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Abbie Downey

Verified Expert in Interior Design

Abbie is the Owner of Feather&Fossil and specialises in Maximalist Interior Design schemes for residential clients. Abbie has experience and qualifications in Interior Design and Project Management.

Home » Interior Design » How To Find Your Personal Interior Design Style?

Interior Design Style

Did you know that every famous and successful interior designer out there has something unique and specific about them? For example, look at designers like Jonathan Adler or Young Huh – one can easily look at spaces and tell they have designed them. Whether it’s inspiration gained from art deco, modernism, or minimalism, each interior designer cultivates their own personal decorating style.

But arriving at a personal style doesn’t happen in a day – sometimes, this can take years of experience. If you’re wondering what your personal interior design style is or when you’ll be able to freeze on one, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve put together a list of items that you need to go through to understand your dream aesthetic – choose from styles like industrial, chic, quirky, or mid-century modern, or even glam, eclectic, or rustic feel – let’s take a look.

Read also – 10 Most Popular Types of Interior Design Styles

Image Credit: froy.com

Sources of Inspiration for Interior Designers:

Before we jump into helping you find your personal interior design style, let’s ponder over where one can find style inspiration from. Most interior designers keep their eyes and ears open because they know that creativity can spring up from anywhere.

1. TV Shows

With OTT platforms on the rise, people are hooked to TV shows across various genres. TV shows are shot beautifully – with a lot of focus on the set. Whether you’re watching a sitcom or a period TV drama, notice the backdrop and set design, and you’re sure to be inspired.

For example, TV shows like Friends and Big Bang Theory provide inspiration for an everyday, quirky and personal aesthetic. In contrast, shows like Bridgerton can help you derive inspiration for a slightly old-world charm.

Read also – 40 Best Interior Design Shows

2. Interior Design Blogs

Many interior designers have their own blogs; some interior design firms focus on the knowledge they provide to their clients and readers in general. If you’re an interior designer looking for inspiration, you can find it on design blogs. Many designers create visually inspiring blog posts with images and textual content that can immediately spark inspiration.

Read also – 17 Best Interior Design Magazines and Blogs

3. Pinterest

Pinterest is every designer’s kryptonite! You can create collections of mood boards on Pinterest, with each mood board depicting a different style. Pinterest helps you find well-curated images and is a daily source of inspiration for anyone in the creative field.

4. Instagram

Instagram is a scrapbook of beautiful visuals that people just can’t take their eyes off. You can find beautifully curated feeds and Instagram accounts where designers and influencers post amazing interior design photos and interior decor. Find the latest design trends, home decor ideas and more, just by scrolling through Instagram. If you’re looking for some of the top interior designers to follow on Instagram.

5. Books

Books will never get old, especially in design. Find inspirational coffee table books or books about different design styles to know more.

Read also – 15 Best Interior Design Books

books to find personal interior design style

Image Credit: studio88.com

10 Tips to Discover Your Personal Interior Design Style

1. Take Some Quizzes

The internet is abuzz with quizzes that help people discover things about themselves – no, we’re not talking about which Game of Thrones character you are. We’re talking about finding out what your personal interior design style is. Love all things minimal? Love bright colors and patterns? If you’re confused about your personal style, take a quiz. While these aren’t entirely accurate, they’re fun to take, and who knows, you just might be surprised!

Many internet quizzes also help designers learn about new styles. The questions are designed to help the quiz-taker understand what elements they are drawn to. While it’s not going to determine your style completely, it’s a start!

Read also – 20 Interesting Interior Design Facts and Statistics

2. Learn Keywords

As an interior designer, you may not fully be aware of all the design styles that exist. It takes time to tell your bohemian style apart from a modern classic one or a coastal style from an art deco. Whether you’re looking to become a designer specializing in french country, industrial, mid-century, or minimalist designs, the first step is to learn the keywords.

That’s right – with each style, there are specific keywords attached. Searching and using these keywords will give you the right images, videos, and inspiration in the form of particular content. Use this to sift through and understand what suits your style best.

You can even use generic keywords like living room, dining room, bedroom, kitchenette, bathroom, or specific keywords like eclectic style, corner space, clean lines, decor trends, makeover, or natural materials to find images that will help you understand your personal unique style.

3. Use Social Media

Social media channels like Instagram and Pinterest are an interior designer’s haven! If you’re having trouble locating your personal interior design style, the best thing to do is spend some time on these apps. With a plethora of beautiful interior spaces, aesthetics, and home decor items, you are sure to be creatively inspired.

Pinterest allows you to save mood boards and create collections – use these diligently to pin designs that inspire you. You can follow interior designer accounts on Instagram and even save photos that suit your fancy. Saving and pinning photos also helps your social media algorithm tighten so that the apps throw similar photos your way. Over time, this helps to streamline towards a particular style.

