This guide provides 20 questions to help define your interior design style, focusing on A, B, C, D, or E. It helps you identify your preferred interior design style and helps you navigate the process of decorating, shopping, or consulting with a professional designer. To find your interior design style, start by finding images of finished interiors that speak to you the most and breaking down the aesthetics in each image.
To make your interior design reflect your personal style, consider your lifestyle, take cues from your closet, create a style vignette, and gather inspiration from various sources. To discover your decorating style, consider your lifestyle, take cues from your closet, create a style vignette, and gather inspiration from various sources.
In this guide, you’ll learn about the different interior design styles industry leaders lean on today, along with key features and tips for finding your style and implementing it in your home. To discover your interior design style, find correlations in spaces you like, focus on your favorite colors, and create a vision board. By taking this fun and easy interior design style quiz, you can create a meaningful home that reflects your personality and creates a home that you love.
📹 “defining” your interior design style
———- Hi again friends! I’m back after being away for a bit! This week I wanna sit down and chat about interior design “styles” and …
What are the 7 concepts of interior design?
The seven principles of interior design, including balance, unity, rhythm, emphasis, contrast, scale and proportion, and details, are essential for creating harmonious interiors that convey character. Balance in life is the key to a more rewarding existence, and interior design concepts can achieve this through stability. Three types of balance can be applied depending on personal preferences: symmetrical balance, which is a mirroring effect that evenly divides a space into two, and details, which are the details that add depth and character to the space. By implementing these principles, you can create an ideal home that reflects your personality and contributes to a more fulfilling life.
How do I create my own interior design style?
To create an interior design that truly reflects your personal style, it is essential to know yourself, look backward to look forward, incorporate your interests, be honest, cocreate, avoid leaning on a theme, start small, and never stop evolving. This will help you create a space that feels authentic to you and your personal style, even in the face of fast-paced design trends and social media images.
Know Thyself: Identify your personal tastes and preferences by putting language to your aesthetic predilections and becoming confident in knowing what you like and don’t like. This can be done by taking a moment to describe yourself and your personality, such as being bold, adventurous, whimsical, or minimalistic. This will guide you in selecting elements that resonate with your unique style.
Look Backward to Look Forward: Incorporate your interests and be honest with yourself. This will help you create a design that lasts and feels good for you, year after year.
Start Small: Always start small and never stop evolving to create a design that truly reflects who you are and what you like.
How do I define my interior design style?
- Source design images of interiors, furniture, or anything home-related that stands out to you.
- Break down the aesthetics and themes between these images.
- Write down the commonalities between the images.
- Create a mood board with the selected photos.
- Share your mood board and new design style with the world.
Understanding and identifying your design style is the first step to clearly articulate your taste to someone else. It helps narrow your home decor selections and speed up the decision-making process. For interior designers, understanding who you are and your preferred styles is important as it allows them to know what to expect when working with you and may even become a selling point for them.
How can you describe your style?
The text describes three types of clothing preferences: A – Natural / Relaxed, B – Classic / Traditional, and C – Artistic / Creative. A – Natural / Relaxed prefers comfortable, casual outfits with simple designs and fabrics like denim, cotton jersey, and lightweight knits. They prefer minimal jewelry and basic, durable accessories. B – Classic / Traditional is drawn to refined clothing and understated accessories, investing in quality fabrics and timeless styles.
They prefer matching and coordinated looks over bold colors and prints. C – Artistic / Creative is innovative and individualistic, using clothing choices to reflect their personality and create unique outfits with items from various sources. They use different colors, textures, and prints, and their jewelry collection is bold. Their footwear and accessories are usually statement-making.
How would you describe your design style?
Interior designers often face challenging interview questions about their design style and how it fits the project or client’s needs. To impress potential employers, it is essential to communicate your design style in an interview. To do this, start by asking about the designer’s style, which will help you understand their preferences and how they resonate with them. As style is subjective and can change over time, it is important to express your style in a way that resonates with them.
For example, a neutral tones interior designer might prefer alternating tones and patterns for subtle interest, while a maximalist interior designer might prefer accessories and art. Groupings with open spaces add impact without overpowering, and glass objects and furnishings are essential for bling and an open feel. Lastly, whimsical accents can add fun and interest to the design.
How to choose your interior style?
