Pantone Colour of the Year 2026: Introducing Cloud Dancer

As the world’s foremost colour authority announces its colour of the year, we get ready to welcome it into our homes

We’ve debated, analysed and predicted, but how many of us, seasoned interiors types included, could possibly have suspected Pantone would go off on one of its periodic and infamous tangents to bring us the airily titled Cloud Dancer as Colour of the Year 2026?

Critics might call it dull, even dirty, white; optimists are cheerily citing it as more of a vanilla white; while some social media wits are already calling it out as being Pantone Deaf. But Pantone itself is saying, “It’s a billowy, balanced white, a key structural colour allowing all colours to shine.”

Pantone’s Colour Influence: A Look Back at Past Controversies

By coincidence, it’s exactly 10 years since they gave us another colour controversy, which was also the only time they’ve chosen two colours.

Rose Quartz and Serenity Blue were scorned by many as too powdery and not applicable to interiors outside of the nursery. But the reach of Pantone’s influence is considerable and before we knew it we were, at least, picking up a few accessories and soft furnishings in one colour or the other.

One thing is for sure: Pantone could never be called predictable as all of us who were betting on green or a turquoise or a teal variation on the theme for 2026 were reminded recently.

How Pantone Chooses Colour of the Year: A Global Trend Study

It’s the result of a year-long study by the Pantone global team which observes influences from art, fashion, film and interiors, all of which help them to arrive at their colour conclusion annually since 1999.

Self-styled global anthropologists, they’ve decided a cloudy white in the midst of a move away from minimalism suggests a much-needed vantage point above the chaos of modern life. It’s also the first time they’ve chosen white or anything close to it, although they’ve been quietly veering towards lightness for the past two years.

Mocha Mousse for 2025 was decidedly brown but a less dense, less saturated approach in an airier whipped version. 2024’s Peach Fuzz subtly predicted a return to warm neutrals and their development into the terracotta look of the ‘90s which we’re now enthusiastically reinventing and dubbing the new neutral.

How Cloud Dancer Fits Into 2026 Interiors Trends

But the Pantone crew aren’t the only ones tracking the interiors zeitgeist. EZ Living Interiors has been doing it since 1987 with our stylists and buyers making frequent international trips so our Ireland-wide stores have that essential combination of timeless style and trending options.

We’re already ahead of the game with whites and off-whites to offer a blank canvas for brighter colour and pattern in interiors to pop, especially right now when we can’t get enough of burgundy, jewel tones, olive greens and colour combinations from the ‘70s through to the ‘90s.

These not so searing whites also partner well with oak and mango wood to warm up the look. Just picture the Fluting white marble and mango coffee table. It’s a perfect partnership of contrasts; cool and warm, smooth and streamlined on the surface, wooden rib detail in the base.

Fluting White Marble & Mango Coffee Table

Styling Cloud Dancer: Cushions, Sofas and Soft Furnishings

Choosing colour can be complex and time-consuming which makes the whites and creams safe, but they’re ripe for styling with verve.

Sofas like the Cooper cream and Dove white bouclé set the stage for a curation of cushions. The Klein blue and white check, the Toffee check, the Terra and Richelle Mandarin citing warm terracotta, and the classic yellow and green in the Ochre and Pine become like daubs of paint on a white canvas.

In reverse, the neutral Mink and Palm cushions bring the calm and ease of whitish hues to a strong backdrop like the Scott green sofa or the darker cypress green version. Take off-white a little further with the Medini rug, or the Renuu Zoe vintage and Zola Scandi Aura. Throws too can have big impact even in the lighter colourways of the Faux Rabbit fur in all its cosiness, or the Toffee’s caramel and cream bedspread.

Cooper Cream Fabric Corner Sofa with Chaise

Cloud Dancer in Art and Accessories: Easy Ways to Embrace the Trend

If you’ve got your furniture already sorted and walls freshly painted in full colour, art is your way into the Cloud Dancer look.

The Eva abstract canvas is easy on the eye, as is abstract on linen, ready to hang on one of those on-trend burgundy colour washed walls.

Tilly Moss Green Fabric 3 Seater Sofa

Looking for the perfect gift?