Discovering Your Design Style
With the range of decorating styles, themes, and trends out there, finding your own design style can be challenging, especially for a first-time interior designer. With all the gorgeous room designs popping up on social media, pinning down a single choice can be a complicated task.
However, when you’re doing up your own home, choosing a style that you’ll love and enjoy long after the trends have moved on is essential. And luckily, this process doesn’t have complicated – in fact, it can actually be one of the most fun parts of redecorating your home! Here are some tips that will make it significantly easier to discover the design style that truly speaks to you.
Look At Your Clothes
Your closet can tell you a lot about the colours, patterns, and textures you love. Take a look at the outfits you wear frequently and your favourite pieces in your closet.
At the same time, also consider the ones you don’t wear all that often and ask yourself why that’s the case. Is it simply a matter of matching outfits to the type of event you’re going to, or is there something about the colours and fabrics that have you reconsidering the clothes?
With a careful eye, your closet can tell you more than you ever thought possible about the colours, fabrics, and themes you can incorporate into your home décor.
Build a Moodboard
Moodboards are a great way to narrow down the designs and styles you love. This can be a physical moodboard, with everything from paint swatches to fabric samples or an online moodboard using a website such as Pintrest.
While you’ll ultimately use the moodboard to figure out your home décor, it doesn’t need to be limited to furniture items and upholstery fabrics. Build a board with everything you enjoy, be it a travel destination, jewellery, or your favourite artworks and movies.
You can then use this board to build a theme. For example, if you gravitate towards black and white spy movies, a vintage theme might work well for you. Similarly, if you’re fond of Art Deco jewellery, Art Deco-inspired furniture and designs might be what you’re looking for.
Flip Through Magazines
A good way to expose yourself to a range of design styles without spending your days at the home improvement store is to buy a few home and lifestyle magazines. Even if they don’t include articles on interior decorating, looking at the room designs in their images may help inspire you.
Think About Your Friends
Think about friends’ homes where you spend a lot of time. Is there something about those spaces you love, that draws you in and makes you want to stay? Conversely, is there something you truly can’t stand about the room and the home décor as a whole?
Answering these questions can help narrow down your list of options. For example, if your friend’s home is done up in pastels and you’re not a fan, you know pastel and pastel-related styles are probably out.
Don’t Try to Talk Yourself Into It
Can’t stand the newest trend on the block? Don’t try to talk yourself into incorporating it in your home simply because of currently popularity numbers – not only will the trend move on sooner or later, but incorporating it will make you uncomfortable in your home.
Remember, you’ll know your perfect style from the get-go. If something needs several rounds of reconsideration, that’s a good sign that it isn’t for you.
Finding a design style that suits you and that you’ll love for years to come can seem daunting. However, these tips will make things significantly easier for you. And remember, if you can’t settle on a single style, you can incorporate different styles in different rooms – or simply stick to timeless classics for larger designs, such as wall colour, while bringing in trends with accent pieces.
