How to Find Your Interior Design Style
How to Find Your Interior Design Style: A Classic Guide to Creating a Home You Love
Finding your interior design style can feel overwhelming, especially with so many beautiful options available. But the key to creating a home that feels truly you is to focus on what you love—not just what’s trending.
As an interior designer with a love for timeless, classic spaces, I believe every home should reflect both elegance and personality. Whether you're furnishing a new home or refreshing a room, here’s a thoughtful guide to help you uncover your signature interior design style.
1. Start with Your Inspiration
Look at what consistently catches your eye. Pull together images from Pinterest, Instagram, magazines, or even favorite hotels or historical homes. Ask yourself:
Are you drawn to symmetry and structure?
Do you love soft, neutral palettes or bold, saturated colors?
Are there certain materials—like wood, marble, brass, or linen—you keep gravitating toward?
Create a mood board or folder where you can start to see patterns emerge.
2. Audit Your Closet (Yes, Really!)
Your wardrobe often reflects your design style. Are your go-to pieces tailored and timeless? Do you favor natural textures like cotton, wool, or leather? The colors, patterns, and silhouettes you wear can offer unexpected insights into your aesthetic preferences.
3. Define How You Want Your Home to Feel
Design isn’t just about how your home looks—it’s about how it feels to live in it. Ask yourself:
Do you want your home to feel serene and sophisticated?
Comfortable and inviting?
Polished with a sense of history?
The mood you’re trying to create will help determine the direction of your style.
4. Identify Your “Forever Pieces”
Think about the furniture or decor you’ve owned the longest or loved the most. Chances are, those pieces reflect your enduring tastes. Whether it’s a French bergère chair, an antique dresser, or a classic blue-and-white ginger jar, these treasures help anchor your style.
5. Know the Design Vocabulary
Understanding the general language of interior styles can be helpful. You might relate to one of these classic styles:
Traditional – Elegant, timeless, and formal. Think antiques, symmetry, and layered textures.
Transitional – A blend of traditional and modern. Clean lines with classic touches.
Modern Classic – Sleek with a historical nod. Neutral palettes, refined finishes, and a less-is-more mindset.
You don’t have to fit into a single category, but knowing the terminology can help guide decisions and conversations.
6. Experiment Slowly
Start small—refresh a vignette on a console, swap out throw pillows, or restyle your shelves. Living with subtle changes lets you fine-tune your taste and make sure your style feels right in your space.
7. Trust Your Gut
Timeless design isn’t about chasing perfection or copying a Pinterest board. It’s about trusting your instincts and choosing pieces that speak to you. If you love it, it will never be out of style.
Final Thoughts
Discovering your interior design style is a journey, not a destination. As you evolve, your home will too—and that’s a beautiful thing. Whether your style leans fully traditional or mixes in some modern charm, the goal is to create a space that feels warm, welcoming, and uniquely yours.
Need help pulling it all together? I’d love to work with you to design a home that reflects your personal style with timeless elegance.
Elements of Timeless Design
The Four Essential Elements of Timeless Interior Design
By [Your Name]
When it comes to designing a beautiful, enduring space, the magic is in the details—but more specifically, in four essential elements that quietly shape the feeling and function of a room: lighting, scale, color, and flow. Whether you're starting from scratch or refining an existing space, keeping these core principles in balance will always lead you back to timeless design.
1. Lighting: The Mood Maker
Lighting is one of the most transformative design tools at our disposal. In a classic interior, it’s not just about visibility—it’s about atmosphere.
Layered lighting is key:
Ambient lighting (typically overhead) sets the foundation.
Task lighting (such as sconces, reading lamps, or under-cabinet lights) brings function.
Accent lighting (think picture lights or candlelight) adds warmth and personality.
Always consider natural light first—how it shifts throughout the day can guide your decisions for window treatments, room layout, and even paint colors.
Design Tip: Use dimmers generously. They allow you to shift the tone of a room from vibrant and social to soft and serene.
2. Scale: The Silent Sophisticate
A room can have all the right pieces, but if the scale is off, the entire space feels unsettled. Scale refers to how furnishings, décor, and architectural features relate to one another and to the room itself.
In timeless interiors, scale is about balance:
Avoid oversized furniture in small rooms—it swallows the space.
Likewise, don’t scatter tiny items in a large room where they’ll feel lost.
Varying scale within a room creates interest and depth, much like a well-curated outfit.
Design Tip: Anchor a seating area with a substantial rug to ground the space and establish proportions.
3. Color: The Backbone of Timeless Style
Color is deeply personal, but when chosen thoughtfully, it becomes the thread that ties a room—and a home—together.
Classic interiors often lean on muted palettes, rich neutrals, and nature-inspired hues. Think soft ivories, layered greys, historic blues, or warm taupes. These tones age gracefully and feel grounded in tradition.
That said, don’t shy away from bold color—used intentionally, it can add depth and soul. The key is consistency and restraint.
Design Tip: Before committing to a color, observe it in morning, afternoon, and evening light. It may surprise you.
4. Flow: The Feeling of Ease
Flow is what makes a home feel effortless. It’s the way your eye moves through a room—and how you move through it physically.
For strong flow:
Allow for generous pathways between furniture.
Arrange seating with conversation in mind.
Use symmetry to calm, and asymmetry to spark curiosity.
Repeat shapes, materials, or colors throughout your home to create a natural visual rhythm.
When a space flows well, it invites you in, guides you gracefully, and encourages you to linger.
Design Tip: Walk through your space as if you’re a guest—notice where you pause, where you feel cramped, or where the eye stumbles. That’s where adjustments can be made.
In Closing
Trends come and go, but these four elements—lighting, scale, color, and flow—remain at the heart of timeless design. They are the quiet forces working behind the scenes to create homes that feel just right: grounded, graceful, and enduring.
Whether you're refreshing a single room or starting from the ground up, returning to these fundamentals ensures your space will never go out of style.
Curb Appeal
Whether you're selling your home and want top dollar, or just want a beautiful house to come home to, start at the street.
Whether you're selling your home and want top dollar, or just want a beautiful house to come home to, start at the street. Focus on the essentials - upkeep, landscaping, balance, cohesiveness and charm - to get that often-lusted-after-but-seldom-achieved "curb appeal."
01
REPAIR
Wash, paint, repair. You can spend all the time (and money) in the world with frou frou distractions, but if you need a new roof, you need a new roof. Start with the basics and the rest will be the icing on top.
Scrub the siding, touch up the trim, and repair the handrail. And, while it can be costly, a fresh coat of paint can make a world of difference and may be worth it.
02
TIDY THE landscaping
Trim the trees, prune the bushes, sweep your walkways and even the mulch. Reseed or replace brown patches in the grass. Create balance between each element: established landscaping looks even better when it's in proportion with your home. And don't forget about pots, planters and window boxes; layer each with seasonal blooms to add color and texture.
03
Edit
Aim for consistency in terms of architectural and design style. If you have a Craftsman door, decorative Victorian corbels won't make sense. Use online sources like Pinterest and Houzz to inspire and guide you.
If you're having a tough time putting a finger on what doesn't feel quite right, don't hesitate to call in the pros - an architect or designer should be able to spot the issue easily.
04
Add charm
The most welcoming entries have a little personality. Add a pop of color with a painted door or shutters. Replace your door hardware and add a vintage door knocker. Create ambiance with lighting. Rotate seasonal wreaths. And don't forget the welcome mat.
Take caution: while special features can be memorable, take care in choosing those that are not polarizing style-wise. Your cherished antique knickknack collection might feel overwhelming and distracting to others.