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Design Trends That Don’t Look Trendy
Rooms that feel beautiful years later share a few things: personality, depth and a connection to how you live. Here are the directions we're loving.
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How to Design a Mahjong Room: Our "Midnight in Bamboo" Reveal
Mahjong is having a moment. (If your group text has a standing Tuesday game, you already know.) What started as a quiet revival is now one of the most-requested things walking through our door, and honestly, we get it. It is social, it is beautiful, and it gives you a reason to gather your favorite people around a table on a weeknight. So when a client asked us to dream up a space designed entirely around her mahjong nights with her girlfriends, we ran with it. The concept we landed on is one we are a little obsessed with. Here is how we designed it, and how you can design a mahjong room of your own. First, a quick definition for anyone new to the idea. A mahjong room is a space designed around the game: a square table that seats four, comfortable chairs, and layered, tailored decor that makes game night feel like an occasion. The best ones are equal parts functional and dramatic. Ours leans all the way into drama. We called it Midnight in Bamboo. Start with the table Every room needs an anchor, and in a mahjong room, the anchor is obvious. We chose the Kennedy Game Table by Made Goods, wrapped in vintage-inspired shagreen and framed by a warm walnut border. At 36 inches square it is the perfect scale for mahjong, a card game, or an intimate dinner for two. The detail that stops everyone: a hidden pull-out drink holder built into each side. Because a great game deserves a great drink within reach, and nobody wants a wine ring on the playing surface. That is the whole philosophy of a game table in one piece. Beautiful, but built to actually be used. Go dark, and mean it Here is the design lesson most people get backwards: small rooms do not need to be light to feel good. They want drama. We wrapped the walls in Bambusa wallpaper in Midnight by House of Hackney, a painterly bamboo print that reads like a forest after dark. Then we grounded it with Galaxias No. 70, a deep cosmic navy, on the trim and architecture. The effect is cocooning. You can feel it just looking at the plan: the room wraps around you, and suddenly a Tuesday night feels like an event. Dark walls also do something sneaky: they make brass glow and greenery pop. Which brings us to the next layer. Light it like a dinner party Lighting is where a mahjong room goes from nice to unforgettable. Overhead, we hung the Millie brass palm chandelier by Worlds Away, a sculptural burst of gold leaves that doubles as the room's jewelry. On either side of the art, we added a pair of brass palm sconces for that warm, candlelit glow that makes everyone look (and feel) good. Our rule of thumb: layer your light. One statement fixture, plus softer sources at eye level, and you will never host under a harsh overhead again. Seating you will actually linger in Mahjong nights run long (as they should), so the chairs have to earn their place. We chose the Deloris dining chairs in ivory by Made Goods, with their romantic, garden-inspired scrollwork. We cushioned them in a green palm performance fabric, which is the quiet hero of the whole room: it looks like a dreamy linen but shrugs off a spilled glass of rosé. For the inevitable fifth friend who pulls up to watch, we tucked in an Edith stool in a mossy Ming green. Extra seating that looks intentional, not like an afterthought. Then layer the finishing touches This is the part that separates a room that is "done" from a room that feels designed. We flanked the table with a pair of gold-leafed Bamboo Garden Birds panels by Wendover, which tie the bamboo motif together and bring in those pops of coral and blush. Underfoot, a hand-loomed Surya rug in soft green adds texture and warmth. Add fresh hydrangea in a blue-and-white vase, and you are done. That is the formula, start to finish: anchor with the table, go dark on the walls, layer the lighting, choose seating you will linger in, and finish with art, a rug, and a little greenery. Want a room like this? Every piece in this concept was chosen specifically for our client, which is exactly what would make it hers. That is what we do. Whether it is a mahjong room, a butler's pantry, or a whole home, we design spaces that are tailored to you and built to be lived in. If you are dreaming one up, we would love to help. Book a design consultation, or come see the full Mahjong Room for yourself. And if you are not ready to commit to a whole room but you love the vibe? Start with the game. Shop our mahjong sets, mats, racks, and accessories, and you will have everything you need for game night. 📍 24847 Del Prado, Dana Point, CA 92629📞 (949) 433-0851Open Tuesday through Friday 11 to 6, and Saturday 11 to 5. xoxo, Katie + Shana
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The case for a paper table (and a giveaway to start yours)
