When it comes to your interior design style, do you feel like you have lots of ideas but don’t know what to focus on? Do you feel like your style is all over the place?
Or do you feel drawn by all the decor styles and trends that come along? Believe me, there are times when I could answer yes to every one of these questions!
However, once you have a clear idea of the design style (or styles) you love, decorating your home becomes so much easier and more fun.
With that in mind, today’s post is devoted to helping you discover your design style before you start spending money on your spaces.
Learning how to choose an interior design style that matches your personality helps you decorate your home with confidence.
In addition, knowing your design style keeps you from wasting money on things that end up feeling wrong once you get them home.
Pure Salt Interior Design – similar sectionalshere,hereandhere – similar coffee tableshere and here
What are the most popular interior design styles in 2024?
The most popular interior design styles in 2024 include transitional, coastal, organic modern, traditional, Scandinavian, modern farmhouse, California casual, mid-century modern, minimalist, maximalist, contemporary, French country, industrial, eclectic, and post-modern.
Because different interior design styles are more prevalent in different regions, these decorating styles aren’t necessarily listed in order of popularity.
Also, many of these design styles have sub-categories. For example, coastal style might be broken down into styles like modern coastal, coastal grandmother, East coast, island style, Hamptons, California casual, coastal boho, Florida coastal, etc.
However, the idea isn’t to stress about the label. In fact, when choosing a decorating style for your home, I don’t recommend limiting yourself to one particular look, label, or trend.
Rather, I suggest creating your own unique look by trusting your intuition and noticing what you’re drawn to about various decorating styles.
Elements of different design styles
Here are some characteristics of popular design styles, with tips to help you narrow down your interior design style:
- If you love a refined, minimal, neutral, or streamlined look, consider Scandinavian, mid-century modern, Danish modern, Japandi, minimalist, or Bauhaus interior design styles.
- If you prefer a sophisticated, curated look with luxurious, refined elements, consider California casual, organic modern, transitional, modern farmhouse, or European farmhouse styles.
- If you’re drawn to a maximalist look incorporating chintz, pleats, tufts, and plenty of color and/or pattern, consider design styles like English country, grand millennial, or Hollywood regency.
- If you like charming spaces with lots of character and a collected look, consider cottage style, French country, island, Nancy Meyers, or coastal grandmother styles.
- And if you love colorful, soulful, layered spaces incorporating interesting shapes, patterns, vintage elements, and an abundance of plants, you might be drawn to eclectic, boho, or art nouveau interior design styles.
Studio McGee – European farmhouse style
Below, you’ll find some simple ideas to help you find your design style so you can create spaces that look beautiful, feel amazing, and reflect your unique point of view.
By the way, if you’re interested in taking your love of design to the next level, my daughter Natalie, an accomplished interior designer, has an amazing course sharing how to start an interior design business, which you can find here.
How to Discover Your Decorating Style
1. Consider your lifestyle
Discovering your interior design style and translating that personal aesthetic to your home can be a great opportunity to learn more about yourself and what you love.
So first, I recommend taking some time to think about your lifestyle and preferences, including how you use your home and what activities are most important to you.
Consider your daily routines, hobbies, and interests: do you enjoy entertaining guests or do you prefer a cozy, intimate space?
Do you have a lot of belongings you’d like to display — or do you lean toward minimalism?
Reflecting on your how you want to live and feel in your home will help you determine what functional elements and design features are important to you and guide your interior design choices.
Also consider the architecture and location of your home. Often, one’s interior design style needs to adapt to the unique architectural features, era, and geographic location of the house itself.
For example, if you live in a craftsman style home with lots of dark wood moulding, you might want to choose a style like mid-century modern, which works well with that style of home.
2. Take cues from your closet
The style of clothing you’re drawn to is probably the greatest indicator of your interior design style.
So the next thing I recommend is to go to your closet and take a look at your favorite clothing.
