How to Find Your Interior Design Style For Your Small Apartment
Living Pretty Ep44 // Find Your Interior Design Style For Your Small Apartment Aesthetic
Wondering how to find your interior design style? I can understand why! With so many decor ideas and interior styles to choose from, it can be difficult to figure out which style is right for you. Are you into mid century modern decor? Maximalist decor? More of a rustic style? Will you be needing bohemian decorating ideas?
In this video, I’m asking you a series of questions that will help you gain some clarity! It’s kind of a “what’s my interior design style” quiz that will help you hone in on what your style can be based on how you answer the questions.
So if you’re wondering how to decorate a small apartment, keep asking yourself “what’s my decorating style??”, and love a good home decor style quiz, allow me to give you some insight!
Video Transcript ↓
I’ve made some slight edits in the transcript below so that everything makes more sense in text form. But overall, this is almost a word-for-word dictation of what I say in the video. I’m a much better writer than this, I swear, haha.
So, how does one decide which interior style is right for them?
It’s one of the most common interior styling issues I get asked about. When there are so many interior styles out there to choose from out there, how do you decide which direction you should take?
In this video, we’re going to play a little game - sort of an online quiz meets YouTube video game. (If you’re reading this, I definitely suggest you watch the video on YouTube to get the visuals of the styles I talk about!)
And my goal with this is to give you some ideas on some potential interior styles you can look into after watching this video based on how you answer the questions I’m about to ask you.
And if you’re new to my channel, my name is Steffi and I’m the creator of the interior style blog Moda Misfit, and you’re watching Living Pretty, the place for apartment styling tips and small space decor inspiration.
Just because you rent your space doesn’t mean you can’t own your style, so if you want to get inspired every week be sure to subscribe!
Also, if you live in a studio apartment and you want a free resource that will help you jumpstart your styling, I highly recommend you download my free Studio Styling 101 workbook!
So, as I’ve said many times before, the key to finding your personal style is to really look inward.
And I touch on this in pretty much all of my videos, especially the recent ones. So if you want my take on how you can use your mindset as your most valuable tool as you decorate, I recommend penciling in a good Living Pretty binge!
But for this video, I thought we’d do something a little different. Loosen things up a little bit, you know?
Now, this isn’t a “find your interior style” quiz. There isn’t an ultimate result at the end of this. I’d like you to walk away with, perhaps, a few styles to look into.
Either way, let’s dive into these questions!
Question 1: How do you want your space to feel overall?
Do you want it to feel calm, relaxing, and cleansing?
Energizing, stimulating, and creative?
Or cozy, warm, and textured?
So take a moment and choose which answer fits best with you!
↓
If you went for calm, relaxing, and cleansing, you might want to look into minimalism. Minimalism is great for someone who wants to walk into their space and feel like they're entering a clean slate, a place to decompress, and a place that will just sort of soothe their weary soul.
Photo by Spencer
If you chose energizing, stimulating, and creative, you might want to look into boho. Boho is an interior style that's great for anyone who feels like they're hyper-creative and they love to be surrounded by things that stimulate that creativity!
Photo by Alyssa Strohmann
And if you chose cozy, warm, and textured, you might want to look into Scandinavian. Scandinavian, or Scandi, is great for someone who likes to feel that sense of coziness, who loves being surrounded by textures and elements of warmth, raw natural materials, but still with a minimal, clean look overall.
Photo by Taryn Elliott
Question 2: Which of the following TV show aesthetics do you gravitate towards the most?
Mad Men?
Or Downton Abbey?
↓
If you chose Mad Men then you might want to consider mid-century modern! Mad Men really epitomizes the mid-century modern style. It’s that swinging 60s vibe with bright pops of color and sophistication, yet balanced with a simple functionality.
And if you chose Downton Abbey, you might want to go for more of a traditional, polished look!
Actually, it kind of depends on where in the Downton Abbey series you're thinking of. I would say earlier in the series it was more traditional, and then it evolved into more of a glam style as it entered the 1920s.
So if you’re thinking of earlier-in-the-series Downton Abbey, you might want to consider a more traditional approach to your styling. This means not really being trendy and embracing more of a pulled back, timeless look.
Photo by reisetopia
If you were thinking more of the 1920s Downton Abbey, with the Roaring Twenties, flappers, Art Deco aesthetic, then you might want to explore glam!
Glam as an interior style is very dynamic in that it kind of stretches a lot of different looks, but if you're thinking about it through the Downton Abbey lens specifically, then I would think about that flapper aesthetic. That Art Deco vibe from the 20’s.
Question 3: Of the following, which do you feel comes closest to describing your color preferences?
Bright and bold?
Monochrome?
Or dark and moody?
↓
If you chose bright and bold, there are few styles that lend themselves very well to a bright and bold aesthetic. Maximalism, boho, and glam are three styles that come to mind for people who really like to express themselves in a bright and bold way through color.
Now, of course you can be bright and bold with pretty much any interior style, but maximalism, boho, and glam simply lend themselves nicely to that. There's a lot of freedom within these styles to play with color!
By the way, if you're not sure what maximalism is as an interior style, then I recommend you check out this video. I explore it in-depth in that one!
