It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the beautiful images of your favorite home magazine or online design boards when figuring out how to decorate your space. This is especially true if you don’t know your interior design style.
With all the many ideas, choices, and decorating tips out there, it’s hard to know where to begin. When it comes to decorating a room, if you’re not sure how to categorize your style it can be tricky.
For some, home interior design style preferences come easier than it does for others. It’s taken me a few years to narrow down my personal style. Believe me, it didn’t come without some costly mistakes along the way.
This can easily happen when you realize that not every style works together, or you’ve been placing decor in a room that you really don’t love. Oftentimes, you need to make some mistakes along the way because that’s how we learn what speaks to us and what doesn’t.
Some types of Interior Design Styles
- Contemporary interior design style.
- Traditional interior design style.
- Modern interior design style.
- Industrial interior design style.
- Minimalist interior design style.
How To Find Your Interior Design Style?
Identifying and knowing my design style has helped with the choices (big and small) that I have made in both our home and our new beach home. My design would be classified as traditional mixed with some transitional style elements.
This combination blends my love for mixing styles together, to create a classic, timeless look that is also casual and comfortable.
Both my home and beach house include elements such as a neutral color palette, organic textures, clean lines, abstract artwork, and comfortable furniture. Although, the beach house includes more of a coastal vibe with all the same elements.
When building our home we tried to keep things classic and timeless with our design decisions. We placed a lot of emphasis on comfort and hominess.
Since I think it’s essential to be able to mix styles and not limit yourself to just one type, over the years I’ve brought in more elements of transitional pieces such as my bedroom lamps, or more organic bookshelf décor items to complement a lot of traditional aspects in my home.
Throughout the years I’ve also added some touches of coastal decor in my living spaces and dining room, such as my kitchen stools or sunroom chairs.
I believe that my home style is a great example of how you can blend multiple designs to create your aesthetic and find the perfect balance.
Here are some steps that will help you discover and execute your interior design style.
Step 1- What do you like?
This should be the first place you start when discovering your interior design style. Whether it’s your eye for design or the loads of inspiration that you have gathered through the years… What do you like? Is it traditional or modern, mid-century or traditional, or maybe a fun combination like a modern farmhouse?
You can find inspiration from many places such as magazines, design websites, or from some notable interior designers that you love, for me, it’s Bobby Berk! It’s important to realize there is not a one size fits all approach to design, but it’s key to having a starting point for your design projects.
Step 2- Design your space
Now that you determined the category of design style you are trying to incorporate into your project or space, it’s time to make the design come to life and create a home.
The overarching theme in any space that you are designing for yourself should be comfort, function, and likeability. There’s nothing worse than walking into a space that you spent so much time designing and realizing that you don’t like it.
Step 3- Build your space
After budgets are determined it’s time to start building your design. Most design styles involve a good mix of new and old. Often ‘brand new everything’ in a room lends to a more staged and uncomfortable vibe.
Mixing in elements ( furniture, accessories, or rugs) that are new and old, helps to evoke a feeling of a lived-in and comfortable space. Your goal is to apply your design style to a space that people want to use and sit in, not just to look at.
Home Decor Style Quiz
Figuring out your design sense can help make your interior home decor style cohesive. Understanding your style preference can save time, effort, and money when you are choosing furniture and decor pieces for your space.
Still not sure where to begin? Maybe an online design quiz will help get you started to determine your overall design style. Taking an interior design style quiz can help you determine if your taste leans more toward bohemian, traditional, glam, or modern!
Plus, a decor style quiz will also contain several helpful examples from whatever decor category you end up with! Don’t forget, you can have multiple design preferences that work well together, just as long as you love your space!