Here is the math nobody tells you about hosting. You spend three hours on the food. You spend forty-five minutes on the table. And then you spend the entire next morning washing sixteen pieces of linen that have cranberry sauce on them. The table is the part everyone photographs. It is also the part that punishes you the hardest the day after. So let's talk about the paper table. The paper table is not a compromise I know what "paper placemat" sounds like. It sounds like a diner. It sounds like something you put under a toddler. It is not that. A good paper table setting is printed, thick, and detailed enough that guests pick it up to look at the artwork. Hester & Cook built their whole business on this idea, and they were right. The pumpkin placemat we have in store right now is a woodcut illustration, printed in a deep rust, on paper heavy enough that it lies flat without curling at the corners. Nobody at your table is going to think "ah, paper." They are going to think "where did she get these." And when dinner is over, you roll them up and throw them away. That's it. That's the whole pitch. Start with the placemat, not the centerpiece Most people build a table from the middle out. Centerpiece first, then everything gets arranged around it, and by the time they get to the place settings they've run out of ideas and energy. Flip it. The placemat is the thing directly in front of each person for two hours. It's the part they actually look at. Get that right and the center of the table can be three pumpkins and a candle and it will still read as intentional. If you want to layer, put a runner underneath and let the placemat sit on top at a slight angle. That tiny bit of asymmetry is what keeps a table from looking like a hotel banquet. The three-layer rule Every table setting I actually like has three layers, and no more than three. One: the base. The runner, or the bare wood if you're brave. Two: the placemat. This is your color and your pattern. Everything else takes its cue from here. Three: the plate, and whatever you tuck under or beside it. That's where a charger, a woven underplate, or a dark stoneware plate does real work. Warm rust paper under a matte black plate is one of my favorite combinations in the store right now, because the contrast does all the styling for you. Stop at three. A fourth layer is when a table starts to feel like it's trying. A note on mixing patterns You can absolutely put a striped napkin on a pumpkin placemat. The rule is scale, not color: if one pattern is large, the other should be small. The Burleigh Stripe napkins work with the pumpkin placemat because the stripe is fine and dense and the pumpkin is one big graphic shape. Two large patterns fight. One large and one small talk to each other. Place cards are not fussy I will die on this hill. People think place cards are formal. They're not formal, they're kind. They tell your guests where to sit so nobody has to do that awkward hover behind a chair waiting for permission. They also let you do the thing every good host does quietly: seat people next to someone they'll enjoy. Your cousin who talks a lot goes next to your friend who likes to listen. The two people who both just got back from Italy go together. That's not fussiness. That's the whole job. Die-cut pumpkin place cards do this without anybody feeling like they wandered into a wedding. Napkins are where you cheat Here's the sleight of hand. Guest napkins, the paper kind, in a pattern good enough to feel like cloth. Fold one in thirds and lay it across the plate. Or tuck it under the fork. Or run it through a napkin ring if you have one, which instantly makes paper read as linen. The Burleigh Stripe guest napkins are the ones I keep restocking at home, because the print is dense enough that from two feet away nobody can tell. And you are not ironing anything on Thursday night. What actually goes in the middle Since we flipped the order, the centerpiece is last, and it should be low. Low. I mean it. If your guests can't see the person across from them, the arrangement is decoration for you and an obstacle for everyone else. Candles at eye level or below. A row of small pumpkins straight down the middle. A single branch laid flat. Table accents that stand up on their own, like the Grateful gold accents, give you height without building a wall. Fall is the easiest season for this because the season does the work. Anything you pick up outside on a walk is already the right color. So we're giving one away We styled a full fall table in store this week and then decided we wanted to send one home with somebody. The set is Hester & Cook from top to bottom, a $75 value: the pumpkin paper placemats, the Grateful gold table accents, the die-cut pumpkin place cards, and the pumpkin Burleigh Stripe guest napkins. Everything in this post, essentially, minus the plates. To enter, go to the post below and tag your hostess or the guests you'd seat at this table. Each comment is an entry, so tag as many people as come to mind. Entries close at midnight Friday, October 9, and we'll tag the winner in stories on Saturday, October 10. You need to be following @ivoryandoliveshop to win, be 18+, and have a US shipping address. And no, Instagram has nothing to do with it. If you'd rather not wait The whole fall tabletop collection is in store and online right now, and the pieces in this post are all under $20 each. Which means you can build the entire table for less than the cost of one nice candle. Come see it set up in person if you're local. It's easier to picture on your own table once you've seen it on ours, and we will absolutely help you pick a napkin. 📍 24847 Del Prado, Dana Point, CA 92629Tuesday through Friday 11 to 6, Saturday 11 to 5 Now go tag your hostess. xoxo, Katie + Shana
