How to Find Your Interior Design Style (Quiz)
Most people can't name their interior design style, and they don't need to. What they can tell me is how they spend a Saturday, which hotel they still think about years later, and what's hanging in their closet. Those answers say more about how a home should look and feel than any style label. This guide shows how to find your interior design style the way I work it out with clients, with a short quiz to help you sort through it.
Your design style starts with how you live
Your interior design style is the mix of colors, materials, forms and light that make you feel most at ease at home. Labels like mid-century modern, transitional or Scandinavian are useful shorthand, but they describe furniture, not people.
A home designed around a label tends to photograph well and wear thin. A home designed around how you live keeps working: the reading chair is where the afternoon light falls, the dining table seats the number of people you actually host, and the bedroom is set up to help you wind down at night. That's the starting point for every project I take on, and it's the thinking behind the quiz below.
What I look at when a client isn't sure of their style
In a first consultation, I work out a client's style by looking at eight things:
How you live. Your routines, how often you entertain, kids, pets, working from home, and how you unwind.
Places you love. Hotels, restaurants, homes or trips where you felt most comfortable.
Reactions to images. What you save on Pinterest or Instagram, and just as important, what you scroll past.
Your current home. What you've kept and collected, and what you'd happily leave behind.
Color and tone. Whether you lean toward bold color or earth tones, warm or cool.
Modern or traditional, moody or bright. Two scales that narrow things down quickly.
Materials. The woods, stones, metals and fabrics you're drawn to.
Your wardrobe. The colors and textures you choose to wear every day are often the ones you'll want to live with.
None of these on its own gives a complete answer. Together, they point in a clear direction.
The interior design style quiz
Answer the 10 questions below and go with your first instinct, even if no answer is a perfect match. Your result appears at the end.
Your results
Here's what each result means. If your quiz result included a second style, read both, along with the section on mixed results below.
Warm Organic Modern
Warm Organic Modern is a soft, modern home built from natural materials in a warm, tonal palette. Think walnut and white oak, linen and wool, bouclé, honed stone and hand-troweled plaster, with very little pattern. The interest comes from texture and proportion rather than color. It suits people who want home to feel like a place to slow down at the end of the day.
See it in our work: Central Park Serenity, an Upper West Side condo overlooking Central Park, with custom walnut millwork, layered textiles and a warm tonal palette throughout. For more on keeping modern rooms from feeling cold, read warm modern interior design.
Layered Earth Tones
Layered Earth Tones is a warm, saturated home where color, pattern and collected pieces all work together. Terracotta, olive and ochre sit alongside warm oak, layered wallpapers and natural fibers, and new furniture mixes with pieces that have a history. It suits people whose homes are full: family dinners, kids, guests, and rooms that get used every day.
See it in our work: Southampton Family Retreat, a Hamptons renovation featured in Modern Luxury Hamptons, with custom oak millwork, layered wallpapers and an earth-toned palette in place of the expected Hamptons white. The house was planned around how the family gathers, including dining for twelve.
Moody and Tailored
Moody and Tailored is a deep, high-contrast home with clean lines and a strong sense of structure. Charcoal, ink and deep jewel tones are paired with velvet, lacquer and dark stone, and custom built-ins keep everything precise. Art is the focal point, and lighting is layered with lamps, sconces and dimmers so rooms glow in the evening. It suits people who love being at home at night and want rooms that feel enveloping.
See it in our work: our 50 West 66th Street Residence on the Upper West Side, a renovation with fully custom built-ins and furnishings, a high-contrast palette of charcoal grays and pearlescent tones, and commissioned artwork throughout.
Bright and Airy
Bright and Airy is a light-filled home with a pale palette, reflective surfaces and a touch of glamour. Cream and ivory, bleached oak, marble, brass and crystal all help light travel through the rooms. The key is layering texture and material so the space feels rich rather than flat. It suits people who feel best with natural light and open space, and who want their home to feel like a fresh start every morning.
See it in our work: the West End Avenue Penthouse, where the clients arrived asking for white-on-white. The finished home overlooks the Hudson and layers texture and material against the light: three racetrack-shaped brass mirrors over a bleached-oak console, crystal chandeliers, and a cream velvet headboard in the primary bedroom.
If your result was a mix
Most people land between two results, and the combination often describes them better than either one alone.
Warm Organic Modern and Layered Earth Tones: warm and natural, with walnut and oak and earthy color used in measured doses.
Warm Organic Modern and Moody and Tailored: warm and moody, with walnut, deep tones and plenty of texture.
Warm Organic Modern and Bright and Airy: a light organic modern home, with pale woods, cream linen and soft curves.
Layered Earth Tones and Moody and Tailored: rich and layered, with dark walls, collected art and lots of books.
Layered Earth Tones and Bright and Airy: relaxed and sunlit, with natural fibers and color used in small doses.
Moody and Tailored and Bright and Airy: high contrast with a little glamour, with deep tones set against brass, crystal and light.
If your answers felt spread across all four, that usually means your style depends on the room or the house. A Hamptons home and a Manhattan apartment can belong to the same person and look very different.
How to use your result
Your result is a starting point, not a rulebook. Here's how to turn it into something useful:
Save 20 to 30 images that fit your result, and write one line on why you saved each. The reasons often repeat.
Make a list of what you'd remove from your current home. Knowing what you don't want narrows things down quickly.
Think about the whole home, not one room at a time. Rooms designed separately tend to feel disconnected. One direction carried through every room is what makes a home feel coherent.
Bring your answers to a designer. They're a faster starting point than a hundred saved photos.
Start with how you want to feel at home
The best homes aren't built around a style. They're built around the people living in them, and the style follows from there. If your quiz result surprised you, pay attention to that: it usually means your current home isn't set up for how you actually live.
If you're planning a home in New York, the Hamptons or Miami and want help turning your answers into a plan, book a consultation. You can also see more of our work in the portfolio.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find my interior design style?
Start with how you live rather than with a style name. Look at your routines, the places where you've felt most comfortable, the colors and materials you're drawn to, what you'd keep from your current home, and even your wardrobe. Patterns across those answers point to your style more reliably than a single photo you like.
Can I mix two interior design styles?
Yes. Most homes are a mix, such as warm organic modern with a few moody rooms, or a bright palette with collected, traditional pieces. A mix works when the materials and color palette stay consistent from room to room.
What is the difference between organic modern and minimalist design?
Organic modern uses natural materials, soft curves and a warm palette, and it relies on texture for interest. Minimalism focuses on fewer objects and clean surfaces, and it can feel cold if the materials aren't warm. An organic modern home can be pared back without feeling bare.
Do I need to know my style before hiring an interior designer?
No. Working out your style is part of a designer's job, and it's one of the first things we do in a consultation. Bringing a few saved images and your quiz answers simply gets you there faster.
Paul De Andrade is the founder and principal designer of Studio Kestrel, a residential interior design practice working across New York City, the Hamptons, and Miami. He has been designing interiors since 2014, founded Studio Kestrel in 2019, and has completed more than 30 full-service projects through the studio since. His work is rooted in organic modern principles, feng shui, and a wellness-led approach to how a home is built around daily life. Studio Kestrel has been featured in Architectural Digest, The Wall Street Journal, Homes & Gardens, Domino, and Hamptons Magazine, among others.
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