Trade trends: what hotels, clubs and designers are specifying at the window
The top end of the market, tracked season by season: the hotel openings and who dressed them, what London's leading studios are launching and saying, what the luxury stores are proposing, and which tracks, poles and finishes answer the brief. Updated monthly.
September 2026: layered, collected, warm, and windows treated as architecture. Focus/26 at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour is showing claret, teal, verdigris and gold with damask, corduroy and wool; The World of Interiors' October issue is about the makers behind rooms; Decorex opens in October on a warm sand, clay and sage palette with a maximalist revival. Elle Decoration has named the window trend outright: drape-maxxing.
In hotels the two looks run side by side: warm heritage layering (The Chancery Rosewood, The Zetter Bloomsbury, The Newman) and pale garden-toned quiet luxury (The Dorchester's Royal Suite, Claridge's suites). Behind both sits the same specification, a sheer and a blackout on a double track, increasingly motorised. The hardware answer this season: Integra Double Duty or a Silent Gliss ceiling track for the guest room, a pelmet-hidden corded track for the heritage drawing room, and a hand-finished pole in Antique Brass, Bronze or a colour-matched finish where the finial is meant to be seen.
This is the trade edition of our trends log. The homeowner tracker follows what UK homes are painting and searching for. This page follows the people who set that taste a season or two earlier: hotel and club designers, London's leading studios, the fabric houses and the luxury stores. Each entry records what opened, what launched and what was said in that period, then what it means at the window: sheer or blackout, track or pole, pelmet or exposed finial, which finish. The latest entry is written as it happens; earlier entries were compiled in September 2026 from the coverage of the time and are marked as such.
Why we keep it: a specifier's brief usually arrives as a mood, a fabric and a paint reference. Cameron Fuller poles and tracks are hand-finished in Devon in sixteen standard colours or matched to the paint you name; Hallis Hudson Integra and Silent Gliss tracks carry the sheer-and-blackout schemes hotels are built on. Room scenes on this page are AI-visualised from real, orderable hardware; hotel and designer projects are described from the published coverage, never pictured.
Q3 2026
Written at the timeThe season the top end stopped apologising for colour. Focus/26 showed claret, teal, verdigris and gold on damask and corduroy; Decorex is trailing a warm clay and sage palette with a maximalist revival; The World of Interiors gave October to the makers. At the window the word of the season is drape-maxxing, and the hotels that opened or refreshed were either warm and layered or pale and garden-toned, with a sheer and a blackout on a double track under both.
Hotels and clubs
- The Chancery Rosewood, Mayfair (Joseph Dirand, opened September 2025): 144 suites, floor-to-ceiling glass, rich woods and layered fabrics, jewel tones, velvet, green marble. Dirand's line: London light needs a decor that warms it.
- The Dorchester Royal Suite (Pierre-Yves Rochon, June 2026): celadon, blush and pale blue, GP and J Baker English-garden textiles.
- Willett's at The Cadogan, Belmond (Studio Shayne Brady, April 2026): heritage greens, bronze, soft linen cafe curtains in the ground-floor rooms.
- Waldorf Astoria Admiralty Arch (autumn 2026) and Cambridge House, Auberge (Jean-Louis Deniot, now February 2027): the next two Mayfair benchmarks.
- Contract houses report the same spec: layered sheers plus blackout as the standard for high-end rooms, motorised in premium suites, acoustic-weight fabrics, deep jewel tones (Drapes UK; Skopos 2026 schemes: botanicals, trellis, geometrics, stripes, new FR velvets and blackouts).
Designers
- Focus/26 (14 to 18 September): 650 brands; claret, gold, teal, verdigris, warm metallics; damask, corduroy, wool, pleated papery textures; lozenges and flamestitch. New showrooms include Armac Martin (bronze-finish hardware) and The Vale London (trimmings).
