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You can leave the khaki pants your grandmother gave you for your birthday sitting in the back of your closet, but we do want you to seriously consider using the color on your walls. Sherwin-Williams and HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams just revealed their joint 2026 Color of Year as Universal Khaki and it makes a convincing case for bringing back the 1990s.
At their annual color trend meeting, which takes place every November, creatives at the paint brands sat down and decided utility is in: People are wearing Carhartt jackets as fashion statements and stainless steel is becoming a go-to for kitchen cabinets. What’s more honest and essential than a solid shade of beige?
This isn’t the light-brown hue you probably associate with builder-grade living rooms. Universal Khaki’s cool green undertones give it a sense of freshness. “Beige can be kind of wimpy, but this has some heft,” says Sue Wadden, the director of color marketing at Sherwin-Williams.
What to Pair with It
HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams
Secret Garden
HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams
Creamy
HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams
Cordovan
HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams
Lemon Chiffon
Ashley Banbury, the color marketing manager at HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams, has put a lot of thought into this given she helped pin down the 2026 Color Collection of the Year, an assortment of 10 coordinating hues. Mossy green, deep red, butter yellow, creamy white, and dark brown are just some of the options she suggests pairing with Universal Khaki. “It’s a beautiful foundational neutral you can build off of with any color,” says Banbury.
Where to Use It
Unsure what to paint first? Wadden’s vote is to go big with the kitchen cabinets. “Everyone knows what white cabinets look like and they’ve certainly seen gray,” she says. If you’re trying to figure out one wall color to use throughout an open-concept living space, Banbury suggests that this soft shade could also work wonders there (and she loves it in a bedroom or on an exterior, too). “Sometimes color doesn’t have to lead. It can be the harmony in the background that brings it all together. That’s our take for 2026,” says Wadden.
How to Get the Look
Here are a few of our favorite ways we’ve seen similar khaki shades play out in real homes.
While everyone else in your neighborhood paints their front door black, make yours stand out with a soothing shade of sand a la this San Francisco home.
Do as its name suggests and use Universal Khaki on all the walls. It won’t feel so snoozy if there’s some texture (designer Kate Marker went for paneling in this cottage) to back it up.
Let this 2026 prediction inspire some major furniture purchases in the new year. We love how Petra Tungarden leaned into the earth tone with a Nordic Knots rug and fluffy shearling chairs.