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If the past few years pushed our homes to work harder than ever, 2026 is shaping up to be the year when we let them relax a little. According to a new trend report from design company Article , the direction of home design is moving away from sharp extremes and showpiece minimalism, and toward something more grounded, flexible and emotionally intuitive.

The unifying idea is connection. To each other, natural materials and spaces that support real life rather than resist it. Kylie Rozborski is an interior designer who works with Article, offering people customized layouts, furniture recommendations and colour guidance tailored to individual homes.

For next year, she sees interiors that feel warmer and more adaptable.

Designed for connection and calm

One of the strongest themes in Article’s trend report is the idea of homes being designed for connection, and Rozborski says this is no longer an abstract concept. It is showing up in very practical ways.

“We’re seeing more requests for design plans, layout options and products that make gathering feel natural and effortless,” she says. “People want multi-purpose rooms that flex for hosting, open layouts that make conversation easy and furniture arrangements that bring everyone together.”

Rather than formal living rooms or rigid dining spaces, clients are gravitating toward pieces that invite lingering.

“We’re hearing from customers that they want products that facilitate everyday connection,” she explains. “Whether that’s a generous sectional for movie night or an extendable dining table that keeps the conversation going for hours.”

Alongside connection is a clear desire for calm. After years of uncertainty and overstimulation, homes are expected to provide emotional grounding as much as esthetic pleasure.

“With everything feeling increasingly fast-moving and uncertain, people are looking to their homes to offer a sense of steadiness,” says Rozborski. “They want spaces that support how they live day to day, from practical functions to places where they can decompress.”

This explains the shift toward softer silhouettes and gentler palettes because they create that calm, serene atmosphere that promotes well-being, she adds.

The pull of natural materials

Stone, wood and organic textures dominate the report, not as rustic statements but as versatile, enduring elements that quietly anchor a room.

“Natural materials feel familiar but fresh. Wood and stone add character while still feeling easy to incorporate,” says Rozborski.

Part of their appeal is how effortlessly they work together. Their tones and textures are naturally balanced and work together in a space without overwhelming it, she says.

There is also a growing appreciation for longevity.

“Organic materials add warmth and depth, and because they pair beautifully and tend to wear well over time,” she says. “Customers often gravitate toward them for their longevity.”

If the last decade oscillated between ultralight and ultra-dark interiors, 2026 is somewhere in the middle. Rozborski notes a clear move away from stark contrasts.

“People want spaces that feel warmer and comforting. Customers are choosing medium-toned woods because warm woods have undertones that feel cosy and inviting, and are often textured or have rich grain patterns that feel nature-inspired and timeless,” she says.

Colour, too, has softened. Where neutrals once meant white, black, beige, and grey, the new foundation colours are drawn directly from nature.

“Previously, neutrals were dominated by white, beige, black, and grey, and often in high-contrast combinations,” says Rozborski. “Today we’re leaning into warmer, earthier tones that function as a foundational colour in a space to create a calming, organic feeling that connects people to nature.” These hues act as quiet backdrops, allowing rooms to feel cohesive without feeling flat.

Minimalism has not disappeared, but it has softened. Rozborski describes this evolution as warm minimalism, drawing influence from Japandi and Scandinavian design.

“Warm minimalism is really about creating calm without the space feeling rigid or cold,” she says. “You see clean lines, but also relaxed curves and a quiet palette rooted in earthy tones and natural materials.”

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Dozens of owners of short-term rentals in Victoria who lost a bid in B.C. Supreme Court to be exempted from or compensated for provincial restrictions on their businesses have also lost in a higher court.

The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by the Westcoast Association of Property Rights and individual owner Angela Mason, who were seeking relief from the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act, which came into effect on May 1, 2024.

The law, designed to protect affordable long-term rental stock, generally prohibits short-term rentals outside of those within an owner’s principal residence.

Mason and the association first asked the Supreme Court for a judicial review, hoping for the court to declare they were entitled to continue to offer short-term rentals or to have the province compensate them for expected losses. Their petition was filed two weeks before the law came into affect.

But both courts agreed there was no role for the courts because the owners were asking for relief before there was any negative effect — that the consequences were hypothetical and request for relief was premature.

Mason, whose name the association used on the petition as a representative owner, said in an interview the law hurts individuals owners like her. And she said it’s no longer necessary because rentals aren’t in short supply in Victoria.

“There’s a glut of rentals right now, all the government had to do was wait for all the new rental housing to be built,” she said.

She also said the courts concluded they couldn’t offer a legal opinion on the law until someone violated it, which meant “until someone breaks the rules, there’s no (legal) precedent to be set, there’s no one to make an example of.”

“They needed somebody to break the law and suffer damages before they could rule on it,” she said. “Nobody (from the association) has chosen to break the rules.”