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Friday Favorites: The Fall Essentials Edit
Friday Favorites The Autumn Edit · September 18, 2026 Autumn in Dana Point does not announce itself. There is no turning of the leaves, no first frost, no morning where you suddenly need a coat. The light just gets lower and a little more golden, and one evening you realize you want the lamps on at five. Which is exactly why the way you do fall here matters. If you lean on orange and black and hay bales, the house looks like it is wearing a costume. If you do nothing at all, the season passes without ever arriving. The version that works is quieter: warm metals, deeper texture, a little more weight in the fabrics. Four pieces, and you are done. Dried Botanical Glass Candle From $62 · Two sizes Real botanicals are pressed flat against the inside of the glass, so the leaf is part of the vessel rather than something printed on it. Unlit, it reads as a decorative object. Lit, the flame comes through the leaf and the whole thing glows from the inside. Two sizes, and the difference is more than height. The 6 inch is a two wick pour at 24.33 ounces, which gives you an even melt pool edge to edge and roughly 85 hours. The 7.5 inch runs a single wick through 32.09 ounces for about 155 hours, nearly double. If a candle is going somewhere you will light it every single night, take the tall one. Scents arrive assorted between gingerbread and spiced pomander balsam. Both sizes are four inches across, so they group beautifully: tall one behind, short one in front, on a console or a mantel. "Scent and light are the two things that change a room instantly, and this does both. I keep one in the entry from October on. It smells like the season without smelling like a candle store." — Katie Shop the candle English Oak Napkin Rings $9.50 each · Acorn or oak leaf Nine fifty. That is the whole barrier to entry on a table that looks considered. Cast in gold aluminum with a genuinely dimensional motif, not a stamped outline. The acorn has real roundness to it; the oak leaf has veining you can feel. Each one has a flat base, which is the detail that matters most: the ring sits upright on the plate instead of rolling off it. The opening is 1.5 inches, so it takes a proper linen napkin and not just a paper one. Sold individually, which we like, because it means you can buy eight of one or four of each. Mixing both motifs down the table is the move. It reads as collected rather than bought as a set. "These are the kind of napkin rings that make people stop and pick them up. The gold finish is exactly the right warmth. I love putting both styles out together: it looks intentional without being too matching." — Katie Shop the napkin rings Cintia Throw by D.V. KAP Home $248 · Made in California Sixty by eighty inches. Say that out loud, because most throws are not, and it is the entire reason this one works. At standard throw size, a blanket is decor. It gets folded over an arm, it looks nice, and nobody touches it. At sixty by eighty, two people can actually be under it. That is the only real test of a throw, and it is the one most of them fail. The cotton-rich blend is 70 percent cotton, 30 percent polyester, which gives you softness that survives washing and a weight that drapes instead of stiffening. The oversized check in sage, oat, and warm grey is the quiet kind of pattern: enough structure to be interesting on a neutral sofa, restrained enough to live there through spring. Fringed edges, handmade in California. Shop the throw Embroidered Pumpkin Pillow $75 · 20 inch, light green velvet Here is the trick this pillow pulls off: it is covered in pumpkins, and you have to look twice to notice. The embroidery is worked at a scale and density that reads as pattern first and motif second. That restraint is what lets it stay out from September through Thanksgiving without the room feeling costumed, and it is why it beats every literal pumpkin pillow on the market. The velvet is doing real work here. It catches light across the pile so the green shifts as you walk past it, and the gold thread picks up whatever warm light is already in the room. Two kinds of light in one object. The green itself is soft and slightly muted, closer to sage than to anything bright, which is why it sits so easily next to the check in the throw. Twenty inches square with a removable shell, so it slips over an insert you already own. Handcrafted, so expect small variations in the embroidery from one to the next. "A pillow is the cheapest way to change a room, and the ones worth buying have texture, not just print. I would use a pair on a neutral sofa and change nothing else." — Shana Shop the pillow How we would use all four These are not four unrelated things that happen to be