Confused About Your Interior Design Style? Use This Quick Finder
Have you ever wondered how to find your interior design style without feeling overwhelmed by trends or labels? One of the simplest ways to start is by observing what already feels like home to you—your wardrobe, your favorite places, and the colors you naturally gravitate toward. When a home truly reflects who you are, it feels calming, inspiring, and effortlessly “you.” In this guide, I’ll walk you through a step-by-step process to help you uncover a style that fits your personality and lifestyle—no design degree needed.
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Why It’s Important to Know How to Find Your Interior Design Style
Your home reflects who you are. It’s not just a place to live—it tells your story, mirrors your energy, and holds your everyday rhythms. When your space aligns with your personality, you feel naturally at ease. But when it doesn’t, something always feels off.
Let’s look at a few meaningful reasons why knowing your style makes a difference:
✨ Expressing Your Personality
Your home is like a canvas for your identity. The colors you choose, the artwork you hang, the textures you prefer—they all speak volumes about who you are. Whether you love vibrant, energetic spaces or calm, earthy corners, your style is a quiet introduction to your personality. It helps guests feel your presence in the space, even when you’re not in the room.
🧺 Reflecting Your Lifestyle
If you love slow mornings by the window or a calm retreat after work, your design style might reflect that soothing rhythm. Your design style should support the way you live every day. If you enjoy slow, mindful mornings, your space may call for natural light, soft cushions, and calming hues. If you have a busy home with children, pets, or lots of activity, durable furniture, smart storage, and practical layouts will feel more aligned. A lifestyle-matching space doesn’t just look good—it works effortlessly for you.
💭 Going Beyond Aesthetics: Honouring Your Preferences
Design isn’t just about what looks pretty—it’s about what feels right. Maybe you don’t like heavy curtains or glass tables, and that’s okay. Honouring your dislikes is just as important as celebrating what you love. When your home reflects your real needs and comforts—how you move, rest, work, and connect—it begins to serve you in a deeply personal way.
Knowing how to find your interior design style brings clarity, calm, and personal meaning to your home.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Learning How to Find Your Interior Design Style
Before diving into the process, it’s helpful to avoid a few common pitfalls:
- Copying trends without personalization: Just because it looks good online doesn’t mean it fits your lifestyle.
- Overloading styles: Mixing too many elements creates visual chaos.
- Ignoring practical needs: A beautiful space that doesn’t function well can feel frustrating.
- Forgetting emotion: Your home should feel good, not just look good.
How to Find Your Interior Design Style in 11 Simple Steps
Design isn’t just about what looks pretty—it’s about what feels right. Maybe you don’t like heavy curtains or glass tables, and that’s okay. Honouring your dislikes is just as important as celebrating what you love. When your home reflects your real needs and comforts—how you move, rest, work, and connect—it begins to serve you in a deeply personal way.
Now that you understand why discovering your style matters, let’s walk through the steps that can help you uncover it—slowly, thoughtfully, and in a way that feels true to you.
Step 1: Start With What You Already Love in Interior Design
You don’t need a design degree or a pile of magazines to begin. Your personal style already exists—it’s hidden in plain sight, quietly woven into your daily choices.
Look around your home, your closet, your favorite places. What patterns or colors are you drawn to? Do you like soft neutrals or bold pops? Do you collect handcrafted items, or do you gravitate toward minimal, sleek surfaces? Even the cafés or bookstores you love spending time in say something about your preferences.
And don’t forget your wardrobe. The fabrics, silhouettes, and tones you wear comfortably often reflect what you’d love to live around. Are you more linen and earthy browns? Or structured pieces in monochromes?
You can even observe your family—often, shared aesthetics show up in similar ways. You might find that the cozy textures your mom loves or the earthy prints your sister wears reflect the same comfort you seek in your space.
- Your wardrobe: Is it colorful, neutral, printed, simple, or layered?
- Your favorite cafes/hotels: Do they have warm lighting? Clean lines? Lush fabrics?
- Your daily habits: Are your routines slow and calming or lively and on-the-go?
