Peter Miller
2026 Trends in Traditional Building: What’s In, What’s Out, What’s Hot, What’s Not
Palmetto Bluff kitchen by Michael Franck
Credit: Photo by Gordon BeallHot or Not?
By now you have read all the end-of-year memories and new year predictions you can process. I want to add to your overload with my 2026 “What’s Hot and What’s Not” predictions about trends in traditional building. Below are classical architecture and interior design trends our team sees for the new year—along with what's out of style.
If you have your own thoughts about what’s in or out in the new year, be sure to let me know. Here are mine.
Hot: Real stone
Not: Cultured stone
Hot: Flagstone patios with grass for grout
Not: Treated lumber decks
Hot: Life cycle analysis
Not: Value engineering
Hot: Authentic Palladian windows with true divided light
Not: Casements, no divided lights with a separate circle top window above
Hot: Anything a real estate ad doesn’t “boast” about
Not: Granite countertops
Hot: Affordable kitchen appliances that someone cooks with
Not: European appliances
Hot: Gable roofs, but not too many gables on the house
Not: Flat or slanted roofs or a house with “gableitis”
Hot: Decorative plaster
Not: Drywall
Hot: Floral-patterned wallpaper
Not: White paint
Hot: Adaptive use
Not: Teardowns
Hot: Tall double-hung Italianate windows
Not: Floor-to-ceiling glass
Hot: Clay tile or shingle roofing
Not: Asphalt roofing
Hot: Dipping pool
Not: Hot tub
Hot: Real wood floors
Not: Embossed plastic wood-grained floors
Hot: Low-slung timbers on ceilings which are warm and cozy
Not: Vaulted ceilings which are cold and echo
Hot: Boxwood
Not: Yellow mums
Hot: Mid-century modern furniture
Not: Anything Victorian
Hot: Antiques
Not: Ikea
Hot: Paintings
Not: Prints
Hot: Books on shelves
Not: Grandma's brick-a-brac
Peter H. Miller, Hon. AIA, is the publisher and President of TRADITIONAL BUILDING, PERIOD HOMES and the Traditional Building Conference Series, and podcast host for Building Tradition, Active Interest Media's business to business media platform. AIM also publishes OLD HOUSE JOURNAL; NEW OLD HOUSE; FINE HOMEBUILDING; ARTS and CRAFTS HOMES; TIMBER HOME LIVING; ARTISAN HOMES; FINE GARDENING and HORTICULTURE. The Home Group integrated media portfolio serves over 50 million architects, builders, craftspeople, interior designers, building owners, homeowners and home buyers.
Pete lives in a classic Sears house, a Craftsman-style Four Square built in 1924, which he has lovingly restored over a period of 30 years. Resting on a bluff near the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., just four miles from the White House, Pete’s home is part of the Palisades neighborhood, which used to be a summer retreat for the District’s over-heated denizens.
Before joining Active Interest Media (AIM), Pete co-founded Restore Media in 2000 which was sold to AIM in 2012. Before this, Pete spent 17 years at trade publishing giant Hanley Wood, where he helped launch the Remodeling Show, the first trade conference and exhibition aimed at the business needs and interests of professional remodeling contractors. He was also publisher of Hanley Wood’s Remodeling, Custom Home, and Kitchen and Bath Showroom magazines and was the creator of Remodeling’s Big 50 Conference (now called the Leadership Conference).
Pete participates actively with the American Institute of Architects’ Historic Resources Committee and also serves as President of the Washington Mid Atlantic Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. He is a long-time member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and an enthusiastic advocate for urbanism, the revitalization of historic neighborhoods and the benefits of sustainability, including the adaptive reuse of historic buildings.