What pieces, colors, fabrics, and patterns (or lack of pattern) do you find yourself wearing again and again?
Are you drawn to refined, minimal style? Classic, tailored pieces? Boho elements? Monochromatic or all-neutral looks? Comfy and casual outfits? Or do you dress with colorful and eclectic flair?
Now, take another look at the elements of style I mentioned above and see how your fashion sense can be translated into your decorating style.
master bedroom
If you’re familiar with my home, then it’s probably no surprise that I love coastal grandmother style — both in my closet and in my interior decorating style!
I typically wear a lot of blue, tan, and white in comfy linen and cotton all year round.
And, if you look around our home, you’ll see those colors and fabrics reflected in my decorating style, as well!
Here’s my post on Coastal Grandmother style, if you’d like to learn more about this light and airy, neutral aesthetic.
living room
Our white slipcovered sectional, sofa, and chairs are among my favorite things in our home because they’re soft, comfortable, and easy to keep clean — just like my clothes!
hearth room
3. Create a style vignette
Your existing furniture, artwork, and accessories can also provide valuable clues about your design style.
The next thing I recommend is to walk around your home and go through your decor closet and storage spaces and gather anything that captures the look and feeling you love.
Take note of the colors, patterns, and materials that you’re already drawn to, and consider these existing belongings as a starting point for your design style.
You might even want to gather those things together in one area of your home and create a vignette or arrangement of objects that tells a story about how you want your home to look and feel.
Whenever I find myself getting distracted by all the styles out there, I think about our entryway. It reminds me of the overall mood, tone, and style I want to convey in our home.
I know I’m happiest when I decorate in a way that expresses my own taste and style, so creating a style vignette is a good way to keep me from getting off track.
4. Gather inspiration from different sources
The next step in narrowing down your decorating style is to gather inspiration, which can come from the most surprising places and things.
You might want to visit local museums, art galleries, botanical gardens, favorite restaurants, or beautiful hotels.
Often, there’s a little something, a detail or a twist, that resonates with you and feels interesting, such as a piece of artwork or the curve of a chair.
Browse through interior design magazines, coffee table books, websites, and social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram, and create a mood board or a digital folder to collect the images that resonate with you.
The Life Styled Co. – organic modern living room
As you collect the images that resonate with you, I recommend creating a digital folder as a sort of virtual mood board or design board to keep on your phone.
As you come across spaces and places you love, take screenshots and place them in your inspiration folder.
Seeing the colors, patterns, and items you love all in one place can give you a burst of clarity regarding your home decor style.
Pure Salt Interiors – similar console
Carrying my folder or mood board with me helps me stay true to my design style when I’m out and about, so I don’t get confused and come home with a bunch of random stuff from Target and HomeGoods!
Keeping inspiration photos on your phone or computer also helps if you want to refer to a certain color scheme, piece of furniture, rug, or artwork so you can match it when you’re shopping online.
As you go through your digital folder, pay attention to color palettes, patterns, textures, furniture styles, and other design elements that catch your eye.
Jean Stoffer Design – English country cottage kitchen
This will help you identify patterns, trends, and themes that resonate with your taste and style.
5. Experiment with different decorating styles
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different interior design styles to find what resonates with you.
Experiment with rearranging your furniture, changing wall colors, or adding new accessories to create different looks in your space.
You may find that you’re drawn to one certain style, such as Scandinavian, bohemian, coastal, industrial, beach house, or mid-century modern — or you may discover that you prefer a blend of different styles.
Pure Salt Interiors for Katrina Scott
Trying out different styles in your home will help you narrow down your preferences and define your unique design style.
However, if you’re not quite ready to experiment with different design styles in your home, you can visit furniture stores, showrooms, and galleries to see different styles in person.
Last fall, my husband and I visited the Restoration Hardware gallery in Denver, and I came home filled with inspiration for our home! Here’s my post sharing how to get the Restoration Hardware look in your home.
