Interior design is more than a way of decorating you surroundings. It is a way of constructing a desired environment around you, an environment to live in. Similar to how people use clothing as a form of self expression, naturally interior design is the same way. People decorate the insides of their homes, offices or apartments with a specific style that will define them. The inherent question is that regardless of your type of design, you are consistently confined to work within a limited amount of space. If you are designing a wall you may have a 10 foot by 20 foot space, if you a doing a room you may have a 10 foot by 15 foot by 12 foot 3 dimensional space to work within, and if you are doing a home, well then the possibilities are endless. The truth is that despite whatever you are designing, you are limited to some degree. So the trick then becomes not what just creating something, but rather creating a desired environment within constraints.
Self definition is one of the current core’s of hip, this is the conclusion I have drawn after having spent a semester trying to identify what our society values as hip. It seems that there is no better way to define yourself rather than designing the realm you inhabit. I decided then that researching what our today’s trendiest ways to decorate would be a way to further explore what truly is hip in America.
Although there are numerous ways you can break down categories of “interior design”, a term which has become an umbrella for describing a very vast field of work. I decided I would evaluate some of the most popular styles that consumers are designing their homes in.