4. Analyze Interiors You are Drawn To

Do you find yourself being drawn to specific furniture items? Specific colors and patterns? Or perhaps specific styles of homes? Whatever be the interior style, save photographs of interior spaces and items you are drawn to. This will help you create a mood board and understand styles that help spark your creativity the most.

When designing an interior space, use all your saved photographs and mood boards to come up with inspiration.

mood board interior design

Image Credit: fiverr.com

5. Use Your Closet for Inspiration

Did you know that your interior design style can also emanate from your personal clothing style? You are drawn to particular fabrics, colors, and patterns when you dress. Interior design is a lot like this – where you need to choose fabrics, colors, and patterns to ‘clothe’ an interior or exterior space.

If you’re confused about your personal style, turn to your closet and try to make sense of what you see – are there a lot of block and pastel colors? Do you wear a lot of prints? Are you drawn to only a single shade of color? Take inspiration from all that’s patiently hanging in your closet.

Read also – 15 Best Celebrity Homes for Design Inspiration

6. Warm or Cool?

One of the main focal points of design is choosing whether the overall look will be warm or cool. Depending on the place you are designing, understand whether you want to opt for warmer colors and patterns like yellows, reds, or oranges, or cooler blues, purples, and whites. Deciding between warm and cool schemes and patterns can significantly help you decide your personal interior design style.

7. Define Your Favorite Colors

It’s tough to arrive at a favorite color – especially when there are so many brilliant hues and shades to choose from! You’ll be surprised how many colors you can play around with if you have an open mind and haven’t already picked a signature color.

Play with color pickers, color wheels, and color combination generators to arrive at striking combinations that you can use when styling a home. Instead of sticking to a single color scheme, try using a few standard color swatches and then building a color palette around them so that each time you have a new color scheme to explore. Try using neutral color palettes or paint colors that you don’t normally use to define your favorite colors better.

Read also – The Psychology of Colors in Interior Design

8. Explore Patterns

It can get tricky to explore patterns, especially if you are only drawn to specific patterns. One of the tricks in the book when choosing your personal interior design style is to be open to all kinds of patterns and styles. Instead of matching, try mixing. Use abstract designs or patterns that you wouldn’t necessarily opt for. Use one statement pattern piece, and then find patterns that will suit this piece.

Read also – The Complete Guide To Layering in Interior Design

9. Choose, Consider, Curate

One of the biggest rules of interior design, especially for DIY interior design, is to wisely choose elements, consider the space and home decor items, and curate accordingly to evoke the most positive emotions.

Choose accessories and style elements that you are most drawn to or your clients see themselves using for a long time. Ultimately, the idea is to create a comfortable and functional home by optimizing the space – so choose the base style well.

When it comes to considering items, consider lighting, furniture, and fixtures and ensure that these are relevant to the style you have chosen. Consider paint colors and patterns according to the amount of natural and artificial light your home has; choose furniture according to the style pattern, so everything falls into place.

Finally, make sure you only add to ‘happy clutter’ – this means using items to curate your home and make it stand out, without adding too many items that make your home look messy instead.

Read also – 15 Decorating Mistakes That Make Your Home Look Smaller

10. Go with Your Gut

We’ve all got something that we get drawn to when it comes to personal style. Your personal style will take inspiration from your creativity, talent, ability to explore, travel, and learnings. Sometimes, you just need to go with your gut and listen to your intuition.

If you find yourself attracted to a particular design style, aesthetic, or element, then try building your personal style around it. You’ll be surprised how you end up finding your niche without even actively looking for it!

Read also – Space Planning In Interior Design

Finding Your Personal Interior Design Style

If you’re wondering how to find your signature design style as an interior designer, following your gut is one secret to doing this. Trust your inner creative instincts, concentrate and listen to what your heart tells you, and then decide the overall creative output.

Whether you’re a homeowner looking to remodel with a bit of DIY, or an interior designer looking for their personal home decorating style, explore yourself and your work a little before you freeze on a particularly unique style. Try your hand at designing a modern farmhouse, using Scandinavian styles, or even using amazon to find curios. Try taking a design style quiz or using design tips on your own home as an experiment.

At Foyr, we’ve created a community of, and for, interior designers. Here, we help budding designers learn all about interior design, home decor, the latest design trends, and industry insights. We also help freelance and full-time designers find jobs, network with industry experts and other designers. As an exclusive community of design enthusiasts, we also focus on assisting young professionals in honing their design skills through our learning modules.

If you’re still wondering how to find your personal interior design style, sign up on www.community.foyr.com

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