If you chose monochrome, you might want to look into minimalism or Scandinavian!
Both minimalism and Scandinavian, when it comes to color, often embrace a very monochrome color palette. They're both very much about promoting a sense of peace in the space, a sense of calm, a lack of clutter, a sense of wellbeing... and a monochrome color palette helps them do that!
And if you chose dark and moody, then you might want to look into dark decor as a style. I've done quite a few videos about dark decor. You can watch this one, or this one, or this one.
Dark decor is exactly as it sounds. It's about embracing those dark, rich hues, often with dark black painted walls, dark furniture, lush fabrics. And if dark decor sounds interesting to you, then I recommend searching the hashtag #darkdecor on Instagram or just typing dark decor into Pinterest. There's a ton of great inspiration out there!
Photo by Mael BALLAND
Question 4: When you're shopping, what kinds of decor accessories are you naturally drawn to?
Are they often masculine, metallic, and antique-y?
Natural and woodsy?
Or glitzy and decadent?
↓
If you chose masculine, metallic, and anique-y, you might be interested in industrial as an interior style!
Industrial is all about embracing those hard, masculine, metallic elements. Think old warehouse, industrial factory aesthetic.. but stylish. Edison bulbs, iron mixed with raw wood. Steampunk is a good example of an industrial style.
Photo by Aaron Huber
If you chose natural and woodsy, you might want to look into rustic!
Rustic is great for anyone who's attracted to a raw, earthy, woodsy look. If you love my bed frame, you might like rustic as an interior style. You might be attracted to the farmhouse look, or it can even be an old English cottage look.
Rustic as an interior style is actually a lot more versatile than a lot of people think, and you can watch this video of mine for an explanation of what rustic interior style can be!
Photo by Dmitry Zvolskiy
And if you chose glitzy and decadent, you might want to explore glam!
Glam is all about decadence, so when you're shopping for decor, do you find yourself gravitating towards the sparkly, shiny things? You might want to explore glam if that's the case.
Photo by Yakira Eppel
Question 5: Which of the following vacations sound the most appealing to you?
A trip to Palm Springs?
A camping trip?
Or a spa retreat?
↓
If you chose Palm Springs, you might want to look into mid-century modern as a style!
Palm Springs is pretty much the mecca of mid-century modern design. They even have an entire week devoted to mid-century modern design. A lot of the aesthetics in Palm Springs revolve around mid-mod design.
If you said a camping trip, then you might be interested in rustic!
Rustic is great for anyone who loves the great outdoors. Again, you have that woodsy, natural vibe that rustic conveys, so if you love a good camping trip, then rustic might be the style for you.
And if you said a spa retreat, then you might want to look into minimalism!
Like I said earlier, minimalism is all about peace, calm, cleansing the mind, being unencumbered by a whole bunch of stuff.
And if you've ever had a spa day, have you ever noticed that the way a spa is decorated is usually quite minimal? That's by design, because minimalism promotes that serenity that a spa wants you to feel.
Photo by Elly Fairytale
Question 6: Which of the following living situations sounds the most appealing to you?
A New York loft?
Or a California bungalow?
↓
If you chose a New York loft, you might want to look into industrial!
You know those old New York lofts with exposed brick, air ducts, and piping? That is the industrial ideal. So if you're drawn to that aesthetic, then you might want to look into industrial.
Photo by Derick McKinney
And if you said a California bungalow, you might want to look into boho.
When you think about the quintessential California bungalow, you think laid-back, airy, unpretentious, creative... and all of these things are encompassed in boho!
Photo by Timothy Buck
Question 7: What's a struggle you have that you would want your apartment to help you deal with?
Do you want to feel more relaxed and organized?
Do you want to express yourself more?
Or do you want to feel more inspired and creative?
If you want to feel more relaxed and organized, you might want to go for minimalism.
Like I said before, minimalism is all about relaxation and clearing your mind, but it's also about organization. It's about pairing down your material items and making it so that you're not surrounded by so much stuff that could potentially stress you out.
So if you adopt more of a minimalist aesthetic in your apartment, it might help you feel more relaxed and organized!
Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva
If you want to express yourself more, then maximalism might be a great fit for you!
It's all about using decor as a tool to express your personality, the things you love, experiences you’ve had, and doing so without any limitations.
So if you feel like you're kind of in a shell and you have a hard time expressing yourself - maybe in social situations - maximalism can be a great way to cope with that, because again, it’s all about self-expression and breaking out of your shell!
So there you have it! At the end of the day, finding your interior style is really about asking yourself the right questions.
In my upcoming online course, Small Apartment Styling School, there's an entire module dedicated to discovering your personal style.
And in that module, there's a lesson that dives even deeper into these interior styles that I've talked about here!
There are also lessons on choosing which one is right for you, how to mix different styles, choosing your color palette... all of this comes together to help you discover the style that is right for you.
If you want to learn more about Small Apartment Styling School and want to join the waitlist, click here!
It'll be open for enrollment on March 25th!
For daily glimpses into my studio apartment life, you can follow me on Instagram @moda.misfit!
And for regular doses of apartment styling tips and small space decor inspiration, subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell to be notified when a new video goes up every week.