Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2026 is “Cloud Dancer.”
Or, more accurately, white.
I think this captures it:
Oh, how deadly dull. Haven’t we had enough of white, beige, and Millennial gray home decor? Bland decor has gone from trend to standard, and I absolutely hate it. It’s a snooze-fest, and heaven forbid you spill anything on it and it’s not Scotchguarded. I’ll give a slight nod to bland bedrooms, as then the snooze-festiness is an advantage. My own is done in gray, black, and white, though it has purple accents, but that’s all. Otherwise, give me color, a whole riot of ’em.
Just for Pantone’s aesthetic offense, I’m going to share my holiday wallpaper with you, which is decidedly NOT Blah White.
My choice is a bit defiant. Purple is my favorite color. About 12 or 13 years ago, while looking at Christmas decorations in a store with one of my sisters, I picked up a purple ornament.
“NO, Zenzalei,” she said. “Not purple. That’s not a Christmas color. NO.”
It was like she was talking to a dog.
Well, here’s one of my favorite ornaments. It’s from a set of five that belonged to my parents and featured different magical townspeople. The other colors are pink, blue, green, and yellow. My mother used to say that the green was Coco, the blue was Jehanne, the pink was Annette, the yellow was herself, the purple was me, as those were all of our respective favorite colors or variations thereof. (Annette’s is red.)
Oh, and the ornament I picked up? I went back and bought it when my sister wasn’t around. I keep it as a reminder not to let other people tell me how to express myself, and instead to create a world of my own, one that brings me comfort, joy, and peace, one where I can be me, purple and all.
