Interior Design
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146 free Interior Design trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
50 free interior design trivia questions with answers. Are you passionate about interior design? Put your expertise to the test with our engaging interior design trivia quiz. Whether you're a professional designer, student, or enthusiast, this quiz will challenge your knowledge of design styles, legendary designers, color theory, and decorating principles. See how well you really know the world of interior design!
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Q 01What term in color theory describes the lightness or darkness of a color?
Value
Value is how light or dark a color is; strong contrasts of value are what painters call chiaroscuro, which Leonardo used to make figures look solid and Caravaggio used for sheer drama.
Q 02Which design style, popularised by Eames and Saarinen, favoured clean lines and organic shapes?
Mid-Century Modern
Mid-Century Modern got an early push in 1940, when Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen won a Museum of Modern Art furniture contest with a chair moulded from plywood.
Q 03Which wood is prized in high-end furniture for its durability and distinctive dark grain?
Walnut
Walnut heartwood is prized for its dark colour and its toughness: it resists shock yet is easy to work, which made it a classic wood for gunstocks as well as fine furniture.
Q 04Which layer of a lighting plan provides the overall background illumination for a room?
Ambient
Ambient light is the base layer of a lighting plan, the general glow that fills a room, usually from a ceiling fixture; a torchère floor lamp gives it too, by throwing its light up at the ceiling.
Q 05Which word for a living-room seat came into English from Arabic by way of Turkish?
Sofa
Sofa comes via Turkish from the Arabic suffah, and in the 1620s it still meant a raised, carpeted platform in an Eastern room; the long stuffed seat only took the name about a century later.
Q 06Which interior design principle concerns the size of objects relative to each other and the space?
Scale
Scale measures things against the room and the human body: Le Corbusier sized his Modulor system on a six-foot man, a height said to be borrowed from the heroes of English detective novels.
Q 07Which 'organic architecture' pioneer designed the Fallingwater house?
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright startled his clients at Fallingwater: the Kaufmanns expected a weekend house with a view of their favourite waterfall, and he set it directly above the falls instead.
Q 08Which natural fibre, harvested from a plant's seed bolls, is widely used in bedding?
Cotton
Cotton grows as a fluffy boll around the plant's seeds; Eli Whitney's cotton gin of 1793 pulled the fibre off the seeds by machine, which made it cheap enough to become everyday cloth.
Q 09Which 1920s-30s design style features geometric patterns, streamlined shapes and materials like chrome and glass?
Art Deco
Art Deco takes its name from a 1925 exhibition of modern decorative arts, but the label only caught on in 1968, when historian Bevis Hillier published a book on the style.
Q 10What unit describes the color temperature of light, whether it appears warm or cool?
Kelvin
Kelvin runs against intuition: a low rating of 2,700 to 3,000 K means warm, yellowish light, while 5,000 K and above looks cool and bluish.
Q 11Which durable, water-resistant flooring, sold in sheets or planks, is often used in kitchens and bathrooms?
Vinyl
Vinyl flooring is made of PVC, and in sheet form it is completely impermeable to water, whereas standing water makes laminate planks swell and warp.
Q 12Which room of a house takes its name from a French verb meaning to sulk or pout?
Boudoir
Boudoir comes from the French bouder, to sulk or pout: it was literally a 'pouting room', a private space where the lady of the house could withdraw from company.
Q 13Which furniture style stresses simplicity, clean lines, neutral colours and little ornamentation?
Minimalist
Minimalist design has a hero in Dieter Rams, the German designer whose rule was 'less, but better'; the shelving system he designed for Vitsœ in 1960 has been made ever since.
Q 21Which paint finish has the highest sheen and is generally the most durable for high-traffic areas?
Gloss
Gloss paint resists damage and stains and wipes clean, so it is the traditional choice for doors and trim; the catch is that its shine reveals every sanding mark underneath.
Q 22Which designer created the Barcelona chair and advocated 'less is more'?
