Recent trends indicate nostalgia is a growing influence on new home design, shaping spaces that are uplifting and personal. For new-build homeowners, nostalgic design offers the best of both worlds, by blending meaningful treasures from the past with modern functionality and tech that makes life easier.
Nostalgia-influenced design authentically delivers feel-good vibes where we already seek refuge – our homes. It also adds analogue charm in a digital age.
In its 2025 Trends report, Moen noted nostalgia as a significant driver of trends, aligning with homeowners’ current priorities.
“We’re seeing that people are desiring a sense of comfort and individuality at home, and nostalgia-inspired design gives them both benefits. This type of look brings in warmth and personality that many people are craving in their homes right now,” says Danielle DeBoe Harper, Moen’s senior creative style manager.
Nostalgia’s influence on trends is widespread, seen in:
- Heritage trend revivals, such as mid-century modern, Art Deco, English country and 1990s-2000s design.
- Paint Color of the Year for 2026 trends.
- Kitchen design.
- Integrating vintage with modern, with a focus on family heirlooms.
- The growth of Kidulting, where adults embrace toys and activities that they enjoyed as kids.
Nostalgia as a design approach is based on emotions over elements, and although choices are individual, they also represent a collective experience, which is comforting too.
Why is Nostalgia so Big Right Now?
Nostalgia isn’t just about remembering the past, it’s about seeking comfort from modern day challenges by reaching back emotionally to tap into good feelings or simplify a complex situation.
Most important to homeowners right now, given affordability and other challenges, is stability, says color psychologist Michelle Lewis of the Color Institute, which is sharpening the focus on what a home represents. “Homeowners want safety. They want to feel like their home is a safe haven that their family and friends can retreat to, rest, and recharge.”
Homeowners “long for simpler times and simpler ways of being. When we see patterns shift towards nostalgia palettes in interior design, graphic design and even film design, it’s usually in response to a time of crisis or stress.”
Lewis cites a study that examined nostalgia, not as a window into the past, but as a positive tool to face the future, boosting self-esteem, generating optimism, and combatting loneliness.
Lewis believes that is what is happening with interior design, especially with color trends. “Homeowners, to put it simply, are self-medicating. By choosing colors that trigger feelings of nostalgia, they are fixing their own perspective to optimism instead of pessimism.”
It’s a powerful position for new-build homeowners, who can combine the optimism of new construction’s fresh start with the hope that occurs naturally from nostalgia.
Here are some ways in which homeowners are using nostalgic influences with a modern twist that makes sense in a new home.
1990s, 2000s Kitchen Classics are Back
Recent Google search trends for 1990s and 2000s kitchens and iconic fixtures (including kitchen TVS) have surged. These are some of the top kitchen trends from that era, re-imagined for modern households:
- Kitchen TVs were a staple in kitchens in the 1990s, present while cooking comfort food and watching favorite shows. These TVs were boxy and small and usually placed on the countertop. For modern design, focus on seamless integration. Consider a small wall-mount TV in a cozy banquette, conceal a TV in kitchen cabinetry, or choose a framed wall-mount TV that can double as artwork when not in use.
- Honey oak cabinets were dominant decades ago. For a 2025 makeover, with the warmth of 1990s, layer wood tones, include black matte fixtures and opt for flat or angled door fronts.
- Checkerboard floors, big in the 90’s and the aughts, are back. However, homeowners are using textural materials over color for an extra layer of visual warmth, mixing materials, like concrete, porcelain, wood, or terrazzo.
Color Trends & Nostalgia
Many paint brands cite nostalgia as a key influence in their 2026 Color of the Year choices. While the shades differ, they share a sense of warmth and authenticity, echoing the comfort and familiarity tied to nostalgic design.
This is important because color trends typically reflect current social and cultural temperature and serve as a bellwether for interior design and other consumer trends in the near future.
Notably, Valspar’s Warm Eucalyptus and Dutch Boy’s Melodious Ivory are 1990s and 2000s-inspired, replicating the heady greens and almond tones of those years. Meanwhile, Glidden’s Warm Mahogany has a mid-century modern vibe.
Lewis notes that some paint brands’ shift towards saturated shades ties in with nostalgia, which she credits towards the desire to feel grounded and safe. “The more saturated a color, the more nostalgic it feels,” she says.
Countryside Charm
Nostalgic design isn’t just about re-creating personal childhood memories, but also includes imagined experiences, made prominent through pop culture. “Heritage style often triggers nostalgia, as its use of specific materials, detailing, and aesthetics can create a sensory experience that transports people back in time,” says DeBoe Harper.
Right now, this means period dramas, set in rolling country hills.
“Shows like Bridgerton with its regency-style have created a nostalgic desire for a perceived sense of grandeur, elegance, and romanticism within the home. This particular trend involves luxurious materials mixed with bright colors and bold patterns,” says DeBoe Harper.
This has also sparked a surge in the English country kitchen trend because of the cozy design, perfect for comfort food and gathering informally with friends and family.
A modern take on English country kitchens include:
- Natural materials, including stone and wood.
- Cozy, built-in banquettes and window seats.
- Range alcoves
- Freestanding furniture, doubling as storage or an island workstation.
- Chintz, floral, brocade and jacquard textiles.