seasonal. They cover the two rooms where autumn actually shows up. On the sofa: the throw folded in thirds over one arm, not draped artfully across the back, and a pair of the pumpkin pillows at the opposite end. The sage in both is close enough to feel deliberate and far enough apart to not look matched. Put the 7.5 inch candle on the coffee table and light it at four thirty. On the table: napkin rings on linen napkins, both motifs alternating down the length. The 6 inch candle in the center, or two of them if the table is long. That is the entire tablescape. No garland, no gourds, no runner required. The gold does the seasonal work and the rest of your table stays yours. The through line in all four is warm metal and soft green against natural texture. That combination carries from now straight through Thanksgiving, which means none of it gets boxed up in four weeks. And if you want more than four These are the favorites, but they are not the whole shop. Here is where we would go next, depending on what you are actually trying to pull off. If you are setting a table The pieces that do the most for the least. Autumn Leaves cocktail napkins from Hester & Cook are $6.50 for twenty, which is the best six dollars you will spend this season. The matching place cards are $10 for a dozen and turn a dinner into an occasion without any real effort. For Thanksgiving specifically, the Grateful banner, ivory with gold foil calligraphy, and the Thankful trivet in gold, which does double duty as a landing spot for whatever comes out of the oven. If you want something with more permanence than paper, the Pumpkin Burleigh stripe guest napkins are a softer take on the color, and the Meredith amber tumbler from Blue Pheasant is hand-blown, $22, and looks like it cost a great deal more under candlelight. If you want the whole embroidered pumpkin look The pillow has a family. The 72-inch table runner is the same green velvet and gold thread, and it is the single fastest way to make a dining table look seasonal. There is a hand towel too, which sounds like a small thing until you put it in a powder room and realize it is the only fall decorating that room needs. If you just want the house to smell right The Harvest Pumpkin candle from tag is the classic version of the season, warm and spiced without going syrupy. The Midnight Pumpkin mercury glass from Illume is the darker, moodier one, and the vessel is worth keeping long after the wax is gone. And if you need something to hold branches or dried stems, the Prosper vase in ochre starts at $24. That is the shortcut: pick one from the table list, one from the textiles, and one candle. Three pieces and a house reads as autumn. Shop the Autumn Edit All four favorites, plus the rest of our fall collection: candles, table linens, place cards, and more. Shop Fall Decor Or come see them in person.📍 24847 Del Prado, Dana Point, CA 92629📞 (949) 503-1155Tuesday through Friday 11 to 6, Saturday 11 to 5 xoxo, Katie + Shana
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Every Room Deserves Something Living. Ours Never Wilt.
The last layer of a room is almost never another piece of furniture. It is the one thing that makes people stop in the doorway.
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Friday Favorites: Still Summer, Already Thinking About Gifting
Friday Favorites The Summer Gifting Edit The calendar still says summer — windows open, candles lit for the scent more than the light, no one quite ready to say the word "holiday" out loud. And yet. Somewhere in the back of our minds, the gifting list has already started. That's what this week's favorites are about. A few are the kind of thing you tuck away for someone special. A few you'll want to keep for yourself. (We won't tell.) Garance Footed Bowl Some pieces look like they've been in the family for generations, and this is one of them. The aged, stony finish and pedestal shape give it real presence on a dining table or entry — fill it with citrus now, ornaments come winter. A keeper, through and through. Shop the Bowl Year of the Horse 2026 Mahjong Ornament For the mahjong-obsessed in your life — and you know exactly who we mean. The jewel-toned Joker tile and little horse make it a perfect small gift ahead of the Lunar New Year: thoughtful, unexpected, and impossible to forget. Shop the Ornament Descanso Square Pillow Basically a piece of art you're allowed to sit on. The scenic, hand-painted feel — cherry blossoms, rolling hills, that soft blue-and-coral palette — makes it the piece that pulls a whole room together. Give it to the friend who's forever "almost finished" decorating. Shop the Pillow Cereria Mollá Grapefruit & Bay Candle Summer on the Mediterranean, in candle form. Cereria Mollá has been making these since 1899, and it shows — bright grapefruit over warm bay, in a black vessel worth keeping long after the last burn. The definition of an easy, always-right gift. Shop the Candle xoxo, Shana + Katie
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Wallpaper Is More Than a Wall Covering: It's a Design Decision