- Your family’s aesthetic: Are there shared choices in colors, fabrics, or traditions?
Real-life tip: One of my clients loved browsing cozy, rustic interiors filled with warm tones, woven textures, and earthy accessories. She enjoyed saving photos of farmhouse kitchens, vintage pottery, and cottage-style bedrooms. But when we paused to look at her actual wardrobe, a different picture emerged—she wore crisp blazers, structured dresses, and carried sleek leather bags. Her daily life was busy, professional, and polished.
This collage reflects her real-world aesthetic—clean lines, navy and green tones, and a sense of composed elegance. It was a gentle reminder that what we enjoy admiring online isn’t always what we feel most comfortable living with. Once we aligned her home with her confident, modern personality, her space finally felt like her.
Step 2: Explore Online Style Quizzes
When you feel unsure where to begin, design quizzes can offer a gentle nudge in the right direction. They help you put a name to what you like—and once you have that language, everything feels easier.
These quizzes typically show room images, textures, or color palettes and ask you to choose what you’re most drawn to. They’re a great starting point, not a final label.
Don’t feel boxed in by the results—it’s okay if the quiz says you’re “Modern” but your heart skips a beat for a carved wooden cabinet. Think of the result as a compass, not a rulebook.
Once you get your result, revisit your moodboard or saved photos. Do they align with what the quiz suggested? Does the name of the style help you make sense of your preferences?
- Use quizzes to explore style names like Japandi, Farmhouse, Mid-century, or Eclectic
- Compare results from different platforms to see what themes keep repeating
- Cross-check with your saved pins or personal items—does the style feel like home to you?
Tip: Even if you don’t get a “perfect match,” these tools build awareness and confidence around your design decisions.
🎯 Quick Style Finder Tips
- 🧥 Look at your wardrobe: Neutrals and structure might point to modern or minimalist. Flowy prints could lean toward Boho or eclectic.
- 📌 Review your saved images on Pinterest or Instagram—spot the common colors, patterns, and furniture silhouettes.
- 🛋️ Do you like symmetry and clean spaces? You might enjoy contemporary or Japandi. Prefer layers and coziness? Look into farmhouse or Mediterranean.
- 🎨 Notice your comfort colors: Soft whites and sage green? Or terracotta and navy?
- 🪑 Check your lifestyle: Kids and pets? You may need practical, durable pieces over purely aesthetic ones.
Step 3: Create a Visual Mood board
Once you start noticing what you’re drawn to, it helps to gather it all in one place. Moodboarding isn’t just for designers—it’s a fun and eye-opening way to see your taste come to life visually. Don’t worry about making it perfect or organized in the beginning. Just let it reflect your instincts.
- Use Pinterest boards or Instagram saves to collect rooms you love
- Tear out magazine pages or snap photos of real spaces
- Pin fabric swatches, paint chips, or travel photos to a corkboard
- Keep a folder on your phone for anything that catches your eye
Don’t overthink—just collect. After 20–30 images, you’ll start noticing a theme in colors, furniture styles, or layouts.
Step 4: Where to Find Interior Design Inspiration
Sometimes, your style is hiding in plain sight—it just needs a little spark. Paying attention to what you enjoy in everyday life can be the best clue to your personal style. Look beyond furniture catalogs and see what already inspires you.
- Interior design blogs: Choose ones that explain concepts in simple, relatable ways
- Pinterest and Instagram: Create saved folders based on mood, room type, or style
- Travel: Design details from cafés, hotels, or heritage homes can stay with you
- Books and magazines: Even old ones can reveal timeless preferences
- Nature: Landscapes and colors you feel drawn to often align with your ideal palette
- TV shows and movies: Look at the sets you admire—they reflect styles you connect with
- Everyday places: Your favorite café or a friend’s cozy home may hold surprising clues
Tip: Take screenshots or notes whenever something speaks to you—it’s helpful later when building your moodboard or narrowing down your style.
Step 5: Think About How You Want Your Home to Feel
Before settling on any specific look, take a moment to ask yourself how you want your home to make you feel. This question alone can guide your entire decorating journey. The emotional tone you set will help filter what truly belongs in your space.