Mason said the association will meet next week with a lawyer to discuss any possible next steps as the courts left that door open.

Continuing the legal fight is open to anyone who wants to do it, she said. “It’s not going to be me.”

She said her purchase of a Victoria house as an investment was made possible by the income she earned renting it as an Airbnb. She now rents it from between three to six months, furnished, for about $2,000 a month, which is $800 to $1,000 a month less than her mortgage payments.

At the same time the new restrictions took affect, there was an increase in new purpose-built rentals. In Greater Victoria, the rental vacancy rate rose 5.7 per cent in 2024, according to the CMHC’s rental market report. The city’s vacancy rate was 2.6 per cent in December 2024, up from 1.6 per cent in December 2023, it said.

In December 2025, the Victoria vacancy rate rose to 3.3 per cent, the highest it’s been in more than 25 years, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. In Vancouver, it was 3.7 per cent in December.

That was due to fewer international migrants and students, a weak labour market for younger people, and rental completions remaining above historical levels, it said.

The Supreme Court judge, in dismissing the petitioners’ request for declaratory relief, concluded that without a constitutional challenge, the legislature had “exclusive authority to enact the laws it sees fit.”

“In my opinion, the chambers judge made no error in concluding that the issue raised by the appellants is hypothetical or speculative and inappropriate for an advisory opinion of the court,” said Appeal Court Justice Barbara Fisher, who wrote the judgment. Chief Justice Leonard Marchand and Justice Peter Edelmann agreed.

The Supreme Court judge also said her conclusion that the petition was premature but didn’t prevent the matters it raised from being appropriately submitted in future, and the Appeal Court agreed.

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When you look out a window at your deck or patio at this time of the year, what do you see?

I’m able to enjoy the unique beauty of two corkscrew willows, Salix Tortuosa. They’re planted in containers and, on sunny days, their contorted branches look magnificent as their many twists and curls are beautifully accentuated. At night, we illuminate them with mini LED lights. With our longer and darker evenings, they look absolutely magical.  

On warm summer days, they provide great shade and make a nice screen. Throughout the year, birds love to rest on the branches, and hummingbirds sit on them often between drinking nectar of nearby pollinator pots.  

Salix trees are excellent sources of interesting cut stems for accenting containers. Hardy to zone 3, they require very little care and withstand our coldest winters. In summer, all they really need is a daily drink and a little slow-release nutrient to keep them in great shape.  

We have the green stemmed variety, but for an even more dramatic winter look, you may want to choose a bright yellow- or a scarlet-stemmed variety.  

In the garden, most salix plants need to be root pruned or cut back hard on a regular basis to keep them in check, because they can reach 32 feet (10 metres) in height in just a few years. When containerized, however, they are well behaved and are a constant source of enjoyment, but you must not let them dry out.  

At this time of the year, the willow family has much to offer. At the flower auction in Burnaby, the earliest blooming pussy willows, Salix discolor, are being showcased and sold as cut stems. Local cut flower growers are producing a series of varieties that bloom in sequence and can be harvested from January until early March. Stems of pussy willows are very much in demand as they look so good combined with early spring flowers, such as daffodils, tulips and iris. Many folks are using them as dried flowers in a vase as they can last well over a year. There are lots with unique catkins that have been collected and propagated over the past several years.

A few years ago, at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle, growers were selling salix branches that had black catkins. They were incredibly popular; throughout the show I saw dozens of folks carrying bouquets of them. They are available as ornamental plants, but remember, they are fast growing and need to be contained.  

Another interesting variety is the fascinating contorted pussy willow, Salix Sekka or Japanese Fantail Willow. Its branches change from natural, round stems to flat, twisted stems with catkins spaced irregularly along the sides. It, too, should be planted in a container.  

My new favourite is a Japanese variety, called Salix Mount Aso. It has bright pink catkins. I gave one to a friend, and he mentioned that he had gone hiking on that particular mountain range. These catkins open with a touch of silver, then turn a bright pink. It’s a gorgeous salix, and its cut stems are sold in February. Many growers are now producing this variety for late winter colour.  

Willows are growing fast, and they can be grafted into many forms. I love a standard tree form, which makes a beautiful garden specimen. There is also a stunning weeping form of pussy willow called the Kilmarnock tree. It needs to be pruned hard when the catkins finish in early March, thereby allowing many new branches to form for a much fuller tree the next season.  

By far, the most popular willow is the standard grafted form of the dappled willow, Salix Hakuro-nishiki. It has attractive red winter stems, but the true beauty happens in May when the variegated white and green leaves turn a vibrant pink. This wonderful colour lasts for weeks, and it is spectacular. To achieve a stronger, bushier plant overall, prune your Hakuro-nishiki back hard in late summer each year. For willows that produce catkins, the time to prune is just after the catkins finish and before the leaves begin to develop. This will ensure there is enough time for the new wood to produce buds that will open as catkins the following year.  

