How To Find Your Decorating Style

Everyone’s been there.

You look around your home and it either doesn’t reflect who you are (anymore) or worse, you’ve collected so many different things over time and/or combined them with the interior design styles of everyone else and there’s no cohesive look or decor style.

You now have a lot of things (that may or may not have meaning to you, or that you may or may not love) and none of it seems to make sense together.

Your home is in a serious identity crisis and you’re left wondering “what is my decorating style?” And “how do you choose a design style?”

How can you possibly combine your decorating style with the other, often not welcome, opinions in your home, and create the look and feel you want in your home?

The problem is that with so many ideas being constantly thrown at us, it’s really difficult to decide which decorating styles and inspiration to carry out in your own home. — And Pinterest doesn’t always help.

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Why You Need To Know Your Decorating Style

1. Knowing your decorating style will save you time

Too many ideas or choices leave you feeling paralyzed and not knowing where to start.

But knowing your decorating style means that certain design elements show up in your space and others are left out.

Now when you go to make a decorating decision, you automatically eliminate options. And less options means less overwhelm, quicker decisions, and progress toward a home you love.

2. Knowing your decorating style will save you money

Knowing your unique decorating style will help you avoid making random purchases for your home just because you like something. You can like a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean they all need to end up in your home.

Should You Stick To Just One Decorating Style?

No. Finding your decorating style doesn’t mean you have to choose just one design style.

In fact, the most interesting homes layer different decor styles one right on top of the other. They have a way of weaving a few decor styles together to tell a story, create interest, and reflect the personality of the people who live there. –Doesn’t that sound amazing?

Your decorating style will most likely include different design styles, but again knowing which ones you’ll include in your decor and which ones will be eliminated will narrow your focus and make decorating decisions less overwhelming.

How To Find Your Decorating Style

In order to find your decorating style, we’re going to focus on the feeling you want to create in your home.

We’re not going to use fancy words like, traditional, transitional, or even eclectic. Those don’t help you one bit when making decisions about what stays, goes, or comes into your home.

Instead we’re going to focus on what you love (that you already have) and why you love it so that we can do more of it!

It may require some homework on your part. Some soul searching. Some tough decisions. Even some compromise – ugh - compromise.

But in the end, my hope is that everyone feels like they’ve won. And that you are living in a space that feels good and reflects you they are.

Sound good? Let’s get started!

1. Find out what you’re naturally drawn to

It’s easy to over complicate decorating and start feeling like you just don’t have the skills.

But good news! Finding your decorating style is as easy as keying in on what you’re naturally drawn to.

You know when you’re out shopping and see a shirt that is just “you”?

You don’t sit there and try to analyze the style of it, you just somehow know automatically that it feels like you.

The same goes for your decor.

To key in on what you’re naturally drawn to, try this…

grab a notebook or a sheet of paper and go sit in your favorite room.

Once you’re there, look around and really think about and take notes on the following…

• Why do you love this space? How does this room feel to you?
• What is your favorite thing about the room?
• What are your favorite pieces of furniture in the room? Why? And what do they have in common? (color, texture, style?)
• What are your favorite accessories in the room? Why do you love them? What do they have in common? (color, style, sentimental, beautiful, functional?)
• Is there a color or in the room that you love? Is there a lot or a little of it?

Write down the answers to each question and then next to each element answer the follow up questions. Really think about how they make you feel or why you love them and a write a short description. This will allow you to see on paper what the things you’re naturally drawn to have in common.

2. Key in on things you don’t like or don’t feel like you

Sometimes your home might not feel good to you because there are things in your space that you don’t like or don’t feel like you.

Too many of these things can make it almost impossible to see the things you do like.

If you can key in on what you don’t like, you can learn to avoid bringing more of those things into your home and know exactly what you need to get rid of or replace.

To key in on what you doesn’t make your home feel like you, try this…

grab a notebook or a sheet of paper and go sit in your least favorite room.

Once you’re there, look around and really think about and take notes on the following…

• How does this room feel to you?
• What is your least favorite thing about the room?
• What pieces of furniture would you get rid of first? Why? And what do they have in common? (color, texture, style?)
• Is there a color or texture in the room that doesn’t make you feel good?

3. Analyze your findings

Once you’ve sat and thought about it and taken some notes, read what you wrote down and from it I want you to make a short bullet list about what it is you love.

Be sure to include details like materials, lines of furniture, colors, textures, and shapes.

These are the decorating elements you want to do more of in your home.

Next, do the same for the things in a room you don’t love. Of course, these may be things your significant other does love, so don’t take them out just yet… there are ways to mix styles so you can both be happy.

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Defining what you love is one thing, but being clear about what you don’t like is equally important.

For example I tend to gravitate toward furniture with clean lines. You probably won’t find any furniture in my home with ornate details because to me, ornate details scream breakable and delicate. Not something that is necessarily relaxing with a 3 year old that we’ve nicknamed “Destructo” running around. But to someone else ornate details could say feminine and calm so those details in their home would be spot on.

My point is, your style and how the things in your home make you feel are particular to you.

I can’t tell you what to put in your home. That is up to you.

But I can teach you how to define what it is you love (and why) and help you bring it all together to create a space that makes sense.