To create a perfect interior design space, first assess your needs, style preferences, research different styles, create an inspiration board, and consider your budget. This process simplifies the decision-making process and helps you create a home that reflects your true self.
First, consider each room you’ll implement your desired interior design style in and what it will reflect and be used for. Consider activities that will occur in each space and how the design can accommodate those needs. For example, a living room may need to feel relaxing and suitable for entertaining guests, while a home office should promote focus and productivity. For example, a lively and social lifestyle might require an open, welcoming living room with a Modern or Bohemian style, while a warm, homely kitchen with a Country or Rustic style may be suitable for family meals.
How do I know what style I like in my house?
To find your decorating style, follow these three steps:
Take note of your existing furniture, accessories, and paint colors. If these items make you smile, they’re your style. Remember that anything you already own can be easily updated with paint or hardware changes. Focus on the footprint of your furniture and how it looks in the space. If you can’t find anything you like about a piece of furniture, it might not fit with your true style.
Create a Pinterest board of rooms you love. Pinterest is a great tool for creating a collection of images that help you nail down your interior style. Pin your favorite room photos to a board on your account, and you should see reoccurring elements like furniture styles, colors, paint colors, and fabric styles. Houzz. com is another site that can inspire you. Pay attention to the themes you see in what you pin or save.
Study both what you have and what you want and match it up with a style. If you find that your existing style doesn’t align with your new style, it’s likely that your true style is different from what you’ve accumulated over the years.
How to find your style as a designer?
To succeed in graphic design, define your target audience, study Art History, stay updated with trends, develop your tropes, be open to critiques, find inspiration in everyday life, and experiment with different design techniques and mediums. While some argue that having a “design style” is counterintuitive, all designers have a style that sets them apart from their peers. Your style will dictate the type of clients you attract, making it easier to align with the right clients. Some examples of designers in graphic design history with distinct styles can provide inspiration.
How do I start interior styling?
The process of interior design can be overwhelming, whether it’s a major renovation or a DIY project. To make the process enjoyable and rewarding, there are 10 easy steps to follow.
Know What You Want: Start by imagining the space as empty and identifying what isn’t working. Reflect on your favorite features and what you’d like to change. Consider the room’s use, such as a bedroom or home gym, and make decisions about flooring, lighting, and layout.
Consider Colour: Color is the most important factor when choosing interior products. As flooring experts, we recommend choosing furnishings and design elements that complement and enhance the overall vibe you wish to create. When it comes to flooring, consider the feel or mood it creates—warm, cool, remarkable, or subtle.
Find References: Find references that can help you understand the language of design and make informed decisions about your space.
Learn the Language of Design: Learn the language of design and use it to guide your decisions. Start from the ground up and create a stunning space that you’ll love to call home.
What are the 7 formulas interior designers rely on?
Interior design principles are guidelines used by designers to create functional and aesthetically pleasing spaces. These principles include balance, harmony, rhythm, proportion and scale, emphasis, contrast, and details. Balance is crucial in creating an equilibrium by evenly distributing furniture and decorative objects within a room. It involves careful analysis of line, shape, color, and texture of objects. There are three types of balance: formal, informal, and radial. These principles can be applied to any room in a home, from the living room to the bathroom.
How do I choose an interior design concept?
Interior design styles aim to maximize house space, consider lines, forms, and shapes to create a harmonious and organized design. Forms are formed by combining patterns, colors, and textures. Nowadays, it’s possible to enjoy a chic and stylish home without professional help, especially if you want full control over the process. However, succeeding in decorating and accessorising your home can be overwhelming, and it requires a small time investment to learn and understand basic concepts and processes.
📹 6 EASY STEPS TO FIND YOUR INTERIOR DESIGN STYLE ✨
Well hey! Having a hard time figuring out what design style you like best? Or feeling overwhelmed by all the pretty images out …
Fellow interior designer here. While I don’t necessarily always agree with your arguments, I appreciate how your articles challenge my own point of view and philosophy as a designer, and I respect your opinion, however different it can sometimes be from my own. You have a scholarly, emotional and thoughtful outlook on design that I’m sad to see lacking in most people (and many other designers!) and the design industry as a whole. I’m always intrigued to see what new perspectives you bring each week.
