How to find your home style (in any space!)
Let me paint you a picture.
It’s 2021. My husband and I have been living in our sweet little rental house on the hill by the lake for three years. It was built in 1850, and there are sweet little antique moments everywhere. Wide trim. Beautiful detailing around the kitchen window. Two front doors. High ceilings. But to my 2021 eyes, there is one detail that makes my skin crawl.
The blue walls.
The living room and two of the bedrooms are painted in rich, colonial blues. I am not allowed to paint over it—and that makes me crazy. Why?! Well, let me tell you.
De-influencing myself into finding my actual style
You see, I had succumbed to something I now call Sad Beige Fever. I was in the height of my Instagram addiction, trying to build my own following to promote my network marketing situation, and constantly consuming.
I wanted to be like the creators I followed. They all seemed to have these glistening homes with pure white walls, creamy linens, and pale wood floors.
I caught someone else’s design taste by accident.
My husband and I moved with our two little girls in 2022 and started renting from my in-laws. They were up for anything I wanted to do in our new space when it came to design—hooray! So what did I do?
You guessed it. I painted the walls white.
Swiss Coffee by Benjamin Moore, to be exact.
Honestly, I don’t think it was all social media that contributed to my Sad Beige Fever. I was pregnant with my third baby while chasing very busy one- and three-year-olds. My husband and I had to make some stressful life decisions. Looking back, that season was pretty chaotic. I think a part of why I was craving minimal walls and bright, empty space was because I felt peaceful when my space felt peaceful. As someone who spent the majority of my time at home, I needed my home to be as under-stimulating as possible because the rest of life was pretty overstimulating. White walls did that for me, and I still love a good white wall.
The longer we lived in that space, though, the more lost I was feeling when it came to design. I loved parts of what I put into place in that apartment—my little living room gallery wall, the sage green duvet that I found on Amazon for $29, the little wooden hooks I set up for my newborn’s swaddles and hats by his bassinet. But something always felt a little off, not quite like me.
so many sweet memories in our Swiss Coffee-walled home
Fast forward to 2024. By the grace of God, Cameron and I bought our first home! (It was an absolute miracle. I talk more about this in Creating Joy.)
In each house we had toured, offered on, and been rejected from purchasing, I had grieved all the ideas I didn’t get to put in place, all the ways I had to start over with dreaming up a home in a new space. But when we finally closed on our house, we opened the first chapter in a space that was truly ours to make our own.
Aaaand I immediately started painting like a maniac. Cam didn’t see me without a paintbrush in my hand when the kids went to bed for the night for like three months. Walls, trim, the front door…nothing was safe from me. The previous owner of our house had neglected its upkeep pretty badly, so the painting wasn’t just a fun project—it was redemption. The bathroom (which Cam unearthed from under layers of horrible stinky wood cabinets and cracked tile) is now robin egg blue. Our bedroom got a dusky blue beadboard wall and blue trim. The dining room, after Cam took down smelly wallpaper and installed board and batten, now features forest green against our oak hand-me-down dining set. I wallpapered our shoe closet and our front door is yellow.
Notice a theme?
There is cozy color all over our new home! Somewhere along the way in the past couple of years, we started discovering hints of what our true taste actually is. Goodbye, Sad Beige Fever. I deactivated my Instagram account for the entirety of 2024, and I think that had something to do with my real taste coming back to me sometime between then and 2025. I can actually name my favorite color again, and it’s not beige. Surprise.
Our home is, and will be for many years, a work in progress. I don’t think it’ll ever look like something you’d see in a design magazine (although we could definitely make headlines with the messes we produce in our living room) but we sure do love it here.
Why I care about home design, and why you should too.
I don’t think design taste is an area where you ever really arrive, but I do think it is worth it to know what you like.
Our Creator is a God of detail. Just look closely the next time you have a flower sitting in a vase on your table. Notice every little grain of pollen and perfectly painted dot and stripe on the petals and know that Someone did that, on purpose. We are created in the image of God, with His creativity within us. If He cares about such intricacy, why wouldn’t we sink into the details, too?
In something as simple and yet world-changing as caring for our homes, we impact every moment we spend in the space. Every time we tuck our babies in for the night, the last thing they will see is most likely something we’ve set up for them in their rooms. Every morning when we walk into our kitchens to start caring for our families, the atmosphere we’ve created is there waiting to meet us.
This is why, humble as the results may be, the way I design my home matters to me. I want to know the ways that I have been uniquely created to see beauty so I can put things into place that inspire me and bring joy to my family. And I think you should get to know your own style too.
I am not saying that we should ever be in pursuit of the “perfect” home. Any home where you have your family safe around you with full bellies and a roof over your heads is a blessing that is honestly too great to even comprehend, but I’m doing my best to comprehend it, and I bet you are too. We need to turn our hearts toward contentment no matter where we are, and I think we all know that true beauty and a feeling of joy within a home will never come from the way we design it. That has to do way more with the hearts of the people who live in the home. But no matter where you are right now, whether that’s a tiny apartment, your childhood bedroom, or the home of your dreams, I’m inviting you to let yourself be curious. Let’s look around our spaces and consider if there are any little things to make our homes speak to us in a more unique, joyful, intentional and beautiful way.
Discovering your own home style
Here are ten ideas to help you discover what uniquely brings you joy in the visual atmosphere of your home.
1. First, evaluate visual clutter.
Dealing with clutter that has built up is 1) going to make you feel 1000x lighter and more at peace in your home 2) going to give you a feeling of satisfaction and gratitude as you care for the space you have dominion over and 3) going to let you see a little more of what is actually going on in your space when it comes to design!