Where pattern has been doing the real work in our recent rooms, including a few you haven't seen yet. We tell clients this often: if a room feels like it's missing something and you can't name what it is, it's probably not the paint. It's the wall that has nothing to say. Wallpaper isn't a finishing touch we reach for at the end of a project. It's usually one of the first decisions we make, because it sets the tone for everything else that gets built around it. Here's where it's been doing that work lately. The Fifth Wall The ceiling is the most overlooked surface in a room, and it's usually the one we look at first. In our Whiskey Room, we wrapped the ceiling in Worn Timber, a painted paper from Painted Paper with a wood grain convincing enough that most people assume it's reclaimed plank. It brings the ceiling down and in, which is exactly what a low-lit whiskey room wants — warmth overhead instead of a flat white expanse doing nothing. "People default to paint on a ceiling because it's the wall nobody thinks to question. It's usually the one with the most room to do something." — Shana Explore the full room: Whiskey Tasting Room Pattern With a Point A different project, a different room, a different job for wallpaper to do: our Ladera Ranch Speakeasy Game Room needed to feel collected, like it had been furnished over decades rather than decorated in a weekend. We used Tatum, another Painted Paper pattern, a deep charcoal tartan with just enough texture to catch light without turning glossy. Paired with the room's hidden door, custom millwork, and handblown chandeliers, it stopped being wallpaper and started being the reason the room reads as old rather than new. The Bathroom That Doesn't Apologize Wallpaper doesn't need a big room to make its case. Sometimes the smallest room in the house is exactly where it belongs. In one of our recent guest bathrooms, which we call "The Gilded Garden," we wrapped the walls floor to ceiling in a lush, jewel-toned House of Hackney botanical. It's the boldest choice in the whole project, and it works precisely because everything else in the room stays quiet: a simple brass mirror, understated fixtures, nothing competing for attention. The wallpaper gets to be the whole story. Read the full room here: Bathroom Design Ideas: Four Bathrooms, Four Stories The Powder Room That Started It Long before the Whiskey Room or the Game Room, one of the very first powder rooms we ever took on got the same instinct: wrap the walls, skip the half-measure accent wall. The walls are wrapped in Odette Arboretum, a Painted Paper pattern with a metallic woodland print — delicate gold florals dancing across a black backdrop. The ceiling is a plain grasscloth, texture instead of pattern, so the room has two different things happening in it instead of one print doing all the work. It's proof the instinct was there from the start. A Stripe That Knows What It's Doing Not every room needs a story that surprises you. Sometimes the win is restraint, done exactly right. In a recent guest bedroom, we used Schumacher's Westerly Stripe in navy — a crisp, tailored stripe hung to line up with the room's existing millwork so the color reads as built-in rather than applied after the fact. It's the quietest wallpaper in this whole roundup, and one of the harder ones to get right: too wide a stripe and it dates itself, too thin and it disappears into the wall. This one lands exactly where it should. Wallpaper as a Bar Back, Not a Backdrop Full reveal on this one is still coming, but here's an early look. When a client gives you a Nancy Meyers aesthetic... we created a rose-colored bar cabinet with open shelving. The easy move would have been to keep the wall behind it quiet so the glassware carries the room. We didn't. House of Hackney's Golden Lily, in the Cirrus colorway, went up behind the shelves, visible only in the frame each shelf edge creates. Every glass and bottle now sits in front of its own small piece of pattern instead of a blank wall. It turns storage into something closer to a gallery wall. One More Ceiling We Couldn't Resist We told you the ceiling was the wall nobody thinks to question. We meant it enough to do it twice, and this time we went the opposite direction entirely. In a podcast room we're currently finishing, the ceiling went up in Margo, a fruit-and-floral print from Painted Paper dense with figs and botanicals, right down to the last fine detail. Where the Whiskey Room ceiling reads warm and weathered, this one reads lush and layered, proof the fifth wall isn't one trick, it's a decision you get to make fresh every time. Full reveal still to come, but we couldn't wait to show you what's happening overhead. Dining Rooms Don't Need to Play It Safe Also coming soon, and teased on social this month: a full dining room wrapped in a black croc-embossed wallpaper by Graham & Brown, deep and almost monochrome, with just enough sheen to catch candlelight without turning shiny under it. Dining rooms are among the few rooms in a house that are used only for a couple of hours at a time, usually after dark. That makes them the best room to take a real risk in. A texture this bold would be a lot for a room you sit in all day. Lit by candlelight a few nights a week, it's exactly right. The Case, in Short Wallpaper doesn't need an accent wall to justify itself. It can