Discovering Your Unique Home Design Style

Personal style is how you express yourself through aesthetic choices. And if you’ve found your way to me and this blog post, this is likely something that’s meaningful to you. It’s a powerful thing to see yourself reflected in your home design. But it can also be tricky to know where to start. 

One of the things I struggled with the most in the early days of decorating our house was getting confused by home design trends. I liked so many different styles that when I found something cool and in my budget (likely at the thrift store), I would just grab it! But that left my house feeling a bit too eclectic and not cohesive enough. 

Over the past several years, by thought process around interior design and its importance has been changing. It used to literally be my job to keep up with home design trends.

Trends intentionally have a limited shelf-life.

Design trends are engineered to be grown tired of after time so that you will be primed to purchase the next new and exciting “look”. 

I see a fundamental problem with decorating based solely on aesthetic trends like this because we don’t just look at rooms, we live in them. And because sustainability is a core value for me, I now aim to design rooms that are timeless and flexible, so that they can evolve alongside the people and families living in them.

Where does personal style come from? 

I believe that we all intrinsically have one. There are certain things we gravitate to visually, even if we can’t necessarily explain why. Discovering your personal style is more of an excavation –a clearing away of all the stuff that isn’t really us, things we’ve been told we should like because of clever marketing and other external influences. 

To discover what is timeless and true to you, start by focusing on how home feels, not just how it looks. 

When designing rooms for clients or myself, I have always started by considering how I want the space to feel. A feeling is different than a look because it takes senses beyond just sight into account. Whereas a trend-driven or themed room is one dimensional and formulaic, a good design concept for a home is rooted in something deeper and becomes a well for further inspiration to be drawn from.

The best clues to finding your own unique style will often lie in your personal history. 

All of the things that make up your personality now, where you’ve lived and traveled, your hobbies and interests, who and what you’ve loved, stories and objects that hold fond memories, what you’ve always dreamed of – all of these things inform what feels like home to you specifically. 

Translating the feelings these things give to you into a visual medium will be a very personal undertaking. What feels one way to me may feel the complete opposite to you. But here are a few examples from my personal history that I’ve been able to pinpoint as foundations of my personal style that will hopefully spark some ideas for uncovering your own. 

Growing up on a farm > strong influence of nature, seen in earthy tones, natural materials and simple, utilitarian objects.

Studying classical music > a taste for elegance and refinement, the idea of elevating everyday objects and life to art, the use of simplicity, contrast and juxtaposition to evoke a mood.

Traveling to Europe in college > appreciation of antique and historical styles with more decorative, ornate details, feeling drawn to “old world” textures and materials.

Fond memories of my Grandmother’s house > feeling most at home in a warm, collected, casual space with many heirloom and handmade elements.