Every trend report we checked this year has curtains gaining ground, including as room dividers. Since our 2026 list, the hardware got quieter: ceiling tracks, wave folds, hidden motors. The fabric carries the look now, in weight, texture, color and pattern. Ten trends below, each with a dated source and the fabric, lining or mount we would specify for it in a Bergen County home.
By Sejun Park, designer at The Curtain, Palisades Park, NJ.
1. Layering is the default, not the upgrade
A single layer at the window now reads as unfinished. Martha Stewart Living’s November 2025 forecast says sheers, shades and drapery together will dominate, and Hunker’s February 2026 outdated list retires the single curtain.
Here that means one layer at the glass for the day, one outside it for the evening. On a west-facing living room, that is a Silhouette or a solar shade inside-mounted for the glare. Lined drapery on a track above the frame handles privacy. Inner-layer options are on our shades page.
2. Texture drenching: heavier, wider, higher
Trend Bible’s 2027 forecast (17 August 2026) calls it “texture drenching”: drapery across walls as well as windows, hung wider and higher than the opening needs, in heavier cloth. Quieter rooms are the payoff. Livingetc’s June 2026 bedroom report has designers running curtains across a whole wall.
In practice: run the track well past the frame each side, mount it at the ceiling, and order real fullness. Freshine’s July 2026 list puts velvet, wool and heavy linen ahead of flat fabrics.
3. Curtain color trends 2027: olive, terracotta, clay and oxblood
The 2027 paint picks landed in late August and point one way. Behr’s Color of the Year is Grounded T27-01, a mossy olive with brown undertones (26 August 2026). Dutch Boy’s is Deep Rooted 311-7DB, a sun-baked terracotta (25 August 2026). Livingetc’s 31 August roundup reads the theme as muddier earth color, away from sage, flat beige and acid green, with oxblood alongside.
For curtains: olive velvet, terracotta linen, clay sheers, espresso panels. Do not match the wall exactly; Hunker calls that stale. Go two shades off or change the texture, and keep the undertone. Olive walls take oatmeal linen. Deep Rooted walls take antique white or felted blue, Dutch Boy’s own pairings.
4. Blue stays, as lapis and denim, not navy
WGSN and Coloro named Luminous Blue, a lapis-cobalt, Colour of the Year 2027 in April 2025. Valspar opened the 2027 paint season on 5 August 2026 with Cottage Door 8004-38E, a mid-wash denim blue. Patternweaver’s June 2026 textile forecast puts sapphire and lapis at the top of the spring 2027 print palettes.
With the paint brands swinging warm, blue moves to the accent. One pair of deep blue velvet panels as the only saturated color in a clay or warm-white room. Or denim-blue linen sheers where the walls are already warm.
5. Heritage pattern comes back on drapery
Patternweaver’s 2027 forecast swings from muted quiet-luxury prints to rooted pattern: watercolor florals, hand-painted paisley and a “deconstructed damask” aimed at drapery. The palette is burgundy, oxblood, camel, moss and ochre. Drapery Street’s December 2025 report adds plaids, herringbone and small florals. Livingetc’s January 2026 list opens with botanicals in calm palettes. Designer Marea Clark balances expressive pattern against calm; loud pattern, the magazine says, is out.
A repeat means extra yardage and seams matched by hand. That is workroom work. Order it on an oatmeal or clay ground and keep the sheer behind it plain.
6. Romance, kept tailored: chintz, pleats and a ruffle
The one major-press designer call for 2027 drapery is in Veranda (28 July 2026). Lauren Stern predicts floral chintz and pleated curtains in warm white and peony pink. One designer, so a signal, not a consensus. But it fits the year: Livingetc (June 2026) has ruffle-top curtains back in raw linen or a semi-sheer, best in bedrooms.
Keep it to one gesture per window: a ruffled header on plain linen, or a chintz panel with a plain sheer behind it. Goblet and cottage pleats suit it; both are custom-workroom jobs.
7. Fabric with a hand: slubbed linen, boucle, velvet, wool sheers
Heimtextil’s 26/27 program (September 2025) is built around “Craft is a verb”: cloth with knots, irregular dyeing and visible seams, in sand, clay, soot and olive. In House Digest (January 2026), designer Debbie Mathews says plain linen and basic cotton now feel dated next to velvet, mohair, wool, sheer wool and silk. Hunker is blunter: flat everything is out.
Linen is not out. Flat, thin linen is. Specify a heavyweight slubbed linen or a linen-wool blend. Put the sheer in wool or linen, in ivory, oatmeal or clay, not bright white polyester. Texture in the shade layer counts too.
