2026 Home Lighting Trends: Styles, Finishes, and Fixtures to Watch For

January is over halfway over, and that means Lighting Design just got back from the Lightovation Lighting Show. The show is where all of the lighting brands, such as Kichler Lighting, Visual Comfort, and Hinkley Lighting, make their lighting releases debut for the new year. This year, 2026, was potentially one of the best releases we've seen in several years. Every brand released modern designs and lighting that are sure to impress. Here are the best lighting trends for 2026 homes. 

Cherry red. This color took the last two fall seasons by storm. Everyone was wearing it. In shoes, as a nail color,  cherry red purses, and even phone cases. It's no surprise that the color made its way into the lighting industry. The fashion industry almost always influences lighting.

Many lighting brands launched lights with cherry red or burgundy shades. Others used the color on table lamp bases, and several did both. One brand, Alora Lighting, launched the Furrow pendant in a deep burgundy metal shade as well as the Clemence mini lamp. 

Mini table lamps. Another design we saw in just about every showroom was mini table lamps. People are loving them as lighting for moody interior spaces, as well as evenings spent outside. Another feature of these mini lamps is that most had a rechargeable element - either the base itself or the bulb was rechargeable, as seen in this example from Visual Comfort. The final feature most mini lamps had was a tap-to-turn-on function rather than a traditional switch.

Avedon by Visual Comfort is an 11" cordless accent lamp. Its charging capabilities and small size make it a perfect mini table lamp to travel around the home to create a cozy atmosphere anywhere. 

Modern vintage. The modern vintage design style combines classic and traditional elements of lighting with a modern twist. For example, a traditional, candle chandelier may have modern alabaster elements, or a schoolhouse-shaped pendant may come in a sleek brass finish. 

The Arlo Pendant by Capital Lighting is a good example of this. It has a schoolhouse shape, while finished in aged brass to modernize it. 

Bronze finishes. Bronze finishes on lights were all the rage in the early 2000s. Once black finishes became popularized in the 2010s, bronze all but died out. If there is anything we saw at Lightovation, it's that bronze finish light fixtures are back in a big way. Though newer bronze finishes lack the muddy undertones of the early 2000s. The new bronze finishes have strong black tones and often find distressing where gold/brass peeks through.

Take the Pinesbridge Pendant by Hudson Valley as an example. Its bronze finish is almost black, but you can see some distressing at the canopy and rim of the fixture. 

 

Smoked glass. In every lighting market, we see a few lights with smoked glass. But at the 2026 market, we saw just about every showroom/lighting brand come out with a smoked glass version of one of their ceiling lights. 

The Reddick 3-Light Pendant from Savoy House comes in clear glass as well as smoked. 

Two light linear chandeliers. The name is perfectly descriptive. And without fail, every lighting showroom had two-light linear chandeliers. Some were from years past, but most were new introductions for 2026. It seems as though no light family is complete without one of these two-light linear chandeliers. 

Capital Lighting came out with the Leland Chandelier. It exudes transitional design with bold and artful details. Its wide line brings structure to the classic silhouette, punctuated by tapered socket details and white fabric shades. 

Large swagged-out chandeliers. These chandeliers are characterized by a large center canopy with chained pendants coming from it. The pendants can be swagged out and hung to create various illuminating effects. 

The Mineral 5-Head Chandelier by Alora, with its sculptural beauty, can be suspended, wall-mounted, or standing. It links together in a quiet constellation of light. 

Corbett Lighting's Corda chandelier draws inspiration from the elegance of heirloom jewelry, where light becomes adornment, and structure tells a story. Corda's layered suspension system allows for customizable hanging methods, introducing an unexpected sense of movement and personalization. 

Floral-patterned material shades. Last, and certainly not least, are the floral-patterned material shades. These were found on just about every fixture type. We saw these material shades on sconces, chandeliers, pendants, flush-mounts, semi-flush mounts, and even lamps.

The Dunbridge collection from Maxim Lighting is available in three different patterned, pleated fabric shades. Two of the three patterns are floral. The chandeliers in this collection would look great hung over a dining room table or in a living room.