How to Choose an Interior Design Style for your Home

Designing your own space can be so exciting, but also very overwhelming. I remember decorating my 1st home and telling everyone that my style was very eclectic, but in reality I now realize that I didn’t really have a clear style or vision at all! When I had the opportunity to redesign our space, I wanted to make sure my design style was very clear and that it connected and flowed throughout the house.

Living room with white washed brick fireplace, two sitting chairs, navy and white pillow and white faux fur blanket.

The key to a good design space is having each room in your house connect in some way. Either with the paint color, furniture or decor themes. For our house we choose to go with the same color on the walls throughout the house. Our choice was Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore. This helped to create a neutral palette in our home, so that we had the freedom to add color with decor and furniture. Plus this provides you with the flexibility to change your style easily in the future by switching out furniture and/or decor.

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Design Style Interior Theme

So what is the first step when designing your space? Start by choosing your design style theme. Take some time to go through pictures in home magazines, or images on Pinterest and other web browser sites. There are so many different design theme styles. Once you have in mind your design theme, then you can begin to choose your colors, furniture, layout and decor elements.

My interior design style theme is a mix between mindful home design and modern farmhouse. I wanted to create a space where it did not feel cluttered and instead was light, simple and included lots of modern farmhouse touches. Modern farmhouse has become more recently popular due to its contemporary take on an older rustic style. Bringing in cozy blankets and wood accent pieces adds warmth and the contemporary modern farmhouse style theme. I love to add in texture with faux fur blankets and accent pillows. My favorite trick for pillows and a way to save money when you want to change out the colors or style, is to keep your pillows and just order new covers. Plus when you have pillow covers with zippers, you can take them off for easy cleaning!

Mindful home design combines many elements of modern or minimalist decor style. One of the key principles of mindful design is choosing pieces that you are inspired by or that “speak to you.” Mindful home decor includes calming colors and simple, sometimes nature inspired accent pieces, such as plants and/or trees.

Regardless of what design style you choose for your home, the process for determining your interior design style begins with understanding what inspires you and brings you joy and comfort. For some that may mean modern design style, while for others it may include vintage or traditional decor.

3 Tips for Choosing your Interior Design Style

Aside from browsing social media, looking through magazines and surfing the web, you can also find your design style theme with any or all of these 3 tips.

Tip 1: Create a Design Style Vision Board

One of the best ways to find out your design style is to create a vision board. This gives you the opportunity to visually see what you like. You simply gather photos and images of decor pieces, paint colors and room layouts and paste them onto a piece of paper or a cardboard poster board.

If you are more visual, this is the perfect way to sort out your design style preferences before possibly making a choice you may later regret. Plus you have the opportunity to see how items match or do not pair well together, before buying them.

A design style vision board is a visual display of images and/or colors that inspire you. In other words, vision boards are created to provide inspiration and help keep you motivated to follow through on your design style vision. The idea behind vision boards is that if you are surrounded by images of what inspires you and motivates you, then you will be apt to accomplish those dreams.

Tip 2: Find Inspiration in your Closets

Another great way to choose your interior design style is to check out your closets! Believe it or not, much of our design style is influenced by colors we like.

Take for example modern and/or mindful home decor. Much of these two design style’s are centered around neutral color palettes. Light colored walls with calming tones or sometimes bold pops of color in accent pieces.

If you took a look in my closet you would see a lot of blue and green tones. I choose to use pops of navy throughout my home and it was no surprise that I also love to dress or accent my outfits in blue!

Tip 3: “Window Shop” for your Design Style

Even though you may prefer online browsing or shopping, actually going into home decor stores can give you a better sense of your design style.

When you go into a store, what colors are you drawn to? A lot of furniture stores will already put together design styles in their furniture displays. This lets you see first hand some colors and home decor pieces that coordinate well together.

The best part about “window shopping” is that you may come across a style or decor piece that you wouldn’t of initially thought you may like.

Decorating your Space to Match your Interior Design Style

After you choose your interior design style theme, the fun begins! Choose your paint color(s). Once you have your paint picked out then start to choose your furniture. This is where I decided to add my color, since my wall paint was very neutral. I went with navy and gray and then brought in warm tones with the wood floor and various natural wood furniture and decor pieces. Many times when I am designing a space, I may find one item that is my inspiration for the whole space. Such as a simple pillow or picture that you want to display. Once something inspires you, go with it and collect other decor items as you go along.

One thing to remember is, you do not need to rush to buy items just to finish a room. Take your time. It is OK if your room is not completed all at once. Let your vision and style grow. What is more important is to love every piece that you add to your space. Have fun and enjoy discovering your unique design style!