Because of their aggressive roots, contorted willows and pussy willows tend to be an underused garden plant. When containerized or root pruned, they are deserving of a spot in our gardens or on our patios.  

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“Bunker” isn’t the first image that comes to mind when picturing Whistler homes. “Cottage”, sure. “Cabin,” yes. “Chalet”, of course. “House”, absolutely. But bunker?

“It’s unique because it speaks to the design theory of the home, which is basically this giant concrete bunker,” says realtor David Lewis of Angell Hasman & Associates, who’s handling the listing for the property in Whistler’s Bayshores neighbourhood. “The materials used are so over-engineered. There’s too much of everything everywhere, but in such a cool way.”

In addition to everything concrete, steel and glass everywhere, massive century-old, rough-cut timber beams reclaimed from a warehouse on Vancouver Island add warmth and history to the modern home.

Originally built in 2004 by the eighties punk band DOA as a creative space to write and record (hence the concrete), the current owners undertook a full-scale renovation in 2022. And they spared no expense doing it.

“They replaced the plumbing and electrical systems in the whole home,” says Lewis. “They completely revamped, redesigned, and reimagined all the climate control, installed two heat pump systems, and a super high-end radiator recirculating system that they brought in from England. It was previously heated by two wood fireplaces and baseboard heaters, but they didn’t think it was the most efficient way to make this property warm. So, they ran beautiful custom copper lines throughout. It’s basically this giant recirculating radiator system where even the piping feeding the radiators is designed to radiate heat off of the system itself.”

The owners didn’t stop there. Originally from Europe, they leaned heavily on the continent’s manufacturing expertise. In addition to the English radiator system, they installed a $240,000 kitchen from German manufacturer Bulthaup. “I’ve been selling homes in Whistler for 15 years, and this is only the second Bulthaup I’ve seen; the other one was in a $50 million home in [exclusive neighbourhood] Kadenwood,” says Lewis.

One of the owners, a German art dealer, “Is a very detail- oriented person. She has a great eye for this type of stuff. And her mindset was, if you’re going to do it, do it once, do it right.”

The fully renovated bathrooms are equipped with floating toilets and fixtures from German (naturally) maker Duravit, along with heated towel racks connected to the recirculating heat pump radiator system.

To artfully light up their space, they installed Bocci lights throughout the home at $10,000 a piece, and light switches from British company Buster & Punch for $140 each. Their $150,000 furniture package was custom created to fit the rooms.

A suspended catwalk leading from the main entrance over the office and into the kitchen was constructed from the same reclaimed timber as the beams.

The owners then replaced the garage door with a $30,000 custom-built design by a Finland company that makes aircraft hangar doors. “The garage opening is sufficiently wide but not super tall because there’s a huge steel beam [above],” says Lewis. “With a traditional garage door, you would lose about a foot when it rolls up. They had to leave that ceiling height, so the only option was to bring in this crazy custom door that essentially opens up like an accordion.”

The overall scale of what they created is a marvel, says Lewis. “They built an absolute masterpiece and, at this list price, they’re pretty much losing money. If you do a renovation of this calibre, you possibly will renovate yourself out of the market. But there’s an opportunity here to have a sensational home that you would have to do an incredible amount of work to try to replicate today.”

Lewis says the home is technically a duplex, which could accommodate two families or groups of friends. Or it could easily be combined into one big 4,200 square foot home. “The house is shaped like a big U, with two U shapes stacked on top of one another. It’s a very non-traditional duplex layout [but with] separate property identifiers, separate civic addresses, and separate self-contained entrances. Two families could buy it and have full total legal ownership over their part of it. Or you could have a really lovely three-bedroom upper home and rent the two-bedroom lower suite,” which the current owners do, for $6,000 a month.

What’s outside

The private lot is ensconced by a fully fenced lawn and a big sunny garden, as well as a lap pool and barrel sauna. Multiple live grass roofs, as well as a rooftop patio, overlook Alpha Lake and surrounding mountains. There are also other patios and decks around the home.

In the neighbourhood

The property is located in Whistler’s Bayshores neighbourhood, close to Creekside Village and gondola. “So even though you’re in this really nice, hidden, secluded part of Bayshores, you hop in your car and you’re about a two-minute drive to Creekside Village, where there’s a grocery store, liquor store, fine dining, shopping, coffee shops, gym and yoga,” says Lewis.

There are also several parks and hiking/biking trails nearby, as well as two elementary schools. For anything else, says Lewis, “In Whistler, everything is 10 minutes away.”

Location: 2177 Timber Ridge

Listed for: $5,988,000

Year built: 2004

Type: Five bedrooms, five bathrooms

Size: 4,200 square feet

Realtor: Listed by David Lewis, Angell Hasman & Associates Realty Ltd.

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