As a millennial I feel I need to unlearn this “trend” focused approach to design… it’s been ingrained in our language for so long. I notice with so many newer younger youtubers a very fresh approach to design that larger centers around “second hand” shopping. For this generation the heart of the fashion and interior design seems to come from this discovery of having one of a kind, unique pieces you spent the effort to hunt down, and gather over time. This approach is really challenging for the format of millennial, youtube interior design “makeover” websites that have to buy a bunch of stuff over a weekend and redo someone’s room in a particular style. I love the dopamine hit I get from seeing the before and after on these makeover websites but I am learning to appreciate more the vlog style of new websites where you see people accumulating special pieces over time and living with them.
yayyyyy waited so long for a new Noah Daniel article 🙂 I finally get to watch another interesting design article that makes me think and learn so much more deeply. your articles and input always has such good points. As someone who is about to move into a new space, I definitely want to take this approach to my new home with intention.
Your approach is defintiely that of someone who has studied actual design. Sally in the suburbs just needs a name to use when she’s going to Pottery Barn or online to say so they know what she is talking about… it’s more for marketing than it is actual design. And while I totally get what you are saying and its all sacreligious the way these terms are bastardized…It’s definitely for consumerism above design truths. Love you take on it…
Over the years, I’ve learned so much about designing my own personal spaces from being very short of funds. It’s meant I’ve really had to think hard and be creative, and the result (now that I have a little more to spend) is that I know what I like and I know what I need. I’ve kept a lot of favourite pieces and that allows for my personality to show through and not get hidden under any specific style.
Agreed. I was going to partly disagree, but then I realised I didn’t disagree at all, actually. I was going to say that not all of us are creatively inclined. That the idea that you’re going to spend a lot of time and reflection on making up your own style would be pretty off-putting for most people. I was going to call it elitist. And that’s when I realised I was wrong. Because I was going to say that labels are useful for people who want their home to look nice, but need some kind of an effective shortcut. Then I thought about the people I know who use labels, and their houses end up looking either soulless and bland, or happy but theme-y. And the people I know who don’t use labels, their homes don’t always look nice. Sometimes it’s a process. But they at least know what they like. Older traditional furniture, modern furniture, this or that material, these types of colours, and it ends up making sense while being pretty intuitive actually. These people are typically not particularly creatively inclined and unpretentious, and sometimes have pretty modest incomes. So I guess ditching labels is not elitist after all.
While I mostly agree with you, those design buzzwords can sometimes help with shopping though. Like if you see a coffee table and you like it but what you need is a dining table, but you’re not sure how to describe what you like about it. But the sellers labeled it as a “boho” coffee table, or whatever, so now you have a term to start a search with. At least it gives you a starting point if you don’t know anything about design, but you, like, need a table.
Really great article! Always glad to hear your thoughts on such topics. It would be great, if you could recommend some resources, such as books, informing on themes like the aforementioned design concepts or anything you think was helpful throughout your journey as a designer, in one of your future articles <3
Noah, your articles are well worth the wait! It’s all about quality not quantity. This is gold. With regard to design styles, I get that some people need adjectives to the point them in the right direction to the style they’re trying to create or they’re for retailers to describe their vibe. I always come back to the 4 golden rules in your first article as style is always evolving. Works for me.
Hello Noah and the community! I work in a design&furniture shop and started to watch your articles to better advise our clients. Thank you so much for your website, and this article in particular – it always bothered me that I could not grasp the idea of “design styles” before, and now I understand why. Sadly, our company’s strategy consists of producing short-living, highly trend-influenced collections framed exactly into these “styles”. But now, thanks to you, I know better 🙂
Great job with this article! One of my favorites so far. It reminded me why I’m drawn to say designers, like Ilsa Crawford, who design from a philosophical stand point rather than adopting every trend. I’m excited to decorate without the rigged labels and more from a place of values and ideals. Thank you for your content.
Rian Phin (here on YT) has covered this topic extensively but as it relates to fashion—they refer to it as prioritizing/adopting design theories, sensibilities & ethos over specific aesthetics in order to develop one’s style. More of a philosophical approach, much like the way Noah is conveying here.
The key words here are „Design Philosophy”. Most people and even interior designers aren’t trying to think deeper about their designs. They are „trend” driven. And since everything is so easily, fast and cheaply available, they take no time to „digest” their ideas. In my country during the Soviet times, people were poor and furniture, deco, etc were not easily available. So almost everything at home had some history, some secret behind it, and it made home special.