Sometimes, just knowing which stores you’re drawn to can help you define your style, and one of my favorite ways to narrow down my decorating style is to look at home decor catalogs or websites.
It’s probably no surprise that I love thumbing through the Serena & Lily catalog. Their take on modern coastal style resonates with where I want to be in my home and life — near the beach!
If you’re into modern, Scandinavian, or mid-century modern design styles, you’ll probably love perusing West Elm and Crate and Barrel for inspiration.
Pure Salt Interior Design – chairs
Lulu and Georgia and Anthropologie are great sources of inspiration for boho and eclectic decor.
Ames Interior Design – coffee table
Pottery Barn is a great source if your style is traditional, rustic, or modern farmhouse.Jenni Kayne perfectly captures the California casual look.
Both Serena & Lily and Dear Keaton are great sources for elevated coastal and beach house style inspiration.
McGee and Co. and Stoffer Home are great resources if your style leans toward organic modern, modern farmhouse, or European farmhouse styles.
Studio McGee – counter stools –light fixtures
And, if you love transitional style, Arhaus, Perigold, and Alice Lane Home are great places to find transitional style furniture, bedding, artwork, lighting and decor.
M. Lahr Homes – credenza – chandelier
6. Trust your instincts, but also remember it’s okay to change your mind
Ultimately, the most important aspect of discovering your unique interior design style is to trust your gut and follow your instincts.
Your home is a personal space, and your design choices should resonate with you on a deep level.
Christine Andrew – woven counter stools
Pay attention to how certain colors, patterns, textures, and materials make you feel. Consider the emotional response you have to different design elements and go with what truly resonates with you.
Don’t be afraid to take risks and be creative in expressing your unique style.
Remember, when it comes to decorating your home, there’s no right or wrong, so keep experimenting until you land on a look that feels right for you.
Cultivating your personal design aesthetic isn’t a process with clear steps or linear outcomes — and that’s part of what makes this journey so rewarding.
Your design style will likely evolve with time as you discover new sources of inspiration or your tastes change, so don’t force yourself to remain with a look that no longer resonates with you!
If you find that your decorating style has changed, give yourself permission to start over. What matters is that your style choices feel true to you.
Over the course of your life, you’ll probably go through many interior design styles as your taste evolves. In fact, I feel like my style changes every few months!
Below, you can see how the style of our living room has changed over the last couple of years.
Things are always changing around here, depending on the time of year and what design style I’m currently loving.
living room
The process of discovering which interior design style you prefer also allows you to discover more about yourself, opening the door to more confidence and creativity in every area of your life.
Finding and expressing a clear and consistent point of view doesn’t happen overnight, so give yourself some time to experiment and figure it out.
Learning how to discover your interior design style and translating that aesthetic to your home, wardrobe, and lifestyle is a gradual process, arising from the day-to-day flow of living, and I hope you found this post informative and encouraging.
current home favorites
Looking for more interior design styles and decorating ideas? Here are a few related posts from the blog:
Colors of the Year + Top Home Color Trends for 2024
How to Add a Touch of Nancy Meyers Style to Your Kitchen and Home
2024 Home Decor Trends: 10 Ideas to Try This Year
Favorite Spaces of the Week: Pure Salt Interiors
Modern Bedroom Design Ideas for a Dreamy Master Suite
Modern Living Room Ideas for 2024
A Simple Guide to Mixing Metal Finishes in the Kitchen
Modern Kitchen Pendant Lighting Ideas You Will Love
Modern Coastal Decorating Ideas for Your Home
Inspiring Kitchen Design Ideas for Your Next Renovation
Beautiful Modern Bathroom Design Ideas You Will Love
A Simple Guide to Mixing Metals in the Bathroom
The New Spring 2024 Studio McGee Target Collection
Let me know if you have any questions about how to discover your interior design style. Have a wonderful day! Jane
This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click a link and purchase something, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more info, please read my full disclosure here.
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