Pinning down your decorating style can feel overwhelming and hard to nail. But with these 6 easy steps, you’ll be decorating with confidence in no time!
Does the search for your decorating style leave you with more questions than answers?
Do you find yourself surrounded by things you once loved and don’t anymore? Or maybe it all feels mismatched and pieced together. Maybe you can’t put your finger on it, but nothing goes together. It’s a common feeling. I’m here to help you find your decorating style so you can feel confident choosing decor for your home going forward.
This elusive hunt for my “official decorating style” has plagued me for more years than I’d care to admit. My style has changed and morphed over time, and at times I’ve been supremely frustrated by decorating.
Figuring out what I LOVE in decorating has been a journey, but I hope some of the things I’ve learned about knowing your style and decorating with confidence will help YOU on your journey too.
Let’s jump in, shall we?
How to Find Your Decorating Style
1. Find Your Dream Inspiration & What It All Has in Common!
Whether you keep your dream inspiration in a binder of magazine cutouts or on Pinterest boards, take a look and see what you have in common. Ask yourself about repeating themes in each of these areas:
- Colors
- Metal finishes
- Fabrics
- Patterns
- Open and airy vs. dark and moody
- Architecture
- ornate vs. clean lines
- formal vs. relaxed
- quirky vs. historical
- neutral color scheme vs. neutral with pops of color
- color on the walls vs. bright and bold colors everywhere
Even if you learn what the design styles are, they aren’t one-size-fits-all. Honestly, I don’t care whether I have a label for my style or not. I just want to know what I like and how to find it!
I have multiple Pinterest boards that hold inspiration for different rooms of the home, so I can quickly open one and start seeing what I love.
I’ve found I’m most drawn to:
- Architectural details with wood trim and moldings
- Neutral furniture
- Medium wood tones
- Blue, green, gray and pink accents
- Pops of color in decor accents and pillows
- Light colors on the walls, or dark colors when they’re contrasted with lots of white trim
- Brass or oil-rubbed bronze metals
- Curtains in solid colors or minimal patterns
- Lots of greenery
- White kitchens with pops of color and wood tones
So make your list of loves, and you’ll be well on your way to knowing your style!
2. Discover Your Color Palette
I find that figuring out your style is easier once you know the colors you love. Take the colors you saw most in Step 1 and use them to begin your home color palette.
I wrote a post all about discovering and defining your Whole Home Color Palette. {Click Here} I encourage you to head over there and work that out as your next step.
Follow that up by defining your favorite textures and patterns (if any), and you’ll be steps ahead of everyone else!
Tip: If you’re still struggling with a color palette, check out your clothes closet. What colors are you drawn to in fashion? That usually gives you a good place to start! It’s no surprise that I love navy, medium blues and pink!
3. Take Direction from Your Home’s Style
Is your home a blank slate with no personality, or does it have history or lend itself to one style or another?
My current home could be called a “Cape Cod” style home, which lends itself to a more traditional look. Maybe your home is modern or a farmhouse.
In my previous home, it was pretty much a blank slate without much style leaning one way or another. It was a big builder-beige box.
So I leaned a little more farmhouse in that home, with lots of rustic decor.
But my current home is more classic traditional, with hefty crown molding throughout, a butler’s pantry, glass-front cabinets in the kitchen and built-in bookshelves. Farmhouse style just doesn’t feel like it fits here at all!
So I’m slowly moving in a different direction. It’s still me, but it’s more transitional, with more brass and more upscale decor, plus a little hint of the farmhouse style I loved in my old house.
That brings me to a point: it’s OK to change and evolve your style over time. At one point I decorated with red like there was no tomorrow. Now I never decorate with red. I slowly weeded it out of my decor and replaced it with pops of pink.
In summary: take notes on your home and let it play into your style!
4. Take Inventory of Your Current Decor & Eliminate What You Don’t Love
Do you still love your current decor? Are there pieces you would never part with, and others you just bought to fill a space?
Round up all of your decor. As you pick up each piece, ask yourself these questions:
- BEST: If you have more than one of something, is it the best one? Keep only the best!
- FAVORITE: Is it your favorite? Would you buy it again if you saw it in the store?
- NECESSARY: Is it necessary? Even if it’s not your favorite or the best, do you need a mirror in the powder room until you can replace it? Then keep it for now.
Regardless of your style, if your home is filled only with what you love, what’s best and what’s your favorite, you’ll love coming home to it. And you can build your style on the foundation of your current beloved decor!
5. Consider Your Lifestyle
How you live in your home should play a big role in how you style it.
Do you have small kids and need kid-friendly furniture, like slipcovered or leather pieces (easy to wipe clean) and rugs with a busy pattern (which hides stains)? Do your lamps need to be wooden so that if they fall off the table, they won’t break?
Are you and your spouse the only two people in the home? Maybe you can display your antique collection in a glass coffee table, and those beautiful ceramic lamps in your living room won’t get knocked over.
Select furniture and styles that add to the livability of your home. What is a home if you can’t enjoy it?
Note: As a mom of young kids, you can absolutely have a beautiful, stylish space. Get creative with toy storage (think baskets with lids), and consider what’s kid-friendly when you buy items. There’s also value in teaching kids to treat things with care and to leave some of Mommy’s things alone. It’s all about balance, but it can be done!
6. Take an Online Style Quiz
Who doesn’t love a quiz? Even better if it helps you define your style, right? If you take a couple of online decorating quizzes and get the same or similar answers, you’re likely on the right track! I really liked these two: HGTV Quiz & The Decorist. You can also search “decorating style quiz” online and you’ll find a ton!
I’ve often thought my style was transitional, which just means a mix of traditional and contemporary with a little extra lean toward the traditional side. And that’s mostly what the quizzes tell me, too!
Finally, Layer in What You Love
At the end of the day, after you’ve found the common threads in your inspiration, chosen your color palette and considered your home’s style, you’ve got to do what you love!
The most beautiful homes aren’t decorated by someone worried about whether something they love is modern or boho or farmhouse. Instead, they use what they love, layering it over other things they love. In the end, you’ve created a beautiful home you want to come home to.
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