- Rita Konig headlined Focus with a furniture collection for Oficina Inglesa; her standing advice is a pelmet wherever there is a deadlight above the window.
- Rose Uniacke: fifty new fabrics for 2026 including sheers in linen and wool, velvets and corduroys, sold on natural fibre and light rather than colour.
- Colefax and Fowler Pendine (autumn 2026: botanicals, woodland scenes, characterful weaves); Nina Campbell Dauphine (September); Fermoie flame stitch, designed and made in England.
- Books: Kit Kemp Design Stories; Joanna Plant A Decorator's Reflections (29 September); Ben Pentreath A Year at the Parsonage (8 October). The through-line in all three is the evidence of the human hand.
- Elle Decoration, October: drape-maxxing. Homes and Gardens and London designers: pelmets and valances are back, the icing on the cake.
Luxury retail
- Harrods Interior Design: seventies shapes, curved sofas, lacquer against matt, organic fluting; a fabric library built on Cole and Son, Morris and Co and Farrow and Ball.
- Liberty AW26 Design, Nature, Art: three garden chapters, wide-width and grasscloth papers alongside the prints.
- Heal's AW26: deep evergreen, warm walnut, earthy rust, treacle leather, muted pinks and inky blues.
- OKA autumn: russet, sage, seafoam, air force blue, mustard. Neptune: calico, pale oat, saffron, saddle, forest green, bronze lighting.
- Selfridges: no autumn home campaign found; its home floor is running design pop-ups rather than a seasonal edit.
What they are specifying at the window
- Guest rooms: a sheer and a blackout on a double track, ceiling-fixed, motorised in the suites. Integra Double Duty for the heavyweight blackout; Silent Gliss 5100 Autoglide where the client wants a pull-start electric track that bends round a bay.
- Drawing rooms, club rooms, heritage suites: full-height interlined velvet or wool in a deep pinch pleat, a pelmet or a hand-finished pole with a finial worth looking at. Antique Brass and Bronze metal at 32mm; Natural Mahogany, Walnut or Antique Gilded wood at 50mm or 63mm.
- Ground-floor and F and B: soft linen cafe curtains on a slim rod, the Cadogan move, for privacy without losing the street.
- Colour: match the fitting to the paint reference in the scheme rather than the floor; the trade hardware makers all now offer paint matching, and the designer palette this season is claret, teal, olive, chocolate and verdigris.
On the calendar
- Sept London Design Festival 12 to 20; Focus/26 at Chelsea Harbour 14 to 18; The World of Interiors October issue; Elle Decoration's 400th issue names drape-maxxing.
- Oct Independent Hotel Show 5 to 6; Decorex 11 to 14 on a sustainable-luxury, maximalist-revival brief; Pentreath and Plant books land.
- Nov Sleep + Eat at Olympia; AHEAD Europe awards. Watch for the guest-room winners' window schemes.
- Integra Double Duty and Silent Gliss ceiling track: the sheer-and-blackout guest room, corded or motorised.
- Antique Brass: the finial that is meant to be seen in a claret, teal or olive scheme; Bronze where the scheme runs darker.
- Natural Mahogany: 63mm for wall-filling velvet in a library or club room; Walnut for the warmer, browner rooms.
- Colour-matched to the paint reference: the drenched room: pole, brackets and rings in the wall colour, to Farrow and Ball, Little Greene or any RAL.
Read at the time: Sleeper, The Chancery Rosewood · Wallpaper, Dorchester Royal Suite · Belmond, Willett's at The Cadogan · Drapes UK, hotel curtain trends · Hotel Designs, Skopos 2026 schemes · Elle Decoration, Focus/26 · Interior Designer, Focus/26 preview · Rose Uniacke, new fabrics 2026 · Rita Konig on curtains and pelmets · Decorex 2026 trend brief · Harrods, home trends to know · Liberty AW26 · Heal's press, AW26 · Silent Gliss electric tracks · Hallis Hudson Integra
Q2 2026
Written in hindsightWOW!house at Chelsea Harbour set the tone: reds, celadon and lilac, elevated English country, chocolate linen walls and tented ceilings. The Dorchester unveiled its pastel Royal Suite, The Cadogan reopened its ground floor with linen cafe curtains, and Livingetc gave the window its own theory, drapery as soft architecture on ceiling-mounted ripple-fold track.