Where do you have clutter that you are constantly running into, or seeing every day? Do you need to maybe put a system in place to help stop stuff from building up, take an afternoon to go through the pile, or add a little piece of furniture or a bin to act as a container for whatever has been collecting? You won’t regret starting this process with a good ol’ decluttering session.
2. Do the little projects that have been bugging you.
Fill the nail hole in your hallway. Replace the cover plate. Get a new curtain hanger thingy for the drooping curtain rod. Vacuum the shoe closet. I put off stuff like this for so long sometimes, but when my husband and I actually just start doing little maintenance things I’m always blown away by how quickly they can actually get done! And again, you’re going to be able to see your space more clearly as a whole when it’s in the best shape it can be.
3. Pay attention to the light in your space.
Get the blinds open! Bring in an extra lamp or two! Swap your cool lightbulbs to warm-toned ones! Light is a HUGE factor in how our homes feel to us, and if your space is a little dim right now, it might be selling you short on its true coziness potential.
4. Evaluate the colors, art and decor you have going on.
Just take a look around at the way you have your home set up. What do you love about your home’s design right now? Are there any things that have been the same way for so long you’ve kind of stopped seeing them? Do you see you and your family’s personality and preferences when you look around, or have some things just kind of fallen together a certain way?
Just pay attention to those details: colors, decor and art. Keep your eyes off the big pieces of furniture and don’t you dare think about taking a wall down or something because that’s not what we’re talking about right now. Trust me when I say that just by evaluating and shifting a few color and decor choices, you may be able to change the whole feel of your house. (This is great for me, because I am impatient and very bad at anything that requires measuring.)
5. Get on Pinterest.
Yep, you heard me right. Get ON social media (well, Pinterest anyway) and look for ideas of what feels homey and inspiring to you. Pinterest is a unique and helpful form of social media because it is such an effective search engine, and the algorithm is way less addictive than on other platforms. (Maybe mute the people you tend to be super influenced by on other social media though, if you’re serious about diving in and figuring out your style. You might like them so much you can’t hear your own taste.)
Search for images that mimic the actual shape of your space—beware of being super inspired by the photos that include super high ceilings or floor to ceiling windows. Images that include rooms that look like your home will help the most with noticing the design you enjoy.
Pay attention to:
Colors of the items in the photos: what groupings of color are you drawn to? Do you prefer brightly colored or moody spaces? Do you like lots of variation in color or something more monochromatic?
Amount of items on surfaces: look at how simple most of the table styling is!
Size of wall decor items: do you like statement art or more dainty frames?
Most of all, general feeling of the image: what is the vibe you’re drawn to? This can be the hardest thing to figure out, but once you know, you’ll be able to bring that feeling to life in your home even without having any of the exact same items or configurations that you see in the Pinterest images.
If you find yourself getting mostly just lots of ads and products when you’re searching, add the word “aesthetic” to the end of your search terms. That’ll probably fix it!
Another thing that could be fun if you have certain things you can’t change about your space (like my blue rental walls, which I would love now but didn’t love in 2021) is to search keywords for those areas with your design style keywords. Lime green bathroom, cozy coastal. Someone must have done that before, right?! Seeing inspiration for how to apply your style in areas that feel like a problem can be really helpful.
6. Don’t put a label on your style.
You don’t need to be able to describe your style with a certain word. No one is going to come over and inspect your home to make sure it is classic-modern-farmhouse. Let yourself be delighted while you find inspiration—it doesn’t need to be that serious!
7. Rearrange, baby.
If you were a kid who rearranged your room every couple of months like I was, this will come super naturally. Based on your inspiration hunting, look around your space again and evaluate what you could change just by finding a different balance in furniture arrangements and decor. Pull from storage and swap items between rooms. Storing away or grouping together small items on your surfaces is almost a guarantee that you’ll make your home look more like your inspiration. Don’t go buying anything just yet—you have cute things to do with what you already have!
8. Get one piece of art you absolutely love.
Hit up Pinterest again to find a piece of art with colors and feeling that inspire you. I love the work of Hannah Weisner, Lore Pemberton & Laivi Poder—if our tastes happen to line up, I bet you’ll love them too.
Art is such a worthy investment, but it doesn’t have to be pricey. Lots of Etsy makers sell beautiful art that you can get printed at Staples and frame at Hobby Lobby for $12. Even just one piece of art is so helpful for inspiring a color palette in a certain room (pull colors from the one artwork when you’re making decisions about what other items to have in the room!) and bringing a bunch of happiness and inspiration into the space!
9. Make thrifting your new best friend.
Keep a running list somewhere of things you would love to add into your home—maybe sort it out by room. Facebook Marketplace, tag sales and thrift stores will be your best friend for slowly adding in new items that fit your style.
10. Be patient.
I am very bad at this one! But what I have seen in my own home and what I have heard from actual design people who know what they’re doing is that making a space that feels genuine to your style will take time. Even if you had unlimited budget to completely redo a room or buy brand new furniture for the whole house, you probably wouldn’t end up liking the results long-term. Embrace the process of layering little bits of beauty into your home as you and your family grow and change. It’s more fun that way, anyway.
That’s all I’ve got for you—hope you have fun playing around with your style! The time you spend discovering what you love is so worth it. You’ll see, I promise.
Posted by Megan
Hey there, I’m Megan! You can usually find me dreaming up a new project with my husband, trying to figure out homeschool with my two girls while my little boy explores the pots and pans cabinet, or excavating a pile of laundry with coffee in my hand. We live in New England and our dog is named Moose.
Connect: @lilac.and.sparrow
