How to find your decorating style

Everywhere I go, I admire beautiful design, art and architecture and when I am at home, I flip through magazines or I check out visual platforms to see what’s new. That’s my daily routine after finishing my busy corporate work schedule and that’s like a breath of fresh air. I hope this post will give you ideas on how to nail down your decorating style.

Google Images, Pinterest, Instagram and Houzz are by far the most convenient online sources of inspiration. Pinterest is the easiest platform to gather your inspiration in one place while all other sources will require an editor. I find Pinterest to be the best place to create mood boards. It’s super easy to use and designed impeccably for this task; it offers a remarkable image library where users have already saved and shared inspirational images.

Also, https://www.elledecor.com and https://www.architecturaldigest.com are awesome websites for great inspiration.
Consider following interior designers, brands and influencers on Pinterest, Houzz and Instagram.

Gather images online

Check out  “Easy steps to style your home”  for more thoughts on how to gather inspiration using Pinterest and Instagram.
A collection of images of anything you love is a great starting point. Whatever your inspiration, it is best to gather as many elements together as you can: favourite colours, wall art you like, colour combinations from different palettes, the work of great designers, furniture pieces, textures – save them all on your board. Gather anything that catches your eye or you find interesting. Don’t overthink it. Don’t overlook travel images, people laughing at a well-lit evening party, landscapes, or images with beautiful lighting. Remember you’re creating a vibe. It’s super easy to do this on Pinterest but any other platform will have some sorts of functionality for saving ideas. Pin images that speaking to you personally on one board.

Let’s say you’ve searched and gathered your inspiration on Pinterest, now start grouping the images by style or by room if you plan on decorating more than one space (bedroom, living room, office, etc). You also can pull together ideas by tone. For example, you might separate kitchen photos into groups of light kitchens, dark kitchens, and colorful kitchens.

Edit your boards

Once you have all pics you really like, start eliminating the ones that you are not madly in love with and do this process again and again until you narrow it down to only few pins. Usually there will be a few that really stands out. These are the key drivers of your style.

Now let’s say you have two boards: living room and dining room; after you picked your best pins, put all these absolute favorites from both boards into one place. Edit your board again.

Tips to edit your boards:

– If you have two images side by side and one is the winner, delete the other.
– If there is a small element in an image that you really like, such as fireplace or the color of the walls, keep it and edit the comment at the bottom in Pinterest to save your idea.

To keep your vision on track, start working on your vocabulary by writing down design words, mainly what are the words that comes in mind when you look at your favourite images. Is it cozy, hygge, mid-century, rustic? Having your guiding words is as important as having your images.

Instagram images can also be shared on your Pinterest board. Do this before you narrow down your most favorite pins. To search on Instagram, make use of hashtags.

Stuck with multiple looks?

If you are stuck with multiple looks, separate them into two sub-boards until each has its own point of view. When you evaluate the boards side by side, it’s usually fairly obvious which one creates more joy.  If not, you will eventually need to decide what it is you like about each board.
From there, you’ll either blend aesthetics together (i.e. Moroccan meets Neutral color palette or Traditional with a Modern twist) or choose a clear favorite and stick to it (the one that creates more joy).

Here’s a screenshot of my Pinterest board for my living room. My foundation style for my primary residence is dictated by the beautiful and earthy tile that I love. I would like to keep the space casual and airy. I would also like the space to feel warm, calm, earthy and natural. I am looking to add to the rustic look of my home more contemporary edge. I can’t change the hard finishes (floors) and I don’t want to, so I am going to paint the walls (currently Benjamin Moore Sandy brown) with a more neutral and lighter color (thinking of Benjamin Moore Natural linen) that will coordinate with the floors and will look great with white.

Don’t limit your vision

Don’t limit your vision to budget at this stage. Your goal is to put together a portfolio of images that fells like home to you. You may have different design styles, colors, furniture, decor pieces and that’s okay if it feels like home. You might get a pattern from one image, color scheme from other image, a console table from one and so on.

The goal is to leave this exercise with a specific direction on likes and dislikes. On the next article, we will go over creating your visual guide to help you execute your vision.