Knowing who you are and what you really like, takes some inspired introspection. Daily bombardment of glossy interior design images can dilute what we think we know about ourselves, making it hard to make the places where we live and work better places to be.Your home should reflect you, not the person whose house is in the magazine. There is one place in your home that be used as a shortcut to understanding your own style. Ironically, it is probably also the smallest “room” in your home.

It is your closet.

What you choose to put on day after day is a pretty good indication of your preferences. It is what you are choosing to be the most closely surrounded by for most of your day. It is both a public expression of what feels best next to your skin (like a cashmere sweater set you wear to work), and a personal expression with those things worn only at home (like those ratty – but oh so comfy – slippers under your bed).

yellow and grey again (Photo credit: keeping it real)

What you are wearing throughout your day is probably who you want your peers to think you are. What you wear at home is probably who you really are. Combine these two concepts in your home.

Take your favorite clothes out of your closet. No, not the ones you love on the hanger but never actually wear (not even the impractical, impossibly awesome stilettos on your shoe rack)…you want to choose the clothes you wear often. Pick the outfits that make you feel great when you wear them.

Think about what it is about the clothes that you love so much. It could be the fit, the color, the feel and texture, the sheen – why are they lovingly worn so often?  Why do you pull them out of your closet? Chances are, there is a simple explanation: the clothes feel authentic. The are true to who you are.

If you are pulling out sweatpants and t-shirts, with a closet full of tailored clothes you wear sometimes (but wish you wore more often), I think that your interior design should reflect a more casual, layered, and comfortable approach, married with an overall underlying clean and tailored look with a tight palette. Create your home as a hybrid of who you are, and who you want to be – it will result in a feel that is comfortable for you.

Design concepts: 80 percent of what you wear all the time, 15 percent of what you wish you wore more often, and five percent of the favorite collectible non-worn items (adding a little accessory detail that represents those awesome stilettos – they ARE in your closet because you love looking at them, really, after all).

Dress your home to fit you.