How to Choose an Interior Design Style
February 19, 2021How to choose your interior design style
Choosing an interior design style can feel really intimidating. I remember feeling so overwhelmed when it came time for me to start decorating our first home. I loved so many styles and had no idea how to pick just one!
In todays post I am going to share with you my tips for discovering your interior design style. I will also share how to start decorating once you have discovered what style you want to emphasize in your home
Can you have more than one interior design style in a home?
The reason I say ” once you have discovered what style you want to emphasize” is because you can have more than one design style in your home.
You may realize you love the European farmhouse style but also want to mix in some modern elements. Is this ok? Absolutely! Your home is a reflection of you and it doesn’t have to follow any specific rules to be beautiful!
How to choose an interior design style?
Quick Overview
- Make a Pinterest account
- Start by searching interiors or home decor something very broad
- Pin Pin Pin. Pin 50-100 images of whatever photos you love!
- Study your Pinterest pins. Notice which style(s) you pinned the most of
- Make a mood board with Canva and start designing
Choosing your interior design style. Where to start.
First things first you need to set up a Pinterest account if you do not already have one.
Once you have a Pinterest account you are going to start searching for interiors of homes. Pinterest will provide you with many different options, as you pin images that jump out to you Pinterest will start to give you images they think best suite your style.
The key thing is to not over think this step. You are just pining images so you can start to see a pattern of design. You do not have to love every single thing in the photo or even want to recreate it exactly in your home.
Your goal is to pin 50-100 images before moving on to the next step.
Study your Pinterest picks
Now that you have pinned 50 – 100 images you need to start studying the images. Go through and narrow down your top 25-30 favourite homes and take notice of wether these are a similar design style or maybe 2 separate styles that you are drawn to equally.
After you have narrowed down your pins, start studying what you are most drawn to in the photos. Maybe you have pinned a lot of living rooms with light sofas or maybe leather sectionals. Grab a pen and paper if you want and start jotting down what stands out to you and what stays consistent through most of your pin picks.
At this point you may notice that 80% of your photos are rustic in design with dark grey sectionals but you also have 20% of your photos showing a more modern style as well. You may decide you would want to use both of these styles in your home with the emphasis on rustic design and a small amount of modern decor or furniture to tie in both looks.
You may like a little bit of everything ….
You may even find that you are still pining a little bit of everything. If thats the case start thinking about which of the looks you could see yourself living with for a looooong period of time.
For instance maybe you have been pining a lot of mid century modern living rooms with colourful sofas. But you know you would probably change your mind within a couple months if you didn’t purchase a neutral sofa. The same goes for design styles. Maybe you have pinned a couple shabby chic interiors and you LOVE the way they look but you know that you wouldn’t love that style in your own home as much as a more country rustic style.
Always keep in mind your goal is to take notice when you get really exciting or your heart skips a beat ( cheesy I know but true) when you see a design style you like. This is going to help you decipher which styles you like and which one you love.
Now you know your design style … what’s next?
Hopefully at this point you have narrowed in on a design style that is an obvious favourite! Now you may want to start searching this specific style on Pinterest to see lots of inspiration and ideas for how others have design their homes with this style.
Start narrowing in on specific elements you love, like a wooden round coffee table or gold mirrors etc. At this point you are ready to start thinking about how you want to pull a room together using this design style (or two or three styles if you never could narrow it down to just one) in your own home.
Creating a mood board
My favourite way to start design a room is to make a design board or mood board. This is a document where you can add photos of furniture and decor that you like and see how it all looks together.
You can check out my tutorial here on how to use Canva to make a design board. Its so easy and is the best way to get a visual of all the things you like in your Pinterest pins together to see if they work.
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