be the ceiling (twice, apparently). It can be the few inches of wall a shelf doesn't cover. It can be the whole room, if the room only gets used after dark or for five minutes in the morning. The rule was never "one wall." That's just where most people stop. Ready to see where pattern could go in your own space? Get in Touch → xoxo,Shana Wallpaper Credits Worn Timber, Painted Paper — Whiskey Room ceiling — full project here Tatum, Painted Paper — Ladera Ranch Speakeasy Game Room walls House of Hackney — "The Gilded Garden" bathroom — full project here Grasscloth-textured paper, Painted Paper — early powder room Westerly Stripe, Navy, Schumacher — guest bedroom Golden Lily, Cirrus colorway, House of Hackney — bar shelving, full reveal coming soon Margo Fruit Floral, Painted Paper — podcast room ceiling, full reveal coming soon Croc-embossed wallpaper, Graham & Brown — dining room
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The Easiest 4th of July Table You'll Ever Set
A few easy moves for a red-white-and-blue table that feels gathered, not forced. There's a certain kind of holiday that doesn't need a plan. The 4th of July is the best of them: no reservations, no elaborate menu, just a backyard, a few people you love, and a table that looks like you put in more effort than you actually did. That last part is the trick. And it's easier than you'd think. We've been styling festive tables in the shop all week, and the formula keeps coming back to the same three moves. Start With One Honest Color Story Red, white, and blue can tip into theme-party territory fast. The fix is restraint. Start with a neutral base: your everyday whites, a natural linen, a bare wood table. Then let the patriotic notes come in as accents instead of a costume. Our American Flag Salad Plates were practically made for this. A hand-drawn flag, a soft blue rim, and an organic edge that keeps them feeling collected rather than kitschy. Layer one over a plain dinner plate and the table already feels done. Let the Napkins Do the Talking If there's one festive thing worth buying this year, it's the napkins. They're small, they store easily, and they carry the whole theme so the rest of your table doesn't have to. The Cuties Americana Napkins read "home is where the stars & stripes are," while the USA Heart Napkins keep it even simpler: a little flag heart and "the land that I love." Fold them, knot them, or tuck one under each fork. (They also make the easiest hostess gift there is: a set of four, wrapped, done.) Add One Thing That Glows https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0611/0389/8707/files/Palma_Lifestyle.jpg?v=1778884815 Every table we style ends the same way: with light. As the sky goes pink and the fireworks start, a warm glow is what turns dinner into the evening everyone lingers at. A cluster of candles down the center works beautifully. So does our cordless Palma Lamp, carried straight out to the patio. No cord, no outlet, no fuss. Tap the base and let it do the rest. "The secret to a table people remember isn't more. It's one or two thoughtful touches and good light. Everything else takes care of itself."— Katie, Co-Founder Come Pull It Together With Us Here's the honest part: we'd love to help you build this in person. Through the holiday week, our 4th of July accessories are 30% off and all of our open-box furniture is 20% off. Those lightly shown, one-of-a-kind pieces only come around once in a while, and both offers are in-store only. A note on timing: we'll be open Tuesday through Thursday, 11 to 6, and closed on the 3rd and 4th so our team can be home with their families. So swing by before the weekend. 📍 24847 Del Prado, Dana Point, CA 92629📞 (949) 503-1155 Come find your reds, your whites, and your blues, and we'll help you set a table worth gathering around. xoxo,Katie + Shana
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Grout Is Having a Moment, And It's Been There All Along
Design Tips · Tile & Grout · 2026 There's a moment in nearly every tile project where a client looks at a finished backsplash or a beautifully laid shower floor and says, "Something feels off, but I can't figure out what it is."Nine times out of ten, it's the grout. Not the tile. The grout. It's one of those small decisions that gets made quickly, usually at the end of a project, when everyone's tired and over it, and then you live with it for the next 15 years. Grout is the connective tissue of your tile installation. It defines the pattern, sets the tone, and either elevates or quietly undermines everything around it. In 2026, grout is finally getting the attention it deserves. Designers are making it an intentional decision from day one, not an afterthought at the hardware store. Here's how we approach it. Grout Color Is the Decision. Start Here. If you're going to spend real time on anything in this process, spend it on color. The type of grout (sanded, unsanded, epoxy) is mostly a technical decision with a right answer. Color is where the design lives. And where most people either play it too safe or make a choice they regret within a year. The Frame Analogy Grout creates the grid that defines your entire tile layout. Think of it as the frame around