One of the most reliable ways to find interior design inspiration is closer than you think — it’s already woven into how you spend your time, what you wear, the things you collect, and the places you love. Your hobbies and lifestyle are a rich, personal source of visual and material ideas that can give a room real character and not the kind of anonymous glitter that comes from following a trend.
In this post, I’ll break down four different lifestyle inspirations – classic men’s fashion, classic cars, the equestrian world, and travel – to show you how to translate what you already love into a cohesive design direction. This process works for any passion; These are just the examples I find most fascinating.
classic men’s fashion
Classic menswear is a masterclass in restraint, quality and detail – qualities that translate beautifully into interior design. Think about the visual vocabulary of a well-made suit: the subtle herringbone of a tweed jacket, the soft shine of a cashmere overcoat, the deep burgundy of a pair of leather oxfords. These textures, tones and finishes have an inherent sophistication that looks as good on walls and upholstery as it does on a person.
To bring this inspiration into a room, start with a palette drawn from classic suitings: charcoal, navy, camel, ivory, and warm mid-brown. Introduce materials that echo the tactile pleasure of fine stitching – wool rugs with a tight, flat weave, linen cushions with contrasting stitching, leather chairs that develop a patina over time. Details matter here as much as they do in a well-cut jacket: the welt stitching on a leather footstool, the brass nail-head trim on a club chair, a framed collection of vintage pocket squares or the silk tying in a shadow box.
Vintage menswear photography and advertising prints from the 1950s and 60s make excellent wall art – they hold the right aesthetic weight without becoming literal or theme-park. The overall effect should be considered and slightly formal, but remain attractive with enough warmth in the content.
classic cars
Classic cars hold a unique cultural place – they are simultaneously objects of engineering and beauty, and they carry with them a very specific set of materials: chrome, polished steel, aged leather, lacquered wood dashboards and canvas soft-tops. Each of these has a natural place in the interior design scheme.
The color palette of vintage automobiles is one of the most underutilized sources of inspiration in home design. Think the racing green Aston Martin of the 1960s, the deep claret of a vintage Jaguar or the creamy off-white of a classic Porsche 356. These are serious, enduring colors that work beautifully in living rooms and studies. Pair them with chrome and brushed metal accents – lamp bases, drawer handles, mirror frames – and you begin to create a coherent visual story.
The ingredients are equally important. Distressed leather with visible grain and natural fading; Warm-colored aged wood such as walnut or teak; Industrial lighting with mechanical beauty. Curved furniture – especially sofas and sometimes chairs with smooth, continuous lines – echoes the streamlined forms of vintage bodywork without being bulky. Original race posters, circuit maps, or technical line drawings make compelling artwork that avoid the predictable wall of framed photos.
horseman
The equestrian world has always had a strong design identity – rooted in natural materials, functional beauty and the colors of the British countryside. It’s a sensibility that translates well into interiors that feel grounded, layered and authentically comfortable rather than overstyled.
The palette here draws from the landscape: deep hunting greenery, warm terracotta, oatmeal, tobacco brown, and the characteristic dusty gold of dry grass. Introduce honest-weight materials – chunks of thick wool, felted cushions, polished leather on hardware and upholstery, wicker and rushes in baskets and lampshades. Quilted clothing, especially in diamond or box patterns, references immediate horsemanship without becoming a costume.
Furniture should not feel chosen but sturdy and inherited. Solid oak side tables, a leather-topped writing desk, Windsor chairs and oak benches all work well. For art, think beyond the obvious horse portrait – maps of hunting country, botanical prints of hedgerow plants, carvings of tack and harness, or framed pages of old field sporting almanacs, all add the right kind of quiet schtick to a room.
Travel and Architecture
If you travel with a special kind of attentiveness—noting the plasterwork in a Venetian palace, the geometric tile floors of a Moroccan riad, the raw concrete and natural light of a Scandinavian modernist house—then your travel experiences are an exceptionally rich design resource. Spaces leave a visual impact that can be distilled into colour, material and proportion.
The key is to identify a location or building type that resonates most strongly, and extract its essential characteristics rather than reproducing it verbatim. A love of Moroccan architecture can translate into a splashback or fireplace surround with handmade ceramic tiles in a palette of terracotta, saffron, and indigo—no need for lanterns or carved screens. A fascination with Japanese interiors can mean pursuing extreme material restraint, natural linens, minimal furniture and one carefully chosen ceramic object on a shelf.
Architecture books, travel photography, and your own images are all excellent source material here – and they have the advantage of being deeply personal, which is what really makes a room interesting to live in and walk around.
making your starting point
Whatever passion you’re drawn to, the process of translating it into design direction follows the same order. Start by collecting visual references – pictures, material samples, paint samples, photographs – and assemble them on a physical or digital mood board. At this stage, there is more: you are looking for patterns and recurring elements rather than making decisions.
Once you have a reasonable collection, step back and look for three or four things that appear consistently: a color temperature, a material type, a particular quality of light or texture. These become your anchors. From those you can start to create a color palette (usually two or three primary tones with one or two accents), identify the key materials you want to work with, and establish a general aesthetic register – whether the room should feel formal or relaxed, sparse or layered, serene or dramatic.
The big advantage of working from personal passion rather than a trend or showroom is that you already know what inspires you. That instinct is the hardest thing to teach, and you already have it.
Further Resources
free guide
related posts
Top Free Interior Design Software
How to Create a Moodboard
books
Gentleman: A Timeless Guide to Fashion by Bernhard Rötzel
Classic Cars: A Century of Masterpieces by Simon D Burton
Equestrian Style: Home Design, Clothing, and Collections from Eclectic to Elegant by vicky moon