Hotels and clubs
- The Dorchester Royal Suite (Pierre-Yves Rochon, 10 June): celadon, blush, pale blue, GP and J Baker garden textiles; the room programme before it used Colefax and Fowler florals on walls and headboards.
- Willett's at The Cadogan (Studio Shayne Brady, April): heritage greens with neutrals, bronze, soft linen cafe curtains.
- Waldorf Astoria Admiralty Arch first look (Sleeper, June): 114 rooms crafted to the historic architecture, naval heritage suite names.
Designers
- WOW!house 2026 (2 June to 2 July): Salvesen Graham's primary bedroom in their own muted, enduring fabrics; Studio Duggan's speakeasy salon in chocolate linen walls, olive carpet and a tented ceiling; Max Rollitt's dining room in Schumacher damask and velvet. Galerie's read: reds, celadon, lilac, elevated English country.
- Livingetc (June): drapery as soft architecture, ripple-fold pleats on a ceiling-mounted track, curtains as a backdrop to art.
- Homes and Gardens (May): pelmets making a comeback; James Mackie calls them the icing on the cake.
- Pimlico Road at London Craft Week (11 to 17 May): Rose Uniacke, Soane and Cox London residencies; the craft story that October's World of Interiors would pick up.
Luxury retail
- Soho Home SS26: angular forms, darker burl veneers, Emperador marble, olive boucle jacquard.
- The Conran Shop and Heal's trailing autumn: walnut, evergreen, rust.
- Chelsea Design Quarter street party (11 June) and showroom openings on the King's Road.
What they are specifying at the window
- Bedrooms: wall-to-wall wave or ripple-fold on a ceiling track, the hardware invisible, the fabric doing the architecture. Integra Discreet or a Silent Gliss ceiling profile.
- Salons and dining rooms: fabric-walled, tented, damask and velvet; a corded track under a shaped pelmet, or a Gilded or Antique Gilded pole where the scheme wants gilt.
- Cafe curtains on slim rods for ground-floor privacy.
On the calendar
- Apr Salone del Mobile sets the finish palette the press repeats all year; Willett's opens.
- May Clerkenwell Design Week; London Craft Week on Pimlico Road; pelmet comeback pieces.
- Jun WOW!house opens; House and Garden Top 100; Houzz UK emerging trends; Dorchester Royal Suite.
- Integra Discreet ceiling track: the wall-to-wall wave bedroom where the hardware should disappear.
- Gilded: the WOW!house dining room register: damask, velvet, gilt; Antique Gilded for the softer version.
- Cafe rod, Chalk or Antique Brass: the ground-floor linen cafe curtain.
Read at the time: Galerie, inside WOW!house 2026 · The Trove, Studio Duggan speakeasy salon · Max Rollitt, WOW!house 2026 · Livingetc, bedroom curtain trends 2026 · House Digest, pelmet comeback · Wallpaper, Dorchester Royal Suite · Livingetc, Soho Home SS26
Q1 2026
Written in hindsightThree London openings in five weeks, all of them warm and residential: The Newman's deco rooms in antique finds and rich textiles, Six Senses at The Whiteley in deep blue, terracotta and dark cabinetry, and The Zetter Bloomsbury with striped Tissus d'Helene curtains on its bay windows and a brief that read, we wanted it to feel like a home. Paris and Frankfurt in January had already pointed the fabric houses at layered drapery.
Hotels and clubs
- The Newman, Fitzrovia (Lind and Almond, 1 February): 81 art deco rooms, antique finds, vintage lighting, rich textiles.
