Should you go modern or traditional with your home renovation? Should you keep it clean and minimalist or should you feature a ton of eclectic art?
Choosing the interior design style that’s just right for you isn’t a simple task. You may feel drawn to several opportunities without being capable of determining the one that you like the most.
Knowing what your interior design style is before getting started with work will give you an outcome that’s timeless and that you’ll be satisfied with today and tomorrow. Here are a couple of important considerations that will help you determine exactly what you’re drawn to.
Ask a Few Important Questions
Answering a few key questions will help you determine exactly what your interior design style is.
The first question is do you appreciate the past or the present? If you like the past, you’ll probably enjoy rustic, art deco or boho interior design solutions. These are more ornate, more traditional and richer than modern execution.
If you like the present, you’ll be drawn to minimalist, Scandinavian, industrial and maybe even futuristic designs. These are clean, uncluttered, functional and hi-tech. There aren’t too many decorative pieces and materials like metal and glass will dominate.
You’ll also need to answer the question do you agree with the less is more philosophy? If you do, minimalism is definitely your choice. If not, go a more traditional and rustic route to enjoy a more colourful and elaborate home décor.
Do you like bright colours or pastels? Do you like fun tones or neutrals? Are you a city or a country kind of person? What kinds of homes have you lived in up till now? These are a few additional questions that will help you make the divide between traditional and modern. When you make that distinction, you can start exploring the individual interior designs that fall under either category.
One thing that many people get wrong is that interior design choices are purely decorative. This isn’t the case. Interior design is first and foremost functional. It should be chosen to support and amplify your lifestyle.
So, what’s your lifestyle?
Are you an active person who likes dancing, exercising and chasing the kids around? Are you an art and music lover? Do you enjoy cooking delicious meals in your spare time? Are you a fan of having guests over and entertaining these people? Or maybe you prefer a bit of solitude and comfort after a busy day at the office?
Each interior design style and choice is suited to a specific lifestyle. A minimalist home, for example, will appeal to the active individual who likes having a ton of space for fun things to do. If you’re the kind of person who prefers solitude and peacefulness, a more traditional design will be good as it will make your home very, very cosy.
Fashion and interior design aren’t the same but checking out your closet can reveal a couple of interesting things.
Are your clothes predominantly functional? Do you like serious outfits that make you feel in control during the workday? Are you opting mainly for neutrals or is your wardrobe colourful and bright?
Your choice of clothes and accessories reveals a lot about the aesthetics that you’re drawn to. Some people like practical outfits, some people like elaborate pieces that look good. Some like a combination of the two. What kind of person are you?
You can judge your immediate response to interior design concepts by examining examples of different décors and observing your raw reaction to those.
Buying a couple of interior design magazines will be a nice starting place.
You’ll also come across dozens of interior design boards on social media like Pinterest. Check out as many pictures as you can. Save the ones that you like the most. Once you have a gallery, go through all of the images that you’ve favourited. Do they have something in common? Chances are that you’ll see a very clear pattern.
Do Interior Design Style Quizzes Work?
If you do a Google search on “how to find out what my interior design style is,” you will come across dozens of online quizzes.
These are supposed to ask a couple of important questions and based on your answers, they’ll let you know what your interior design style is.
To test these opportunities out, we did a couple of different quizzes selected at random. Most of them asked pretty generic questions. There were also pictures to look at and choose a favourite out of. Each of the quizzes told us that we had a different interior design style, ranging from Scandinavian to art deco.
Most of these quizzes are created to capture your email address and to eventually offer you some kind of service. You’re much better figuring out what your interior design style is on your own. The questions are pretty bland and the outcomes are generic so you can’t really count on such information.
If you are considering a new interior design and renovation of your home or an upgrade of the interior, don’t rush the process (especially if you’re going through it for the very first time).
Explore your options and gauge how you feel about each one of them. There are no right or wrong answers here. Each person is drawn to a specific visual or decorative style. Finding yours is a matter of self-awareness and a bit of conscious exploration.
Do you need some help finding out exactly what’s good for you? Home Guide’s team can help! Reach out on WhatsApp, use our contact form or use our social media to get in touch. We’d be more than happy to consult you and help you determine exactly what’s going to work for your home.
