer boards are now standard rather than an upgrade, creating more seamless and quietly expensive expanses of flooring. Industry bodies and brands have been calling this since 2024/25, and it’s only ramping up now for full effect. It’s going to be glorious.

For that perfect finish, matte and soft satin are your winner. They show grain yet disguise scratches and everyday use for the ultimate pairing of charming presentation and usability. As for those glossy showroom-style floors that the bandwagon jumpers have had installed, well, they aren’t quite ‘in’ anymore. In fact, they’ve explicitly been identified as on their way out. Just ask Martha Stewart or House Beautiful.

Here's a reality check for those who already have oak or engineered wood flooring boards – you don’t have to rip them up and start over. Sand the planks and add a lower-sheen coat of stain and you’re slap bang on trend for 2026, without needing to dump all that perfectly good wood flooring.


Patterned Wood: Herringbone and Chevron 

Should you delve into the shared historical relationship of Pinterest Boards and herringbone flooring, 2018 was the year where both crossed paths. Next year is set to heighten that connection, where it stops lurking as a fad and instead becomes the new “classic”.

Several 2025 and 2026 trend round-ups point to herringbone as having a “major moment”, with chevron, basket-weave and more intricate parquet following behind.

Engineered and Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT) can provide that mantra without the hard work or stress of fitment. You’re just as likely to see herringbone in click-together LVT as in real oak, making the look achievable in rentals, kitchens and bathrooms. You can even lift it and take it with you, should you wish.

Warmer, more rustic grades – knotty, characterful boards rather than flat, perfect surfaces – offers a storied feel, rather than a shallow sense of polished showboating.

This style is also great for zoning. Designers are already talking about using changes in pattern to create “zones” in open-plan spaces – herringbone in a dining area, straight-lay in a kitchen, for example.

If your house is small or busy, keep it simple; one pattern, one tone. Too many pattern changes and you’ll feel seasick, when you are really aiming for chic. Although it’s wipe clean, vomiting is not recommended. Rather, it’s a blank canvas to set as you please, with guaranteed results to leave you smiling.


Checkerboard, Harlequin & Graphic Tile

Checkerboard is not going away. If anything, it’s levelling up. Yearly flooring trend reviews for 2025 already point to a big resurgence in traditional tiled patterns, especially checkerboard in Luxury Vinyl Tile form.

By 2026, Checkerboard is set to be everywhere; hallways, kitchens, pantries, even living spaces - often in diagonals or with borders to feel more tailored and “Victorian revival” than diner pastiche.

Harlequin diamonds are headed for the top of 2026’s wish list, too. The interior experts are openly calling harlequin “the most exciting pattern” of 2026, and designers specifically love it on floors as a base pattern in softer, heritage tones.

Then there’s coloured stone-look checks. We’re talking green-and-white or brown-and-cream, not just the popular harshness of black-and-white. Our advice would be to select your colour in marble-effect porcelain for durability and future style.

If there is risk, then it’s purely theatrical. If you go big on a harlequin kitchen floor and then change your taste in two years, that’s a pricey regret. Choose more muted palettes and classic proportions if you want it to age gracefully.


High-Performing Imitators: LVT, Vinyl & Laminate

Luxury vinyl tile and good-quality laminate are not budging, if anything they’re becoming the workhorses of 2026. Flooring and interiors sites keep underlining the same selling points. LVT and laminate are largely  water-resistant, scratch-resistant, convincingly masquerade as wood or stone effect, and can cope with the strain of modern-day life.

Trends inside this category cover natural wood-look LVT – especially oak, walnut and ash in warm finishes. Patterned LVT is also a huge one for 2026 – herringbone, chevron and panelled parquet looks, but in an easy-to-clean, family-proof format. Bolder vinyl designs – retro prints, mosaics and faux-terrazzo vinyl - are being pushed as fun, budget-friendly ways to join the statement floor conversation.


Carpet, Sisal & Natural Fibre Make a Big Comeback

Wall-to-wall carpet is officially back on the “hot” lists, but not the shaggy beige tragedy you’re picturing. 2025 and 2026 forecasts talk about low-pile, warm-toned carpets, wool loops and textured designs in earthy neutrals – often layered with rugs – as part of the new “lived-in luxury” look.

Two strands here worth noting. Soft, warm, quiet – cosy bedrooms and living spaces in caramel, taupe and mushroom, especially in wool or wool-mix, are heavily pushed for 2026, alongside talking points about insulation and comfort.

Natural-fibre heroes – sisal, jute, seagrass and other plant-based carpets and rugs are being framed as both eco and allergy-friendly, with a big 2025 editorial push that will absolutely run into 2026.

Carpet still isn’t ideal for every household (pets, asthma, spills, you name it) and designers quietly admit that in high-traffic areas, hard floors with big rugs are a smarter compromise.


Statement & Painted Floors

Designers are very clear that 2026 floors are “no longer an afterthought”. Painted and highly decorative floors are being singled out as a massive trend.

You’ll see 2026 populated by painted wood floors – especially in tonal checkerboards, borders and subtle patterns that look quietly historic rather than typical TikTok-DIY-gone-wrong. They’re being recommended to unify mismatched old boards or revive tired floors without replacing them. How’s that for environmentally sustainable?

This is the trend most likely to go wrong in civilian hands. Prep and product matter. If you’re not prepared to sand, prime and use proper floor paints and sealers, don’t bother – it’ll chip, and not in the charming French château way, either.


Stone, Terrazzo & Indoor–Outdoor Continuity

As gardens and terraces are treated as extra rooms, flooring is following suit. Tile brands are pushing big porcelain and stone-effect ranges that run from kitchen to patio, and 2026 predictions talk about “texture-rich surfaces”, large formats and natural stone looks.

Easy to say, but what does that looks like? Boom! Large-format porcelain – concrete, limestone, terrazzo and marble-effect slabs, often in 600×600 and up, with anti-slip finishes outside and smoother versions inside.

Terrazzo and terrazzo-effect – still on the list for 2026 and showing no sign of dying off. It hits the “pattern, colour, durability” brief too perfectly.

Stone-look checkerboards – a neat cross-over with that checkerboard trend: marble-effect checks running through hallways, kitchens and into garden rooms.

Done well, this feels like a very grown-up, European look. Done badly (cheap “concrete effect” tiles, harsh lighting) it’s pure airport bathroom. The difference is usually grout colour, tile size, and how far you push the industrial thing.