- Do you want your space to feel calm, energizing, cozy, playful, or sophisticated?
- Should it invite deep rest, creative flow, or social connection?
- What colors and materials make you feel good?
- What kind of lighting makes you feel at ease?
Color clue: Love earthy tones? Think Tuscan or Indian styles. Prefer soft whites and pale wood? Scandinavian or Japandi may be for you.
Step 6: Most Popular Interior Design Styles Explained
Understanding style names can help you communicate your preferences better. Here’s a list of common styles with simple descriptions:
- Scandinavian: Light wood, simple lines, minimal color, cozy textiles.
- Industrial: Brick walls, metal, leather, raw and unfinished textures.
- Bohemian (Boho): Layered patterns, plants, eclectic and vibrant.
- Farmhouse: Vintage charm, shiplap walls, soft colors, rustic wood.
- Modern: Sleek surfaces, geometric shapes, less ornamentation.
- Traditional: Rich woods, antique furniture, classic and timeless.
- Coastal: Whites, blues, breezy curtains, beach-inspired decor.
- Japandi: Calm, muted tones, natural textures, balance of form and function.
- Tuscan: Warm tones, iron fixtures, textured walls, old-world elegance.
- Mediterranean: Stucco walls, terracotta tiles, sea-inspired palette.
- Mid-Century Modern: Clean lines, functional forms, vintage touches.
- Contemporary: Current, clean, often neutral but with statement elements.
- Indian: Bright colors, wooden carvings, traditional textiles, spiritual touches.
Can rooms have different styles? Yes—but they should still complement each other. A Japandi bedroom and a Mediterranean kitchen can co-exist beautifully if you tie them together with a common color palette or material.
Step 7: Define Your Core Style (and Supporting One)
By now, you’ve probably noticed a few repeating themes—certain textures, materials, or color stories that keep showing up in your moodboard or saved images. This is a good time to start naming your style. You don’t have to lock yourself into a single category—most people feel aligned with a blend.
Think of your core style as the base—the one that resonates with your heart and lifestyle. Then, choose a supporting style that adds interest, warmth, or edge.
- Love Japandi but want a little more softness? Layer in Farmhouse accents.
- Leaning toward Indian style but crave a touch of calm? Mix in some Scandinavian simplicity.
- Want a modern base with hints of charm? Try pairing Contemporary with Mid-century.
It’s like building your own recipe—your unique mix is what makes your home feel truly “you.”
Step 8: Test With Small Changes
You don’t need to change everything at once. In fact, one of the most practical—and surprisingly fun—ways to discover what truly suits you is by starting small. This gives you time to live with your choices and adjust as you go, without pressure.
Take a look at the example below. It shows how the same space can feel entirely different with just a few simple updates. Notice how swapping out the cushions, changing the artwork, and adjusting small accessories transforms the mood of the room—without touching the big pieces.
Inspired? Try introducing elements of your chosen style through easy, everyday changes:
- Swap out cushion covers or add a textured throw
- Hang a new artwork that reflects your preferred palette
- Try a new table lamp, pendant light, or even just bulbs with a warmer glow
- Paint one accent wall in a color you’re curious about
- Introduce a houseplant or a handcrafted piece from a local market
These low-risk updates let you experiment, gain clarity, and slowly shape your space to reflect who you are.
Step 9: Use Color to Guide Your Style
Color is one of the most powerful tools in design—it speaks to mood, personality, and even energy. Sometimes, identifying your favorite colors (or the ones you wear often) can be the simplest way to narrow down your interior style.
Ask yourself: What colors make me feel calm? Energized? Inspired? Safe? Your answers might surprise you—and they’ll point toward the tones you should surround yourself with.
- Earthy tones: Think Tuscan, Indian, or Farmhouse styles
- Soft neutrals: Scandinavian, Japandi, or Minimalist
- Bold jewel tones: Bohemian, Eclectic, Traditional
- Coastal shades: Mediterranean or Coastal
- Greys and charcoals: Industrial, Contemporary
Start with 2–3 core colors and build your room around them. You’ll feel the difference immediately.
