In case anyone else is focused on their redecorating during covid, I boiled down some of my first steps to a questionnaire when I moved into my new place, and I think the questions are good to ask yourself before you try to redecorate:

For each room, ask yourself “what do I like best about this room?” And also “what do I dislike about this room?”
That will tell you something about yourself, your style, your goals, and what is yet to be done, all very quickly.

Also ask yourself what feels neutral to you. What is your most go-to base color or texture. Do you love glass? Gold? Rough ceramic? Dark wood? Metallics? Pure white? High gloss color? Pale wood?
Whatever it is, there is something out there that is purely comforting to you.

Weirdly, you probably think that this is neutral to everyone. It isn’t.
Whatever that thing is, it is the origin on the graph of your style. The central point that you can always lean on. And it probably won’t change much over your lifetime either.

If 8/10 objects in a room HAD to be the same color or material, what would it be? What could you stand that many examples of?
For me it’s dark red woods and explosive colors.
For my ex it was industrial repurposed woods.
For my mom it’s grey velvet and white wood.
Find neutral.

I’ll throw up some photo examples tomorrow so this feels like a buzzfeed quiz, but you should figure out your neutrals and also what colors or palettes you vibe with the most.
I’ll wait to cover palettes until I have the energy for visual aids.

Are you a minimalist or a maximalist?
If your answer was “right in the middle,” then I’m sorry: you’re actually a maximalist. I don’t make the rules.
As a fellow maximalist I welcome you to the fun side. The minimalists will never let you play with them.

The easy way to figure this out is to choose between two walls:

If you think that wall space should be eaten up by art and bookcases, you’re with me.
If you think that “negative space is calming” then you are a minimalist. Start cleaning now.

If you’re a minimalist you will need to boil down your style very quickly, because you’ll need one or two great pieces that say it all.
If you’re a maximalist you can sum up your style in 5-7 pieces instead.
Both sides have their merits, and you can lean into their strengths.

The beauty of minimalism is that you will own way less stuff, so you can save up your moneys and buy the single perfect thing and love that one thing.
The beauty of maximalism is A) lots of cool stuff and B) cheaper individual pieces.

Don’t let anyone tell you that minimalism or maximalism are synonymous with any particular style or palegte. You can be a neon industrial minimalist or a zen pastel maximalist just as easily as a bohemian maximalist and a coastal minimalist. The colors and styles are up to you!

Your color palette is going to be your favorite go-to colors plus your neutral colors/textures plus something that ties them together nicely.
Once you have answered that neutrals question for yourself it’s time to choose some cool that excite you and comfort you at the same time.

The color grouping options I sent my new roommates were!
Bright colors
Muted colors
Neutral colors
Saturated colors
Neon colors
Dark colors
Pale colors
And “other”
Partway through reading that list did your brain go “these overlap!”? Because it should. They do.

If you love chartreuse (we can never be friends, the friend of my nemesis is my sworn enemy, and chartreuse knows what it did) then you may like saturated colors, or brights, or jewels, or nature-inspired, so it is important to know WHY you like chartreuse.

What is it about the unholy abomination of gold and neon green that appeals to you?
No really, what is it?

I like neons and jewel tones, with some brights. When I look at a muted color, my brain says “this color is faded and needs to be returned to its former glory” not “ah, how relaxing.”
You want to find the colors that make your brain go “ah.”

To do this, you can play around on http://colourlovers.com  or walk into a paint store and take swatches or order a Pantone colorwheel. However you decide to find the colors, make a nice little pile of your new friends and your old enemies and see what they have in common.

If you like raspberry and emerald, you like jewel tones.
If you like periwinkle and sea foam, you like rich pastels that straddle color lines.
If you like saffron and scallion, you like autumns.
If you like beige, you like neutrals. But you don’t like me.

Your taste in home colors may be very different from the colors you like to wear! It probably will be, in fact. The colors you like to wear are largely based on years of compliments and being told “that shade brings out your eyes.”
But your house doesn’t have eyes.
I hope.

and on that note, after noticing many typos, I will be going to bed.
To be continued...

Some examples of color groupings you might respond to:
A deep jewel neon vibe
Pastel with a natural undertone, not Easter pastels
A cold, muted autumnal scheme
Bright saturated happy colors

Don’t fall for something like this:
This is just an ombré, there is no contrast. Great for a single wall, but really hard for a whole room to pull off.

The problem with an ombré palette is that it’s really just one color (dusty rose) in different shades (light dusty rose, dark dusty rose) when what you want is contrast (dusty rose, muted forest green, warm cream).
A room that is all shades of one color is really hard to live in-

As soon as you add one family photo to the wall (a photo where you aren’t all wearing dusty rose) suddenly the room looks messy. You want a range of colors! Life has colors!

Mixing your colors with your personal neutrals will make your overall palette.
The photo on the left has stark black and white as th baseline, black being the neutral, and pink being the color.
On the right a similar pink & white are being supported by pale wood instead of black.

One feels extreme, edgy, surprisingly sleek for an antique home with pink walls.
The other feels modern and warm, soft even though all the edges are hard.
Neither is “correct” or “incorrect,” it’s all just personal preference.