a piece of art, the frame can make the same painting feel museum-worthy or completely wrong. A warm sand grout around white marble reads serene and natural. The exact same marble with a cool gray grout reads clinical and hard. The tile didn't change. The grout did everything. A warm grout color can make a stark white tile feel cozy, while a cool crisp gray can make it feel modern and clinical. That shift happens with a single decision. Contrast vs. Continuity — Decide This First Before you look at a single color chip, decide what you want your grout to do in the space. Contrasting grout — dark grout with light tile, or vice versa, makes the pattern the focal point. Every joint is visible. The layout becomes a graphic element. This works beautifully with subway tile, where you want the grid to read clearly; with geometric floors, where the shape is the point; or with checkerboard patterns, where the two-tile contrast is the whole design. Matching grout — color that closely echoes your tile creates a seamless, continuous surface. Tile and grout blur together, and the result reads more like stone than individual pieces. There's a growing appetite for tonal spaces where tile and grout sit closely together, allowing the surface to feel continuous rather than segmented, and this is exactly the direction we've been steering clients in 2026. Quieter. More editorial. Less grid. Neither is wrong. But you need to decide before you start pulling color chips, because it changes the entire direction of the conversation. What's Actually Working in 2026 — and What to Ask For The long-reigning cool grays are giving way to warmer, more inviting neutrals — and the shift starts with knowing the right names to ask for at the tile store. "Gray" and "White" on a grout chip are almost never the right answer. Here's what we actually reach for: Frost instead of White. If you're drawn to white grout, take one step away from it. Frost reads just as bright and clean as white but has enough of a cool undertone to stay looking fresh over time. It won't show every shadow and smudge the way a true white will. Pebble instead of Gray. Gray grout sounds safe, but often reads cold and flat once it's installed, especially under warm lighting. Pebble has the same neutrality with a softer, more natural quality. It sits quietly next to the tile rather than competing with it. Bone is one of our go-tos and one of the more misunderstood colors on the chip rack. It looks almost too yellow at first glance. Then you put it next to the tile — especially a natural stone or a warm-toned ceramic, and it clicks. It's a muted sand that reads warm and organic in a way that "beige" never quite achieves. Warm Taupe and Soft Greige are the workhorses of the color family. Both bridge the gap between beige and gray without committing fully to either. Warm Taupe leans slightly earthy and reads beautifully with stone-look tile. Soft Greige is more neutral and works tonally across almost any layout, either seamlessly or slightly contrasting for a geometric pattern. These are the colors we come back to again and again because they're genuinely hard to get wrong. The pattern that runs through all of these: they're not neutrals that disappear, they're neutrals that belong. That's the distinction worth making when you're standing in front of a wall of grout chips. Don't just pull the one that seems safest. Pull the one that feels like it was made for your tile. What's fading: The once-ubiquitous pairing of white subway tile and dark gray grout, a look that for years delivered crispness and order, now feels a little too rigid. It's not wrong, but it's no longer interesting. If you're renovating now and planning to stay in your home for years to come, there are better choices. Room-by-Room Color Guidance Kitchen backsplash: A warm putty or greige grout is almost always the right call. It reads as close to neutral as you can get while still adding warmth, hides the inevitable cooking residue far better than white, and photographs beautifully. If you're doing a zellige or handmade tile with natural variation, try pulling the grout slightly warmer; even a soft terracotta reads as intentional against an organic tile. Kitchen floor: Go darker than you think. A medium-to-dark greige or warm gray will hide far more than you expect and will look better longer. Bright white grout on a kitchen floor is one of the most common renovation regrets we hear. Don't do it. Shower walls: This is where the tonal, matching approach tends to shine. A grout that sits just a shade or two away from your tile creates a spa-like, continuous surface that feels luxurious without being high-maintenance. Shower floor: Practical wins here. A medium-to-dark grout hides soap residue and water marks. Save the light grout for the walls where it's easier to maintain. Marble and natural stone: Pull the grout toward the secondary tone in the stone, not the dominant tone. With white Carrara marble, the veining is gray, so a warm light-gray grout will echo it and make the whole surface feel cohesive. Bright white grout against white marble can make the joints look stark and over-defined. The Lighting Problem Nobody Talks About Enough This is the part