If you follow me or any other designers you’ll likely have heard the advice to seek design help on Pinterest. We always tell our clients to head to Pinterest in order to determine their style, their colour preferences and overall preferred vibes. This is often a great way to determine and communicate what you love in just images. Sometimes I can figure out a client’s preferences just by looking at their Pinterest boards. Yes, Pinterest and other similar sites have their place but in this case, we’re avoiding any places that promote the idea of design through the eyes of another.
Instead, when designing a space that reflects your personality you should let your heart and soul lead the way. Designing a home that reflects your personality means moving away from the advice of others. We want your home to become a curated collection of what makes you who you are.
Steps to Design a Home That’s Uniquely You
1/ Examine Your Lifestyle First
Regardless of the preferred style of any client’s home I always start by asking them about lifestyle. How you live will dictate much more about your home’s styling than any other factor so always start here first.
For instance, when it’s time to recharge your battery, are you a person that needs quiet time alone or do you prefer to socialize to recharge? Do you entertain large crowds or just a few people at a time? Am I structured or relaxed in my day to day life?
The answers to these questions will determine how your home functions and operates for you. If you love to entertain large groups of people you may find that an open plan home works best for you. You’ll allow easy movement with larger groups this way.
I sometimes visit a new client and learn that their home was designed for a lifestyle that is no longer relevant. This can happen a lot with empty nesters because they’ve spent so long with a home designed for a larger family. It can be hard to readjust after a change in lifestyle but it will benefit you more strongly to determine all the ways you want your home to function for life as it is today.
2/ Your Personality as Your Design Style
Start by exploring your personality and determining the words that you associate with yourself. Maybe you’re known as warm and loving or wild and crazy. These important markers of ourselves are the backdrop for your style.
Over the last decade or more we’ve seen a lot of generic looking homes thanks to HGTV. This means that designers are often asked to design based on already created designs. Fortunately, we’re moving into an era of individualized attention to design. We’re heading back to the time when homes were a much stronger reflection of the occupants.
If you are a quiet and reflective person who loves to read and watch tv your perfect home design will be determined by that. If I were designing for you, I’d start by encouraging your design to reflect the calm and warm aspects of your personality. The colour palette, the function of the space and the pieces I incorporate would all stem from your warmth.
If you’re a colour lover and you’ve been feeling restrained by the years of neutrals, this is your time to shine. Bring all the colour and pattern you desire to your home and make it all about a space that feels like home for you! Read this post to learn about the hottest colours for 2026.
3/ Selecting Materials that Match Your Personality
You may never have considered the materials in your home before. And even now, you may be unsure how the materials in your home reflect your personality. It’s true that materials reflect a style and it’s important for you to understand those connections. What do I mean by materials? These are all the physical surfaces of your space including flooring and countertop selections, tile and window trim.
You can apply the same logic to the fabric in your home as well. If you love wool, silk and linen I would expect that you’re a person who focuses on high quality, natural materials. I also imagine a colour palette that’s more natural and neutral as opposed to bold and dramatic. There tends to be an emphasis on texture over colour or pattern and the overall feel of the space is often calm and relaxing.
Conversely, if you’re always the life of the party you may tend to gravitate towards marble, brass and velvet. These are louder, bolder and more dramatic yet still refined. You may love collections from your travels, family heirlooms or vintage objects that create a one-of-a-kind space. Learn how to decorate with vintage in this post.
4/ Create Spaces that Reflect Behaviour
This should be such an obvious way to design a space but it’s so overlooked. Now that we’ve determined how we want to utilize the space what will you be doing in this space? Most of the main spaces in our homes do double duty and actually serve several purposes throughout the day.
Here are simple questions to get you started:
- What are the 3 primary functions of this space?
- What time of day does the room get used most often?
- How many people do we want to accommodate?
- Are there adults, children or both using this space?
- Are there storage needs for this space?
Now consider what will enhance the time spent in this space. Love to read? Make sure you have adequate lighting, a comfortable chair, a place for your books and a place for a warm beverage.
Once you’ve finished the first activity repeat for all the other uses and create a list of what’s needed to enhance the experience.
5/ Decor that Means Something to You
Recently I heard the expression “if it could belong to anyone, it doesn’t belong to you”. This is a great sentiment for filling our home with pieces from big box stores, particularly decor pieces. If you’re trying to create a home that reflects your very own, unique personality then don’t highlight generic pieces that don’t mean anything to you.
Instead, curate collections of things you love, things you’ve collected, family heirlooms and pieces that speak to you. It does take much longer to design a home with items that feel personal and important to you but take your time. There’s no rush in creating a home that you’ll love for years to come.
Why It Matters That Your Home Feels Like You
Unlike generic homes that are a copy of everyone else’s space, designing a unique home is special and takes time but it does matter. You should walk into your home each day after work and feel grounded and inspired. When we see ourselves reflected in our home we feel immediately at peace because it’s calming to our nervous system.
If you commit to designing your home with only you in mind you’ll avoid the overly designed and generic homes we see too much of. Let’s bring back homes that feel unique and special. You, your family and your guests will all feel more at home knowing this home emulates its occupants. There’s something really warm and special about a home like that!
If you have a project coming up in 2026, reach out to me. I’d love to discuss how we can help you create a home that feels like you!
