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What’s Your Design Style?

What’s Your Design Style?

[vc_single_image image=”2073″ img_size=”360×570″ alignment=”center”]Whether you are decorating a new home or simply refreshing your existing space, knowing your design style is key to creating an interior that is appealing, comfortable, and reflects your own unique taste and personality. Start by identifying your interior style early, so you can design a space that fits into your aesthetic. Here is a guide to help identify your own interior design style.

What is an Interior Design Style?

Interior design is part art, part science. It balances the visual design of a space, along with its use, to create interiors that are both appealing and functional. An interior design style considers:

  • Functional use of space. Good interior design plans for traffic patterns, high-use areas, storage space, and other aspects of design and arrangement that complement the functionality of a space.
  • Color. Color has a powerful psychological impact and influences all aspects of a space. Colors can be used to make a space feel warm and cheerful, calm and relaxing, or sleek and sophisticated.
  • Texture. Textures and surfaces contribute a huge amount to the style and feel of a space. The bright shine of chrome or brass creates a very different impression than the roughness of brick or the warmth of wood. Especially in areas with large surface areas, like walls, curtains, floors, and big furniture pieces like couches and dining tables, surface texture contributes a lot to style.
  • Lighting. Lighting is incredibly important in interior design because it is so influential in how a given space feels and functions. Choosing where lights are placed, and what those lights look like, is integral to the overall design.
  • Decor. Decor is often what jumps to peoples’ minds when they think of interior design. Furniture, floor coverings, art, display objects, lamps, and all the other little touches that complete the style and pull a space together.
  • Magic. A great interior designer is also a bit of a magician. They can make small spaces feel larger, old spaces seem newer, budget items look like high-end bespoke pieces, and make small changes transformative. There are dozens of tricks that can be used to make a space feel like something it isn’t.

A “design style” incorporates all these different elements into a single, cohesive aesthetic. It meets the needs of form and function with harmony and unity, so that everything in a space looks like it belongs there, belongs together, and contributes to easy and comfortable use of a space. It’s a big task.

Popular Design Styles

One of the best ways to find your own design style is by looking at other popular styles and seeing what appeals to you. Here are some of the most popular interior design styles right now:

Modern

[vc_single_image image=”2065″ img_size=”570×360″]In this instance, the term “modern” doesn’t refer to a contemporary time period. Instead, modern is a design style that focuses on highly functional pieces, open floor plans, clean lines, and simple block colors.

Mid-Century

[vc_single_image image=”2066″ img_size=”570×360″]Mid-century interior design is inspired by the interiors of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. This style is more expressive, with strong silhouettes, saturated colors, and signature pieces. The lines remain clean and simple but are wrapped around strong geometric shapes. It’s retro with a twist.

Scandinavian

[vc_single_image image=”2067″ img_size=”570×360″]The “Modern” look was originally inspired by Scandinavian design a century ago, and people continue to be inspired by Scandinavian interiors. It’s another style with a clean, minimalist look, open space, and a focus on function. Scandinavian design uses black and white—with the occasional block of bold color—and sleek surfaces and textures.

Shabby Chic

[vc_single_image image=”2068″ img_size=”570×360″]Shabby chic is a more relaxed style, incorporating a softer color palette and organic textures to evoke a vintage style. Shabby chic spaces tend to be light and airy with an antique touch.

Bohemian

[vc_single_image image=”2069″ img_size=”570×360″]Bohemian is another relaxed style, with organic shapes and soft, unstructured lines. It has a broader and more vivid color palette than shabby chic and features soft lighting, eclectic pieces, and detailed patterns.

How to Find Your Own Interior Design Style

When finding your own personal design style, here are three key considerations:

  1. Your signature pieces. These are your “must-haves”. If you currently have a large piece of wall art, a designer velvet chaise, or your dining room must have a farmhouse table, these large signature pieces will anchor your design. Your style needs to incorporate and build on them.
  2. Color. The color palette of your style should fit with your signature pieces and compliment them, while also reflecting your style and complimenting your space. Think about the colors that you like, the colors that match those colors, and how those colors make you feel. Remember that you can also tone and shade colors to create subtlety, complexity, and nuance.
  3. Style. With those things in mind, look at a wide range of interior designs. Use magazines, Pinterest and online searches, and design sites to find the styles that appeal to you the most. When looking at design styles, think about what appeals to you in that image: is it the patterns and textures, the colors, the size and scale, the shapes and angles, the lighting, the mood?

Knowing what you like, and why, will help you determine what your personal design style is, and help you create a space that reflects your own aesthetic.

How Can J. Fisher Help Create a Home with Your Unique Style

J. Fisher Interiors specializes in designing spaces that are modern and functional, while still being comfortable and reflecting your own unique personality. We are experts at helping you find a design that you will absolutely love, and create a home that elevates your lifestyle. Contact us today to find your style and design the home of your dreams.

Contact

J.Fisher Interiors’ studio is located in east Austin. To schedule your consultation appointment, please fill out the contact form or call us at 512.954.0904. We would love to hear from you!

Interior Design Consultation

J.Fisher Interiors’ studio is located in east Austin. To schedule your consultation appointment, please fill out the contact form or call us at 512.954.0904. We would love to hear from you!

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