When you design your home with intentionality, you are essentially 'hard-coding' healthy behaviors into your daily rhythm. Health outcomes are the result of thousands of micro-decisions—so in his own home, he prioritized spaces like the kitchen, whose open layout makes cooking a pleasure, and the gym, centrally located.
The Matranga family built a 560-square-foot tiny house for their family of four in 2022, experiencing both love and regret about its design after four years of living there.
Pigments Instead of Paints Experimental Art Spaces Return to Analog Above: You've probably seen the recent surge of "analog bags": tote bags filled with knitting, small sewing projects, crossword puzzles (the kind on paper), and other things to fill in-between moments. Call it analog, call it DIY, but making things-and antidotes to doomscrolling-is a move we can get behind in 2026. Photograph via artist Kate Kilmurray from Natural, Hand-Woven DIY Potholders Will Have You Revisiting a Childhood Craft.
But as everyone is chasing micro-trends, choosing a neutral kitchen and following your personal style comes across as more wise and timeless than ever. As seen in the 10 neutral kitchens below, hues like whites and off-whites, blacks, grays, beiges, and earth tones can be combined in infinite ways and applied to different textures and materials, to create kitchens that are dynamic, clean, and classy all at once.
Architects today see the home as more than just a place to live. It is now understood as a space that affects how people think, feel, and live each day. By 2026, the field has clearly moved away from cold, uniform minimalism. Instead, design choices such as color, shape, and proportion are made with clear intent, helping to create spaces that support everyday life.
My open concept kitchen and family room. I do love the design and am thrilled with all the new appliances, but every time I sit down to watch something, someone will go into the kitchen for a snack. The rattling of bags, running water, and scooping ice echoes through the space and provides a distraction. First world problems, I know.