Often when our guests come in looking for new furniture and decor items the first question we ask is “what is your current interior design style?”
This can be a daunting question. With over 40 interior design styles currently recognized and more being created each year, plus an ever changing cycle of interior design trends, where do you even begin to know the answer to that question!
If you don’t know your interior design style, you’re not alone! It’s the most common problem we hear when guests are looking to do, or re-do, their homes. The mass amount of information and inspiration out there can feel so overwhelming when you’re just looking for a place to start.
Knowing your interior design style enables you to feel confident in your purchases and in today’s furniture market where most pieces have to be ordered with a 6 month shipping time attached, that is so important. Plus, being confident in your purchases means less product being returned and more money saved for you!
So, where do you start?
Take a quiz
Yes, there’s a quiz for that. These quizzes are made for finding your interior design style by showing you pictures of different spaces and having you choose which one is your favorite. If you are better at expressing your preferences through words instead of pictures, there is an option for that as well! The quiz will give you different keywords that describe how you want your home to feel.
Interior design quizzes are the perfect first step. They give you a place to start and some keywords and phrases to guide your search for inspiration. However, do not take your results too seriously! Find pictures and pieces that make you feel good and match what you want your home to feel like, even if it’s a different style than your results. This journey is about you and making your home perfect for your life.
Here are two quizzes I recommend!
If you are a pictures person:
https://www.hgtv.com/design/decorating/design-101/find-your-design-style-toast-your-good-taste
If you are a words
person:
https://bobbyberk.com/take-this-quiz-to-figure-out-your-interior-design-style/
Look in Your Closet
Yes! Your clothes can tell you a lot about what your style is. Often, the styles of the clothes you gravitate towards will be similar to your interior design style! When you look in your closet, you are paying attention to specific aspects of your clothes. One aspect to look for is the colors you wear a lot! Personally, I am not a very colorful person. My entire closest is white, black, tan, and green (green is as colorful as I get). This translates directly to what my home looks like. The
large pieces of furniture in my home are white and tan. I add pops of green in as faux plants and use a black rug as a statement piece!
You also want to pay attention to the fabrics you wear. Are you more of a cotton person? Linen, maybe? These fabrics can show you what type of fabrics you want for furniture. If you love wearing denim, a sectional with a tweed texture is a great choice! If you like silk, try a velvet sofa.
Next, notice if you wear patterns or solids. This correlates with your style as well! If you wear lots of patterns and enjoy mixing and matching patterns, you might have a more eclectic or global interior design style. If you enjoy solids more, try Scandinavian or contemporary styles!
Use Pinterest, Cautiously
When it comes to finding inspiration for just about anything, Pinterest is the place to go. It is super user friendly and visually based which makes it so easy to recreate pictures you like. However, it can also be overwhelming, especially when you are just starting to explore your style. There are endless photos and styles to search through which can leave you feeling more confused than before!
My tip for using Pinterest to your advantage is to use the keywords given in the quiz you took to help you search. Focus on words that have feelings attached to them. For example, a search you might look up is “Cozy, minimal living room” or “colorful, interesting bedroom”. This will help you to make sure your style and home matches how you want to feel when in it.
My next Pinterest tip is to be cautious of focusing on specific elements of a picture you like. Focus on the whole picture and how the items in the picture work together. Do you like how this color is paired with this color? Do you like how the room has empty space or is filled? This allows you to design a room as a whole instead of focusing on one element at a time, which can lead to items not feeling coherent.
Decide How You use Your Home
How your home is used is a huge factor in interior design. This can change from room to room, too! For me, I spend a lot of time in my bedroom so I want it to be very functional and comfortable.
I am less focused on style and more focused on feeling relaxed and cozy when I am in it. On the other hand, I don’t use my living room as much so my living room can be more put together with stylish pieces that are delicate.
This works for children and pets too! Do you have little ones at home? Do you have cats that love to scratch every piece of furniture you have? I do.
This tip can guide you to specific colors, fabrics, and price points for furniture based on your use! It ensures that your home is functional for you while still maintaining a cohesive look.
Notice Exteriors of Homes
My last tip for finding your interior design style is to look at the exteriors of homes. The outside of homes have styles too and sometimes those correlate with what your interior design style is! Although, this isn’t always the case.
If you like clean lines on a home with white and black paint, you might learn more modern with your interior design style.
If you like brick homes with rustic detailing, you might like a more cottage or farmhouse style.
This tip is really just an exercise to get your mind thinking like a designer, don’t worry if your outside and inside styles don’t match up.
You got this
And that’s it! These 5 tips should give a pretty good start to figuring out what your style is and
help you start shopping like a designer. If you have any questions, come visit us at 3130 E State
St, Suite 135 and we can work together to nail down your unique taste.