Mies van der Rohe
Mies van der Rohe designed the Barcelona chair for the German Pavilion at Barcelona's 1929 exposition; the building was torn down within a year, while the chair has stayed in production for decades.
Q 23Which springy flooring material is the bark of a tree, stripped every decade or so without felling it?
Cork
Q 14What design principle repurposes discarded items into new products worth more than the originals?
Upcycling
Upcycling was taken up by the 2002 book Cradle to Cradle, which urged makers to design waste out of their products; its own pages are a synthetic made from resins, not paper.
Q 15What window treatment has adjustable slats that tilt to control light and privacy?
Blinds
Blinds are made of hard slats strung on cords, so rotating them opens or shuts the gaps; shades are different, a single piece of soft material with no slats to tilt.
Q 16Which jagged two-tone check is tied to Alabama football by coach Bear Bryant's trademark hat?
Houndstooth
Houndstooth, also called dogstooth, alternates solid checks with diagonally striped ones; coach Bear Bryant's fedoras made the pattern an unofficial emblem of the University of Alabama.
Q 17Which interior design era is known for ornate heavy furniture, dark wood and rich, often somber colours?
Victorian
Victorian households thought a bare room was in poor taste, so every surface was filled with objects, and the parlour, the best room, showed off the family's finest furnishings to guests.
Q 18Which pioneering decorator made her name with the interiors of New York's Colony Club, her first commission in 1905?
Elsie de Wolfe
Elsie de Wolfe, a former actress, swept out the dark, heavy rooms of her childhood and brought in mirrors, pale painted furniture, chintz and garden trelliswork.
Q 19What kitchen concept arranges fridge, sink and stove to minimize movement?
Work triangle
The work triangle grew out of motion studies by Lillian Gilbreth, the efficiency engineer and mother of twelve portrayed in Cheaper by the Dozen, who called her layout 'circular routing'.
Q 20Which poison gave many 19th-century wallpapers their fashionable green colour?
Arsenic
Arsenic was the active ingredient of Scheele's green, a pigment used to colour wallpaper; in damp rooms the paper could shed toxic dust or gas.
Cork is the outer bark of a Mediterranean tree, which can be stripped every 9 to 12 years without harm; cork floor tiles are often made from what is left after wine stoppers are punched out.
Q 24Which design style features exposed brick, visible ductwork and a raw, unfinished look?
Industrial
Industrial style takes its cues from old factories and warehouses that were converted into lofts, first popular with artists, whose bare brick, pipes and ducts became the look.
Q 25What colour scheme uses two colours directly opposite each other on the colour wheel?
Complementary
A complementary scheme pairs two colours from opposite sides of the wheel, such as blue and orange, which combine to form grey and create strong visual contrast.
Q 26What term describes a home layout that removes the walls between the kitchen, dining and living areas?
Open concept
An open concept (open plan) layout drops the walls between kitchen, dining and living space; it took off in American homes in the 1970s, though critics note it leaves kitchen clutter in view.
Q 27In interior design, what element refers to the perceived smoothness, roughness, or hardness of a surface?
Texture
Texture shapes a room's mood: rough surfaces add visual activity and depth, while smooth ones read as sleek and restful, which is why designers mix the two.
Q 28Which furniture material is an iron alloy whose chromium content makes it resistant to rust?
Stainless steel
Stainless steel reached the market after Harry Brearley of Sheffield, hunting in 1913 for a gun-barrel alloy that would not wear away, hit on a chromium steel that refused to rust.
Q 29What decorative trim is installed where an interior wall meets the ceiling?
Crown molding
Crown molding does a practical job as well as a decorative one: set at an angle across the corner, it covers the joint between wall and ceiling and leaves a hidden hollow behind it.
Q 30Which design style of light colours, natural materials and cosiness is associated with 'hygge'?
Scandinavian
Scandinavian design became a recognised brand in the 1950s with help from the Lunning Prize, which the New York agent for Danish silversmith Georg Jensen awarded to Nordic designers from 1951 to 1970.