The 2026 Interior Design Survey: Costs, Trends and Client Expectations

In March 2026, MyArchitectAI surveyed interior design professionals about their clients, projects, and the gap between expectation and reality: what clients most underestimate, how often social media-inspired designs are actually buildable, what's being requested right now, and where homeowners tend to spend money they'll later regret.

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Clients underestimate the cost. Designers see it coming.

The least surprising finding in this survey: clients routinely underestimate what a project will actually cost.

88% of designers cited true project costs as the thing clients most underestimate. 74% pointed to space planning, which is harder to explain upfront and far less visible than a budget figure.

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The gap is sharpest on kitchens. 57% of respondents said their clients expect a kitchen renovation to cost under $25,000. Asked what it actually costs, 62% said $25,000 or more, with 19% citing $75,000 or above. Initial conversations happen before anyone fully understands the scope, and those early numbers stick. Once a client has a figure in their head, good luck moving them off it.

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Social media and the expectation gap

Pinterest and Instagram are where most clients form their first design ideas. The mood boards they bring to meeting one rarely survive contact with what they can actually spend.

Only 27% designers said social media-inspired designs are often feasible for the client's budget and space. 64% said sometimes or rarely. 9% said almost never.

Nobody's faulting clients for having taste. But social media shows the most expensive, most unusual interiors in the world and makes them look normal. A lot of designer time goes toward walking clients back from expectations that Instagram set.

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What clients actually want right now

Open concept kitchens lead at 59%, still dominant despite years of articles declaring them dead. Home offices and flex spaces come in at 38%. Walk-in wardrobes (36%) and outdoor living areas (33%) round out the top four.

More telling is what's not leading. Entertainment spaces and smart home tech, both heavily marketed, rank well below mudrooms, utility rooms, and dedicated storage. People want function.

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The investments clients resist are the ones that matter

36% of designers said hiring an architect or designer before beginning construction is the best investment a homeowner can make, and the one they most resist. Another 22% said space planning specifically.

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These are the decisions that shape everything downstream. Getting the layout right before a wall moves or a fitting gets ordered determines how well every later choice lands. But you can't photograph spatial logic the way you can photograph a new kitchen, so clients don't see the value until it's too late.

On the flip side, 42% said the worst investment clients insist on is trendy finishes that date quickly. 32% said high-maintenance materials. Both come down to the same thing: picking what looks best on completion day rather than what holds up.

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Trends designers think won't last

Maximalist interiors top the list at 35%. All-white minimalist kitchens came second at 24%, notable given how dominant that look has been for a decade.

Both extremes flagged in the same survey. Designers don't trust any aesthetic you can reduce to a label. The interiors that age well are the ones you can't easily categorize.

Vintage and reclaimed materials (16%) and smart home tech hubs (14%) also came up. The smart home skepticism probably reflects a practical worry: tech goes obsolete faster than cabinets.

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If you're starting a project

Get professional input before you price anything. That 36% figure isn't designers promoting their own profession. It's the one step most likely to prevent the cost overruns that 88% of them watch happen. And treat the budget as a conversation, not a number. The kitchen cost gap in this survey won't close with more Googling. It closes through early, honest scoping about what the work actually involves.

The other thing worth keeping in mind: trendy finishes and high-maintenance materials were the two most-cited bad investments by a wide margin. Both look great on the day of the photoshoot. Neither tends to age well.

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Methodology

This survey was conducted in March 2026 by MyArchitectAI. 74 interior design professionals responded via the MyArchitectAI email list. Respondents self-selected. Several questions allowed multiple selections; percentages reflect the share of respondents who cited each factor and won't sum to 100. Some questions were left unanswered by a subset of respondents.

Journalists, researchers, and institutions are welcome to cite this data with attribution to MyArchitectAI. For methodology questions or comment, contact us directly.

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