Bonus Episode: Our Thoughts on Pantone's 2026 Color of the Year

How to Decorate

Caroline McDonald

Arts, Business, Design

4.4 • 838 Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The team is back for an emergency design session! Caroline, Taryn, and Liz hop on the mics to discuss the breaking news of the 2026 Pantone Color of the Year: Cloud Dancer. While the hosts usually love dissecting color trends (and loved last year's Mocha Mousse), this year's selection of a "soft, airy white" has left them confused, bored, and a little suspicious. In this short bonus episode, the ladies debate whether this choice is a symbol of clarity or just a "builder-grade" cop-out. They compare it to the rich, earthy predictions from other paint brands, discuss the concept of "rage bait" marketing, and ask the ultimate question: Does a white color of the year actually influence interior design, or is it just the default setting? What You’ll Hear on This Episode: 00:00 Welcome & Introductions 01:30 The Reveal: Pantone 2026 is "Cloud Dancer" (11-4201) 03:00 Taryn’s reaction: "It’s like not decorating" 04:30 Liz’s reaction: Why it fails to capture the moment 07:00 Caroline’s theory: Is this just marketing rage bait? 10:00 Why white feels "artificial" vs. "organic" 14:00 Comparing Cloud Dancer to Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams' earthy picks 17:00 Does the Pantone Color of the Year actually change how we design? Also Mentioned: Pantone Color of the Year 2026: Cloud Dancer Shop Ballard Designs Please send in your questions so we can answer them on our next episode! And of course, subscribe to the podcast in Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. You can always check back here to see new episodes, but if you subscribe, it’ll automatically download to your phone. Happy Decorating! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to How to Decorate from Ballard Designs, a weekly podcast all about the trials and triumphs of decorating and redecorating your home.
0:09.5	I'm Caroline. I'm on the marketing team. And I'm Taryn and I'm a product designer. I'm Liz. I head of the creative team.
0:15.2	We're your host. Join the expert team at Ballard Designs for tips, tricks, and tales from interior designers, stylists, and other talents in the design world. Plus, we'll answer your decorating dilemmas at the end of each episode. We love answering your questions, so don't forget to email us at podcast at ballarddesigns.net. Now on with the show. Okay, today, we are going to be talking about Pantone's Color of the Year.
0:38.8	Taryn was like, we have to get on mic and discuss. So that is what we're doing.
0:42.9	Okay, so I called this very important podcast because there has been lots of talk about Pantone's
0:51.7	color of the year. And I think we all get very excited to see what the drop is.
0:57.1	I mean, who was excited for Moka Moose last year? I liked it. I can't say that it's on my calendar
1:03.1	and I know that it's coming, but when it is announced, I am interested. Right. It's kind of like
1:08.8	the Spotify end of the year playlist. It's like one of those things.
1:11.4	Like it comes around at the end of the year and it's exciting and it's like, ooh, okay, something to talk about.
1:17.2	Yeah.
1:17.5	And I loved mocha moose.
1:19.7	I think it was a little bit of a slow burn for me and I had to like really kind of kind of evaluate it.
1:26.7	But like it was a really good kind of complex tone
1:31.2	color. I liked mocha moose. I felt like it was a color we had already been seeing a lot of. So it
1:37.5	didn't feel, I was like, yeah, duh, I like this. Yeah. I mean, it was like as if Mov had a baby
1:43.8	with brown and they were just like, here's this color that is ambiguous, which we love how those are so hard to describe.
1:52.7	You're like, what is the undertone?
1:54.0	Is it a brown with a pink undertone?
1:55.8	What's happening here?
1:56.9	You're just like, we love those colors and crave them in our homes.
2:00.2	We talk about it all the time on here. And so this year, for those of you haven't heard, the color of the year is cloud dancer. Cloud dancer. Cloud dancer. It's white. It's not even like a nuanced white. I looked up to see what was written on the
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