ORLANDO — Paint company Glidden has announced its 2026 pick for Color of the Year: Warm Mahogany is a “rich, warm-toned and timeless red … a color with heritage that’s reimagined to adapt to the purpose and mood of any space,” the company said in a statement.
“It is a very rich, grounded, gold red,” Ashley McCollum, Glidden paint color expert, told Hotel Management at the reveal event in Florida. The color makes a “timeless statement,” she added, noting that similar shades can be found in design throughout history. “Warm Mahogany is the manifestation of that red throughout the journey, and what we're seeing up and coming in the market.”
History and Trends
The hue, McCollum continued, has “a lot of heritage to it” and can “lean into tradition.” At the same time, she cautioned, the selection is not about bringing something old back into the design space. “Everything is coming back to market in a really curated and personalized way,” she explained. “People want to enjoy spaces that they can connect to in some way, shape or form.”
Presenting the color to the attendees, McCollum explained that the company looks at consumer behavior when forecasting color trends. For 2026, the team noted four main themes that connect to Warm Mahogany. The first, co-creation, meets the emerging demand for multipurpose spaces with a push towards creativity. The second theme, wellness, incorporates what McCollum called “intentional togetherness” like dinner parties and group activities. The third trend, value and artistry, incorporates memorabilia and the emotional connection people have to items they have collected on their personal journeys. The fourth, culture fatigue, is a result of constant change, frequent movement and a desire for something classic and traditional. “There's a very hard desire to return to tradition,” she told the attendees. “Tradition is coming back, but in a very modern and curated way. So you can take traditions and really make them your own and make them personal.”
Warm Mahogany and Hospitality
When applied to hospitality, McCollum sees the sense of intentional togetherness as the most powerful use for the color, especially when used in spaces where people gather together. “I think that would make everybody feel a little bit more at home, too, if they had that really cozy feeling through color and design,” she said.
Rather than incorporating Warm Mahogany as an accent or a pop of color, McCollum thinks it could be incorporated “in a really encompassing way … Think of color drenching: from ceiling to your molding to your wall to your trim.”
When the team began discussing the color, she noted, they had become aware of it in luxury design. “But as we started diving into the consumer behavior on the back end, I really think that any scale of hospitality could benefit.” Upscale hotels might opt for the color drenching, she added, while boutique and midscale hotels could incorporate the color in more subtle ways. “Consumer behavior says that truly, there wouldn't be a limit in terms of the [usage in the] hospitality space.”
Incorporating Warm Mahogany
For bedrooms, Glidden recommends pairing Warm Mahogany with soft linens and warm lighting. To keep it fresh, add pops of cream, blush or greenery to balance the richness. In kitchen areas, pair it with matte black or brass hardware, use it on a single wall or behind open shelving.