How to Find Your Unique Design Style

When you’re faced with the blank canvas of a new home that needs decorating, you may feel like you have no idea where to begin. It turns out that one of the smartest places to start is by identifying your personal design aesthetic. By zeroing in on what you like and what you don’t before committing to major purchases, you’ll be more likely to create the perfect look for your space. Here are some ideas to help you figure out your unique style.

Visit Model Homes

Seeing what’s trending in home décor can be a great place to gather inspiration and determine your preferences. Because companies that sell new houses typically want to project that their product is fresh and current, checking out model homes in your area can help you spot what’s all the rage in the design world. Viewing model homes can be like getting a peek inside a designer showroom.

While you needn’t necessarily fall in love with what’s hot and trendy, you’ll probably notice a few things that you respond to. For instance, if you appreciate how light and airy the house looks, do you see design details that are giving it that feel? Features like interior glass doors, white or pale countertops and cupboards, lightly-hued flooring, and stark walls may be contributing to the openness of the space, and these are all options you can incorporate into your own home. Take note of what stands out and what turns you off.

Start a Mood Board

The appealing features you spot in your model home tour can be used as the starting point for a visual representation of your design taste. Creating a virtual collage, or mood board, of elements and objects that speak to you can help you further identify your aesthetic. Starting a mood board is not necessarily about creating floorplans and filling them with specific items, but rather it’s about finding colors, textures, and other design features that you admire, then seeing how they might all come together.

When visiting the websites of decorator magazines, product manufacturers, and design gurus, you are likely to see items that grab your attention. In most cases, you can hover on an image, then right-click to copy then paste it into any file. Apps like Pinterest make the process even easier, but a Word document will work, too. Once you’ve paste or pinned several images, you’re likely to see that many of the things you’ve gathered have something in common, whether it be that they are in a similar color scheme, share a vintage flair, have clean lines, etc. This may be your design aesthetic coming to life right before your eyes!

Check Your Closet

If you feel that you’ve made progress by visiting model homes and creating a mood board, there may be one last place to look to confirm your inclinations – your closet! The patterns, fabrics, and colors that show up repeatedly throughout your wardrobe may offer you a lot of clues about your preferences.

When you see several simple and monochromatic items on your hangers, this may be a sign that you favor streamlined modernism. If your favorite clothes lean toward the frilly and floral, then a country-chic look might be a consideration for your home. If you’re still hanging onto, and wearing, items from your high school days, then a timeless, or even a retro, design style might be your best choice. Don’t overlook the clues your clothing can give you about your overall aesthetic.

Decorating your home can take a lot of money and effort, so it’s wise to get a sense of design direction before you undertake such a big project. By looking for trends in model home décor, creating a mood board, and referencing your own fashion choices, you’ll likely be going a long way toward narrowing down your preferred aesthetic and making the perfect design choices for your new home.