- Six Senses London, The Whiteley (AvroKO, 1 March): 109 rooms, deco-influenced dark cabinetry, chevron timber floors, deep blues and terracotta.
- The Zetter Bloomsbury (James Thurstan Waterworth, March): 68 rooms, bay windows with striped curtains in Tissus d'Helene, antique textiles reworked into cushions and headboards.
- Sleeper, LW Design forecast (February): wellness woven into everyday spaces, narrative-led rooms, bespoke furniture and lighting.
Designers
- Martin Brudnizki, My Life in Colors (Rizzoli), Galerie interview in January: colour approached by experience and light, never scientifically.
- Beata Heuman de Gournay residency, New York, to April: Fruit Garden and Delft Folly papers.
- Elle Decoration A-List (January); Livingetc January trends: restrained botanical prints, curtains layered with blinds and sheers; Dezeen January forecast.
- Heimtextil (13 to 16 January) put curtains in the same hall as sun-protection systems; Paris Deco Off showed the trimmings and stripes that surfaced at WOW!house by June.
Luxury retail
- John Lewis named indigo the colour of 2026; Wren's trends report: vintage tiles, Art Deco, colour drenching, softened darkness.
- Houzz UK kitchen study (January): blue and green cabinets ahead of grey and white; brushed nickel, brass and bronze on handles.
- Selfridges home running design pop-ups; Liberty spring fabrics.
What they are specifying at the window
- Boutique hotel rooms: pattern back at the window, stripes and botanicals on bays, on a bendable track or a slim pole with a small finial.
- Deco-led schemes: dark joinery, deep blue and terracotta; Black or Graphite metal poles with a Stopper or Barrel finial, or Bronze against the timber.
- Layering as default: curtain plus blind plus sheer; double poles or double tracks.
On the calendar
- Jan Heimtextil, Paris Deco Off, Maison et Objet; Elle Decoration A-List; Dezeen and Pinterest forecasts in force.
- Feb The Newman opens; Sleeper's LW Design forecast.
- Mar Six Senses and The Zetter Bloomsbury open; London Design Week at Chelsea Harbour.
- System 30 bendable track: striped curtains round a bay, the Zetter move.
- Graphite: Stopper or Barrel finial against deco joinery; Black where the scheme is harder-edged.
- Bronze: warm metal on dark timber and terracotta.
Read at the time: Luxury London, best openings 2026 · IHG, Six Senses London opening · Galerie, The Zetter Bloomsbury · Sleeper, LW Design 2026 forecast · Galerie, Martin Brudnizki interview · Vogue Scandinavia, Beata Heuman at de Gournay · Heimtextil 2026
Late 2025
Written in hindsightThe Chancery Rosewood opened in September and reset the Mayfair benchmark on richness: woods, layered fabrics, jewel tones, velvet. Decorex in October put skirts, ruffles and trim on the floor as the biggest trend and paired blue with brown; AHEAD Europe in November gave its UK wins to Estelle Manor, Fowey Hall and 1 Hotel Mayfair. Contract fabric houses spent the half-year saying the same thing: layered sheers, blackout, jewel tones, motorisation.
Hotels and clubs
- The Chancery Rosewood (Joseph Dirand and David Chipperfield, 1 September): 144 suites, floor-to-ceiling windows, richness to warm the London light.
- AHEAD Europe (28 November): Hotel of the Year and Guestrooms to Orient Express La Minerva (Hugo Toro); UK wins for Estelle Manor's Fallow House, Fowey Hall and 1 Hotel Mayfair.
- The Pig in the Cotswolds (Judy Hutson): shabby-chic antiques, garden-inspired. Heckfield Place Keeper's Cottage: British craft, rush headboards.
- Drapes UK (July): layered sheers plus blackout plus blinds now the standard for high-end hotels; motorised curtains fast-growing in suites; acoustic heavy fabrics; the move from neutrals to deep jewel tones and large geometrics.
