Discovering your Interior Design Style by Amanda Edney

The first step to decorating/furnishing any home plan is identifying your Interior Style.  Grab some paper and a pen and follow through this simple guide to help you decide on yours!

When it comes to decorating your home, we are all influenced by external factors: glossy mags; friends; neighbours; family and of course partners etc.   Often this leads to some rather expensive mistakes and rooms which just ‘don’t ‘feel’ right!  In order for you to feel comfortable in your home, whatever you introduce into it must first satisfy your inner needs, not some received notion of style or acceptability.  Take the time to consider your ideal home, material preferences and practical requirements and make sure they reflect who you are!

Dreams and aspirations

First of all shut your eyes and visualise your ideal home.  Have a wander around.  Start at the front door – what is the first thing you see?  Which are the first rooms you go into?  What are they like?  Write down all your ideas.  If you cannot get a clear picture, you may like to think about a house you have visited on holiday or a childhood memory of a home you loved.  Think about the mood or atmosphere of the home and how it made you feel! 

Now think about whether your present home shares any of these qualities.  What are they, what is missing? When you come home, where do you seek sanctuary?  In which rooms do you spend as little time as possible?  Write down 3 things you like about your home and 3 things you don’t – and why. 

Material preferences

Texture

Texture is a powerful tool in making your home your own.  Novel textures stimulate, whilst familiar textures soothe.  Establish in your own mind, which textures delight and which repel.  The goal is to create a home full of textures, which make you feel good.  If you think of your home as a sanctuary – which textures signify security and comfort?  You may think of yourself as ‘sensuous’ when other such as ease to clean may be more important to you.  How much of your chosen textures do you currently have in your home? 

Pattern

There are so many patterns it is often easier to opt for plain.  But choosing fabrics and wallpapers you can live with is easier if you know what you are reacting to in a pattern.  Do you prefer random or regularity, curves or angles, mixed patterns.  Which pattern would you most like to have in your home – even in a small quantity?  Look in magazines or collect fabric samples and make a collection of patterns which appeal to you.

Arrangement

Imagine an empty surface such as a mantelpiece, shelf or table top – how would you arrange things on it – what would you put on it and how would you arrange them?  This can be unconscious.    Whether you choose to display just one object or a profusion, says something about how dramatic, or impressive or even sentimental you are.  Look at how you arrange flowers in a vase, place cushions on a sofa or set the table.  What effect do you try to achieve? 

Colour

Colour and light affect how we feel and can alter the mood of a room like nothing else.  What sorts of colours attract you?  Look at the colours around you – your personality and physical colouring is thought to determine the range of colours that suits you and brings out the best in you in your home as well as in your wardrobe.  Do you prefer intense jewel-bright colours or muted, chalky shades?  If you feel uncomfortable with too much colour – you may prefer hues mixed with black or white. 

Organisation

Interior Design Style is also about the practicalities of how we live –– how much order we need, how much chaos we can take.  This can vary from person to person.  When two people start to share a home, the degree of order and chaos each is prepared to put up with becomes clear within days.  To be happy in your own home, you need to make up your own mind how acceptable you find you own organizational habits.  If it makes you happier to see your friends or family having a rowdy time than it does to see every surface gleaming, then accept that even aspiring to a purist lifestyle is a waste of effort.

The more you explore and make a conscious note of the things that inspire you, attract or repel you - the more confident you will become with your own style preferences.  Your style will grow – it is part of you – why not make it part of your home environment?

©Amanda Edney 2008