8. Chosen for how it performs: sound and dark
Tinyhousel’s 2027 forecast (February 2026) says curtains are now chosen for how they perform through the day: light diffusion, privacy, airflow and sound. Trend Bible frames heavy drapery as sound absorption, and Hunker (June 2026) says an unlined, flimsy curtain reads as an afterthought.
The spec that delivers it is lining and interlining. A blackout lining alone does not make a room dark; the light comes in at the edges. The fix is lined drapery with a room-darkening cellular shade behind it and side channels closing the light gap. Hunter Douglas’ current answers are LightLock Flex, a low-profile side-channel kit for Duette, and Pirouette A Deux. The Pirouette is a sheer with its own room-darkening liner in one headrail. See blackout shades and cellular shades.
9. Curtain styles 2027: ceiling tracks, ripple fold and tailored pelmets
The biggest reversal from a year ago. Hunker’s February 2026 list calls clunky rods outdated and names the ceiling-mounted track as the alternative. Livingetc picks ripple fold over pinch pleat for wide runs. Where a rod shows, Freshine’s January 2026 hardware piece has brass, bronze and black replacing chrome.
Pelmets are back for the same reason. Homes & Gardens and House Digest (May 2026, designer James Mackie) report upholstered pelmets for traditional rooms and box pelmets for modern ones. Hunker still lists valances as dated, so the distinction matters: a tailored box, not a 1990s swag. It is also the cleanest finish for drapery over a shade, because it covers both headrails. Tracks and pelmets are quoted under window treatments; slider setups under large windows.
10. Motorized, with or without an app
Freshine’s July 2026 report says buyers now expect motorization; it is no longer the upgrade. PowerView Gen 3 gained Matter support in July 2025 through a gateway firmware update. Existing Hunter Douglas shades now run natively in Apple Home and Google Home. In late August 2026 Hunter Douglas announced PowerView Tap, a three-button up, stop, down control for people who do not want an app.
For drapery, the track carries the motor and one scene does the whole window: the Silhouette rises, the drape opens. Motorized options are on the shades hub and under roller shades.
What is on the way out for 2027
- Cool flat grey curtains. Hunker and Freshine both retire them for beige, brown, terracotta and olive.
- Flat, plain cotton and thin linen panels (Hunker, House Digest); stand-alone polyester sheers with nothing behind them (Freshine, Hunker).
- Clunky decorative rods, replaced by ceiling tracks (Hunker). Grommets read as ready-made next to a pleated or ripple-fold panel.
- Short, sill-length or high-water panels (Freshine, tinyhousel). Hung high and kissing the floor is the standard; a half-inch break is the alternative. Puddling is a choice for rooms nobody walks through, not a default.
- Matching the curtain to the wall exactly, and the same curtain in every room (Hunker).
- Cafe curtains split the press (House Digest, Martha Stewart Living); kitchens and baths only, tailored, not frilly.
What we are hanging in Bergen County this season
The Curtain has been in business since 2007, with the showroom at 547 Broad Avenue in Palisades Park. We are a Hunter Douglas partner. We measure for and install the Silhouette, Duette and PowerView pieces above.Recent installs are in the gallery.
Book a free in-home consultation
We come to the house, measure every opening, recommend a treatment for each, put the quote in writing and install it. No charge for the visit in Bergen County. Book a free consultation or call (201) 302-9111. The Curtain, 547 Broad Avenue, Palisades Park, NJ 07650.
Curtain trends 2027: questions we get asked
Are curtains out of style in 2027?
No. Homes & Gardens headlined its latest list “Your Home Needs Drapes”, and Trend Bible’s 2027 forecast has drapery spreading onto walls. What is out is the flat grey panel on a clunky rod.
What curtain colors are in style for 2027?
Olive (Behr Grounded T27-01), terracotta (Dutch Boy Deep Rooted 311-7DB), clay pink (Graham & Brown Rose Earth) and deep reds like Sherwin-Williams’ Red Barn. Lapis and denim blue are the accent. Pantone’s and Benjamin Moore’s picks land later in the year; we will add them.
What is the biggest curtain trend for 2027?
Layering: a sheer, solar or cellular shade at the glass with lined drapery outside it.
Should curtains touch the floor?
Yes. Hang the track at or near the ceiling and finish the panel kissing the floor or with a half-inch break. Puddle only where nobody walks or vacuums past.
Are sheer curtains still in style?
Yes, as one layer of two, and in wool or linen in ivory, oatmeal or clay rather than bright white polyester.
Curtains or shades in 2027?
Both, in the same window. The shade handles light and glare, the curtain handles privacy, sound and softness. Woven wood, roman and cellular shades all work as the inner layer; a pelmet hides the two headrails.
What changed from the 2026 curtain trends?
Layering, natural fibers and earth tones carried over. Rods gave way to ceiling tracks, puddled hems to a clean kiss at the floor, and grey to olive and terracotta.