that catches people off guard every time. Grout color shifts dramatically under different light sources, and your tile showroom, with its bright, even, overhead lighting, is one of the worst places to make a final decision. A grout that reads as warm sand at the showroom at noon can look muddy and beige under your bathroom's recessed lighting at 7 pm. A cool gray that feels crisp in the morning can read almost purple under warm sconce light in the evening. We have seen this happen. More than once. This is exactly why pulling the grout stick into the actual room at different times of day, under the actual lighting, is non-negotiable in our process. "The grout stick is a non-negotiable step in our process. We pull samples into the actual room to evaluate color under real lighting because what looks right at the tile showroom won't always look right in your home." Step One: Pull the Samples Into the Room Designer Tip This is the step most people skip… and the one we'd argue matters most. Every tile and grout selection we make at Ivory & Olive gets pulled into the actual space before we commit. We lay the samples on the floor or hold them against the wall, set a grout stick alongside, and evaluate them under the room's lighting at different times of day. Don't skip this step. It takes twenty minutes, and it will save you from a decision you'll spend years second-guessing. "Mid-installation on a recent Dana Point project alternating warm stone and marble tile in a classic checkerboard pattern. The grout selection here was critical: too dark and it would compete with the tile contrast; too light and the whole floor would feel washed out." Grout in the Kitchen The kitchen is where grout earns its keep and where white grout goes to die. If you have a backsplash with narrow joints (under 1/8"), you're in unsanded grout territory. It has a smooth, fine texture that works beautifully on vertical surfaces and won't scratch polished or glazed tile. If your joints are 1/8" or wider, sanded grout is the right call. The added aggregate gives it structure and prevents cracking over time. Avoid ThisBright white grout on a kitchen floor. It will age you faster than almost anything else in the room. Grout in the Bathroom The bathroom is where grout decisions get more technical — and a bit more personal. For shower walls and surrounds: Unsanded grout is generally preferred. It adheres better to vertical surfaces and works with the narrower joints you typically see on wall tile. For shower floors and wet areas: This is where epoxy grout earns its price premium. Epoxy is non-porous, stain-resistant, and doesn't require sealing. It holds up beautifully in wet environments and is the highest-maintenance-free option available. Worth the investment if you're building or renovating a primary shower. For marble, limestone, or polished stone: Always use unsanded or epoxy unsanded if joints are wider. Sanded grout can scratch highly polished surfaces, so even if your joints are at the 1/8" threshold, err on the side of smooth. For color in the bath: Here's a detail we share with almost every client: We don't love pure white grout in bathrooms. White reads beautifully on day one, and then life happens. Soap scum, moisture, time. It doesn't take long before the bright white grout starts to look dingy, and no amount of scrubbing brings it back. Our recommendation is always to pull just slightly toward gray, a soft, warm white with gray undertones, or a true light gray, depending on your tile. You get all the brightness of white without the maintenance nightmare. It's one of those small shifts that makes a big difference over the years. Beyond that, the 2026 mood in bath is tonal overall: warm linen, soft sand, and greige grout with natural stone tile are having a major moment. For a bolder bath, a dark charcoal or near-black grout with large-format tile creates a graphic, high-end look that reads more architectural than trendy. Quick Reference: Grout Type by Application Application Recommended Grout Type Kitchen backsplash (narrow joints) Unsanded Kitchen floor (wider joints) Sanded Shower walls Unsanded Shower floors & wet areas Sanded or Epoxy Marble or polished stone (any location) Unsanded Exterior tile Sanded Don't Skip the Sealer Most cement-based grouts (sanded or unsanded) should be sealed after curing. It protects against staining, makes cleanup easier, and extends the life of your installation. Epoxy grout is the exception: it's non-porous and doesn't require sealing, which is part of why we recommend it for high-use wet areas. A good rule of thumb: if you can stain it with red wine, seal it. One Last Thing Grout is the detail nobody notices when it's right and the first thing everyone sees when it's wrong. Make the decision with intention, pull the samples into the room, and give it the same consideration you'd give the tile itself. Ready to see these principles in action? Browse our recent work to see how grout and tile decisions come together in real spaces. Four-Bathroom Design Project Mission Viejo Kitchen + Entertaining When you're ready to make these decisions for your own home, we'd love to help. Get in Touch →
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