How to Communicate Your Design Style to an Interior Designer

One of the things we hear from clients before starting a project is some version of:

“I don't really know what my style is.”

That's completely fine.

You don't need to walk into your first meeting with an interior designer knowing whether you're transitional, contemporary, organic modern, traditional, or anything else.

In fact, at Vision Interiors, we'd much rather understand what you're genuinely drawn to than have you try to fit yourself into a design category.

Our job is to figure out what all of those preferences mean when they're brought together.

Show Us What You Love

Images are incredibly helpful.

Save rooms that make you stop scrolling. They don't all need to look alike, and you don't need to understand why you're responding to them yet.

Maybe you love the cabinetry in one kitchen, the mood of another room, the stone in a bathroom, the color palette of a completely different house, and one very specific light fixture somewhere else.

That's useful information.

We can look across those images and begin identifying the common threads.

Show Us What You Don't Like Too

Sometimes dislikes are even more revealing than likes.

If there's a material you never want to see in your house, tell us.

If every image of a particular style makes you think, “Absolutely not,” that's useful too.

Maybe you dislike cool grays. Maybe you don't want your home to feel overly formal. Maybe you love beautiful spaces but hate anything that feels too precious to actually live in.

Knowing what you don't want helps us understand the boundaries of the design.

Tell Us What You Like About the Image

Two people can save exactly the same room for completely different reasons.

You may love the color palette while someone else loves the architecture. You may be responding to the relaxed feeling rather than any particular piece of furniture.

So when possible, tell us what caught your attention.

It doesn't need to be design language.

“I love how warm this feels.”

“This is too sterile for me.”

“I would never choose this sofa, but I love everything else.”

“I don't know why, but this room makes me happy.”

Those reactions are incredibly useful.

Your Inspiration Doesn't Have to Be Interior Design

Sometimes the best clues aren't pictures of rooms at all.

It might be a hotel you loved, a restaurant, a piece of artwork, a favorite place you've traveled, a fashion image, a landscape, or even an object you've owned for years.

All of those things can tell us something about color, mood, texture, pattern, or the way you want your home to feel.

A design concept doesn't have to begin with another person's house.

Tell Us About Your Life, Not Just Your Style

How you live is just as important as what you like visually.

Do you entertain constantly? Are there children or pets? Does everyone pile onto one sofa at night? Do you cook together? Do you need quiet spaces? Do you collect art? Do you want your home to feel energetic or calm?

Those answers affect the design.

A home can be visually beautiful and still be completely wrong for the people living there.

That's why we want to understand both your aesthetic preferences and your actual life.

Don't Try to Make Everything Match Before You Show Us

Your inspiration images may seem contradictory.

That's okay.

You might love a traditional room, a contemporary kitchen, an unexpected wallpaper, a very clean bathroom, and a wildly colorful piece of art.

You don't need to edit those preferences into a perfectly cohesive presentation before meeting with us.

That's part of our job.

Often, the most personal interiors come from combinations the client wouldn't necessarily have known how to put together themselves.

Leave Room to Be Surprised

Your designer should listen to you—but that doesn't mean every recommendation should be something you would have selected on your own.

Part of hiring a designer is being introduced to possibilities you haven't considered.

There may be a material, color, layout, piece of furniture, or idea that initially pushes you slightly outside your comfort zone.

You should always feel comfortable saying what you think. But there should also be enough trust in the relationship to explore something unexpected.

Some of the best design decisions happen there.

You Don't Need to Define Your Style Before We Begin

You don't need the perfect Pinterest board.

You don't need to know design terminology.

And you definitely don't need to arrive knowing exactly what your finished home should look like.

Bring us your reactions. Your preferences. Your dislikes. The things you've collected. The way your family lives. The things about your current home that drive you crazy.

We'll help connect the dots.

At Vision Interiors, our goal isn't to determine which design category you belong in and then design accordingly.

It's to understand you well enough to create a home that feels like it couldn't belong to anyone else.