That’s an interesting take. I disagree with almost all of it. The main one I absolutely disagree with is “A space designed around a central theme like Mediterranean, isn’t a good idea”. I think it’s a great idea because I love it when all design choices in a house are made around a single theme. What I hate is when the people make their own designs and it ends up looking like a furniture store because it’s so disjointed and scattered theme-wise. It is EXTREMELY difficult to design a space without a central theme and only highly skilled professionals succeed at it. Whereas designed around a central theme is comparatively simpler. So my advice is: pick a theme or a design style like Japandi. Then make 80% of your design choices around this theme. Use the other 20% to add specific pieces and areas that you design free from this theme. That’s a good plan I think.
As an older millennial whose parents are older boomers, and a husband who’s a gen xer, I am constantly being challenged by them because I am a slow decorator who doesn’t like matchy matchy furniture and I buy second hand. They are very much about going to a showroom and buying the whole set. I think for so long people have been taught by TV shows that you need to rush to buy furniture just to furnish, vs actually being thoughtful with design. There’s so much bad info to unlearn and I love that you’re helping us understand design theory!! Thank you ❤
As someone who’s style is mid century modern constructivist recreational industrial maximalist with applied Japanese design principles….I feel attacked! But despite that, I agree! I always try to further examine WHY I like something in an interior. I purposely avoid certain pieces even though they would “fit”, and it’s something I’m drawn to, bc I feel like I’ve maxed out on certain styles, and don’t want it to seem themey or like a museum. Because when you think about it, even those eras that are being replicated, borrowed or carried over from other styles and times. There is no hard line boundary to interior design eras. Most of the homes in the mid century, included earlier design, 70’s designs included midcentury, 80’s designs included 70s, etc etc. Most homes in the 60’s, did not even have has much mid century modern specific furniture as some of the more MCM enthusiasts of today, have.
I hardly find free articles with great explaining methods. I love how your articles are very structured yet in a chill way, I feel so much at peace after perusal you. It’s been 4 straight days since I found your website and I haven’t stopped! thank you so much for giving thoughtful & literal interior design opinions
This is a great article. I have so many questions that build on this about how to make design decisions that really reflect what I like without having to search the internet for specific categories… besides targeted ads, i find it difficult to “happen upon” pieces that actually call to me, and yet i’m in need of pieces that complete my living space. I also sometimes find it difficult to visualize how something will actually look and feel in my space until its here and usually that means its too late to return. Would love a article that builds on what you share here and helps make these decisions a little easier! 🙂
Happy to see you again! August is the time to upset schedules and go off grid. Glad you were able to do that. I have been busy with my apt, I designed and built a large bookcase as well as a console for behind the couch that stores shoes and my printer and whatever else I can think of. Anyway, love your thoughtful and considered articles❤❤❤
I love when you’re a hater 😂it’s funny but also you don’t just say you don’t like things and leave it at that – you give really great, insightful breakdowns into your thinking behind the reasoning and I learn so much from you. You’ve given me the words to understand why I like the things I do, why certain spaces put me off, and how to design a space that feels really good.
Great article! You’re hands down the most thoughtful interior design Youtuber I’ve followed, it’s always a yay when you’ve got a new article up. I don’t agree with absolutely everything you say, but even when I don’t I love the way you argue for your points and how evident it is that you’re not just repeating something you heard here and there but have spent a lot of time thinking about these issues. I hope you’re on Youtube for the long haul! ☺
Your content is always so thought filled, deep thoughts on the subject at hand. All interesting and educational. While I absolutely believe everyone basically has their own style and should, it’s their space, I think everyone eventually gets to the place you speak of. Lots of wasted money getting there more than likely. The last five minutes nail it! Me, I like a conglob of my favorite things and pieces I absolutely love. That’s my word. Love. It’s also how I choose my wardrobe. You left out one word, tho. Offensive. I see it a lot from so-called designers. But someone’s taste for an object is for them alone.
if one only decorates spaces strictly based on the context (coastal, desert, etc.) WHERE IS THE ESCAPISM one of the most beautiful spaces i have ever seen in Singapore was a public housing flat which was fitted out like a Louis XV era salon while being in an almost brutalist building. the contrast and the commitment to the vision took my breath away!