Coastal neutrals are timeless, but over the past five years, they’ve been an aesthetic obsession. Chalky whites, crisp navies, driftwood grays, sandy beiges—and always a token pop of sage. They were the visual equivalent of deep breathing, colors that promised calm when everything else felt relentlessly chaotic. TikTok dubbed it “coastal grandmother,” and later, it became about Nancy Meyers interiors on repeat: striped throws, seagrass sofas and the illusion that if you couldn’t control the headlines, you could at least control your slipcovered armchair.
As we head into 2026, the tide is turning (literally). “True blues and overly saturated primaries appear to be fading,” Sherwin-Williams color marketing manager Emily Kantz tells me. And she’s right—Meyers’s interiors will always be timeless, but the yacht-club palette of navy and white now feels too on-the-nose. In its place, coastal is being rewritten in three dialects: frosted shades of lilac, lavender and silvery aqua that shimmer like sea glass; weathered tones of mahogany, putty and smoky jewels that cling to a room like tide pools; sunbaked washes of yellow, mauve and adobe pink that belong more in a Mediterranean courtyard than a Montauk porch.
It’s a shift reflected in the emerging 2026 Colors of the Year. From Behr’s Hidden Gem to Glidden’s Warm Mahogany, paint brands are proving that coastal no longer has to mean cool—it can be dreamy, grounded or sun-drenched. So here’s what’s on the shoreline for 2026.
Sydney Meister
Associate Editor
- Writes across all lifestyle verticals, including relationships and sex, home, finance, fashion and beauty
- More than five years of experience in editorial, including podcast production and on-camera coverage
- Holds a dual degree in communications and media law and policy from Indiana University, Bloomington
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