Top Curtain Trends 2025-2026: Transform Your Home with Style and Light

By Heather Martin

In every room, the window is more than just a portal to the outside world—it’s a storyteller. It holds the morning light, the silhouette of trees swaying in the wind, the way rain scatters across the glass on a quiet Sunday. It frames the view and the feeling.

When I step into a space, I always begin with the windows. They set the rhythm of the room—how light moves, where your eye is drawn, what should be softened, and what should be celebrated.

And after a full year of working on large home additions for my client's —each with their own light, their own patterns, their own sense of privacy and presence—I’m seeing a clear shift in how we treat our windows. A shift I deeply welcome: one that honors the window not just with function, but with feeling.

The Shift: Window Coverings as Foundation, Not Finishing Touch

One of the biggest changes I’ve embraced over the years—and a trend that’s continuing strong into 2026—is viewing window treatments as foundational to the design, not simply decorative.

The right window covering (curtains, roman shades, café panel, bamboo shades, or roller shades) becomes the connective tissue of the room. It anchors everything around it.

For our own home, I turned to TWOPAGES for exactly that reason. The materials are beautiful, but even more importantly, the options are thoughtful. Whether it’s the soft Roman shades in our entry hall that follow the rhythm of our day—opened in the morning, drawn in the evening—or or the long, creamy panels in our living room that gently frame the light and soften the room’s symmetry, every piece has a role to play.

Curtain Trends: What We’ve Loved in 2025 + What’s Coming in 2026

As the seasons change, I find myself paying attention to what we’ve seen this year and what’s quietly emerging for the next. Here’s what’s rising to the surface and staying put:

• Return to texture: Think soft linens, cotton blends, and rich slubs that show movement and shadow. Fabric with presence—especially in neutral, nature-inspired tones—adds quiet drama and a lived-in ease.

• Layering: This trend is only growing: layering Roman shades with relaxed panels creates warmth, depth, and flexibility. It’s practical, it’s beautiful, and TWOPAGES makes it easy with fully customizable options.

• Tailored hardware: Rod placement still matters. High and wide works—but sometimes, especially in older homes, the trim dictates the rules. I’ve leaned into mounting directly on the frame, and with intentional hardware, it looks stunning.

• Thoughtful trim: A subtle yet powerful way to elevate even the simplest panel. Decorative trim adds personality and polish, and TWOPAGES offers affordable customization to get this just right. It’s the difference between off-the-rack and bespoke.

• Intentional tone: Clients are drawn to calm, cocooning palettes—warm whites, soft olives, stormy grays. Less contrast, more cohesion. The curtain becomes a whisper, not a shout.

Pictured: Liz Linen Drape Pleated in Ivory White 1908-2

Why Now Is the Perfect Time to Refresh

Now that summer has wound down and the holidays are just around the corner, this is the ideal time to update your window treatments.

Whether you’re preparing to host, cozying in for the season, or just ready to love your home a little more each day, a well-chosen curtain can completely shift the way your space feels—and functions.

Light, warmth, privacy, softness—curtains deliver all of it. And with lead times still in your favor before the holiday season, it’s a decision you can actually enjoy in the moment.

Design Tip: Let the Windows Lead

If you’re not sure where to begin with a room refresh, start with the windows.

Notice how the light behaves. Where you feel exposed. Where you crave softness. Choose materials with your lifestyle in mind—sheers for airflow and glow, linen for texture and warmth, blackout for deep rest and morning slowness.

And don’t rush it. Some of the best decisions come after living with the space for a while. Watch how it shifts from morning to night. The room will tell you what it needs.

What This Room Remembers

In our own home, every window holds a memory. A morning cup of coffee on the sofa. The cat perched on the window sill, watching birds. The ritual of drawing the shades as dusk falls.

The rooms don’t just hold our things—they hold our rhythm.

And the window coverings? They’re not just decoration. They’re the pause, the punctuation, the softness between the structure.

Me at home, where the morning light filters through soft Roman shades by TWOPAGES—reminding me that every window holds a rhythm, a memory, a mood.

And they deserve to be chosen with care.

*All photographs credit: Heather Martin

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