Designers
- Decorex (October): skirts, ruffles and trim the biggest trend on the floor; blue with brown.
- Salvesen Graham woven ribbon trims in ten tones (December); the trim story that ran into 2026.
- Homes and Gardens (November): dramatic drapery as the answer to plain coverings. Elle Decoration named metal Venetian blinds a defining 2025 window story.
- Silent Gliss positioned its motorised Metropole as the pole for high-end interiors worldwide; the pole makers (Jim Lawrence, Walcot House, McKinney, Hunter and Hyland, Byron and Byron) all now sell paint matching as standard.
Luxury retail
- John Lewis AW25: burl wood the star, chrome and amber glass. Liberty House of Liberty 150th fabrics.
- Pinterest Predicts 2026 (December): Neo Deco brass and chrome, FunHaus stripes, glamour over minimalism.
- Little Greene Adventurer and Graham and Brown Divine Damson (September) gave the luxury stores their plum and damson autumn.
What they are specifying at the window
- Suites: sheer and blackout on a double track, motorised; the specification that every 2026 opening inherited.
- Public rooms: red drapes trimmed with leather and gold buttons (Raffles at The OWO remains the reference); trims, borders and ruffles on the leading edge.
- Metal: brass and chrome together (Neo Deco), bronze on dark timber.
On the calendar
- Sept The Chancery Rosewood opens; Focus/25; Dulux, Little Greene and Graham and Brown announce their 2026 colours.
- Oct Decorex: trims, ruffles, blue with brown; Independent Hotel Show.
- Nov Sleep + Eat; AHEAD Europe; Homes and Gardens on dramatic drapery.
- Dec Pinterest Predicts 2026; Pantone Cloud Dancer meets a backlash.
- Integra Double Duty: the heavyweight blackout channel of the hotel double track.
- Antique Gilded: trimmed red velvet in a public room, the OWO register.
- Chrome and Antique Brass together: Neo Deco: one dominant metal, one accent.
Read at the time: Elle Decoration, The Chancery Rosewood · Sleeper, AHEAD Europe 2025 winners · Melanie Lissack, Decorex 2025 trends · Drapes UK, hotel curtain trends · Aspire, Salvesen Graham trims · Silent Gliss, motorised Metropole · Chase, Raffles London at The OWO · Pinterest Predicts 2026
Common questions
What are luxury hotels specifying at the guest-room window in 2026?
A layered scheme: a sheer for daytime privacy and a blackout curtain behind or in front of it, each on its own channel of a double track, ceiling-fixed where the room allows, and increasingly motorised in premium suites. Contract fabric houses report the same move to layered sheers, acoustic-weight blackouts and deeper jewel tones. Hallis Hudson Integra Double Duty and Silent Gliss ceiling tracks are the fittings that carry it.
Are pelmets back in high-end schemes?
Yes. Homes and Gardens and London designers have called pelmets and valances a 2026 return, and Rita Konig's own guidance is to use one where there is a deadlight above the window. Under a pelmet the hardware is a corded track, not a decorative pole; the pole and finial belong where the window is meant to show its jewellery.
Which finishes suit the current designer palette?
Focus/26 and Decorex point to claret, teal, verdigris, gold, chocolate and olive with warm metallics. Antique Brass and Bronze metal poles sit naturally in that palette; Walnut, Natural Mahogany and Antique Gilded wooden poles carry the heritage schemes; a colour-matched pole in the wall colour is the answer for a drenched room. We match to Farrow and Ball, Little Greene, Paint and Paper Library, Edward Bulmer and any RAL reference.
How often is this page updated?
Monthly, alongside the homeowner tracker. We read the hospitality and design press, the show previews, the designers' own launches and the luxury stores' seasonal edits, then add a dated entry. Entries are never rewritten after the fact.