Step 10: Styles You Can Try Without a Professional
Some styles are more forgiving and DIY-friendly than others—ideal for renters, beginners, or anyone decorating on a budget. These styles rely more on mood, texture, and accessories than on complex layouts or expensive materials.
If you want to experiment confidently on your own, these styles are a great place to begin:
- Scandinavian: Start with functional furniture, light wood, and neutral tones
- Bohemian: Easy to layer with colorful textiles, floor cushions, and plants
- Farmhouse: Try secondhand finds, cozy fabrics, and rustic wooden pieces
- Minimalist: Remove clutter and let a few meaningful items take center stage
These styles allow room for play, growth, and gradual layering—perfect for learning as you go.
Step 11: Best Interior Design Styles for Rental Apartments
Living in a rental doesn’t mean you have to settle for bland or temporary-feeling spaces. In fact, some design styles are naturally more adaptable and renter-friendly. These styles focus on things you can change without drilling, painting entire walls, or making permanent alterations.
The key is to work with the bones of your space and add personality through removable and portable elements—items that move with you and evolve over time.
Here are some styles that work beautifully in rented homes:
- Bohemian: Layer rugs, hang lightweight wall tapestries, use poufs and plants to create warmth and movement
- Scandinavian: Rely on freestanding furniture, neutral tones, and soft lighting—perfect for small or awkward spaces
- Mid-century Modern: Use standout furniture pieces (like a curved chair or sleek coffee table) and add retro accents
- Contemporary: Stick to clean lines and use statement decor—think mirrors, lamps, and art with personality
Tip: Removable wallpaper, peel-and-stick tiles, curtain rods with tension brackets, and plug-in lighting can do wonders. Your space can still feel intentional, warm, and beautifully you—even if you don’t own it.
FAQs About How to Find Your Interior Design Style
Yes, especially if you want a cohesive and connected look. You don’t need to follow it strictly, but a systematic approach creates visual flow and prevents your space from feeling disjointed.
Because without some direction, your home might end up looking like a collection of showroom pieces—one modern, one boho, one industrial. We’re not trying to build a museum; we’re creating a home that reflects you. Think of it like dressing: would you wear a boho skirt, French top, Indian jewelry, and Western shoes all at once?
Not necessarily. Every style has budget-friendly and DIY alternatives. You can always find affordable ways to create the look you love.
Mixing old and new is not only common—it can add character. Try:
Letting them act as statement pieces, as long as the rest of the decor supports your overall direction
1.Repainting or reupholstering existing items
2.Moving them to a secondary space
3.Pairing them with new accessories to bridge the style gap
Yes, but with intention. Find common ground—use one main style for big items (like furniture) and bring in another through smaller pieces (like rugs, art, or lamps). Keep the overall palette consistent to avoid visual noise.
That’s natural. Your home should grow with you. Start with flexible, timeless pieces and adapt your decor slowly.
Not at all. Read this blog post in detail, follow the steps, and you’ll feel confident defining your own style—no designer required.
More Helpful Reads from Around the Web
Looking to explore a little deeper? Here are some insightful reads and resources that pair well with what you’ve just discovered:
- Designer Society of America– Interior design style quiz – A visual quiz to help readers get a quick sense of their style.
- Apartment Therapy – How to Decorate Based on Personality Type – A fun blend of design and self-awareness.
- Emily Henderson’s Style Quiz – From a trusted interior design blogger.
Still Wondering How to Find Your Interior Design Style? Start Here.
You don’t need to figure it all out in one day. Your style will evolve with you—and that’s a good thing. The most important part is that your home feels like a true extension of who you are.
Let your space reflect your personality, not just the latest trends. Trust your instincts, embrace the process, and make choices that genuinely feel right to you.
If you’re ready to begin, open your Pinterest or a fresh folder on your phone. Save just one image that feels like home. That small step can lead to a beautifully personal space.
Want a little support? I’d be happy to send you a printable checklist or a mini workbook to help you explore your style at your own pace. Just drop me a message—I’ve got you!
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