What Kind of House Are You Based on Your Enneagram

A just-for-fun illumination of how your personality could be expressed in architectural home styles.

My husband, Adam and I often go to Harlow in SE Portland when we are in Portland (great healthy food) and the sweetest long-term staff, get the GF/DF cheddar biscuit). The last time, I was listening to a couple on a date right next to us talking about the Enneagram personality test and Adam nudged me under the table.

“Just don’t,” he said.

“Please please!” I said.

“No,” he said.

He knew I was ready to jump in and share everything I love about the personality test that assigns test takers a number from 1-9 and helps them understand why they do this or that.

I’ve been Enneagram-obsessed for a few years now. In a way, it’s just another tool in my arsenal for understanding myself and lending myself a little grace for the things that drive me.

The Enneagram has helped me live with other people (make everyone you know take it!) and understand what kind of work I am attracted to and why.

HERE’S A LINK TO A FREE VERSION if you don’t know your Enneagram #.

I’m a 1, which I once heard an Enneagram expert, on a podcast, call “the type she would never want to be.” Some tests call 1’s “The Perfectionist,” but I’m definitely not that, so the descriptor that I’ve connected with most as a 1. The better term is THE REFORMER.

Basically, I want to improve everything around me.

Mine can be a truly insufferable drive. It makes me a wonderful and a terrible person to be around.

Think Cher from Clueless, Blair from Gossip Girl, me, from the entire blog I wrote about Salem, Ore. for three years.

My 1-ness is my Shakespearean trait that rears its head pretty much all day every day. Good thing I became an editor and gave myself something (words) to chew on and improve.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the Enneagram as it relates to design. There’s a bit out there on that, and I don’t agree with it all, but I’ve taken enough Enneagram workshops and have made enough people in my life take the Enneagram test that I’ve got a good idea of what type of house you might be based on your Enneagram type.

This is all just for fun of course. I’ve been sick with Flu B for 12 days now and needed a distraction from my never-ending cough.

Hope you enjoy!

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed my book on Amazon. Please do so here if you haven’t (and have read the book). It is a giant help for this girl writing a currently free newsletter.

What House Are You Based on Enneagram Type

If you were a house, what kind would you be? Here are some thoughts based on what I’ve discovered about each of the nine Enneagram types. I’ve also included some house projects that might be fun based on your number.

1: THE REFORMER / FIXER UPPER

HOUSE TYPE: FIXER UPPER

You probably pay to stream HGTV. Turn-key is probably your least favorite phrase. You are something to mold in your vision, to dream about first and then make happen later. No time for a complete remodel, or no skills to make it happen? You like being a blank slate of a house that you can customize in a never-ending project.

NEEDS: Something to improve, to live up to high standards.

OR MAYBE JUST: Paint your house.

2: THE HELPER / CRAFTSMAN

HOUSE TYPE: CRAFTSMAN

Shel Silverstein’s The Giver? It could be your memoir. You’ll go out of your way to help a friend, even if that can get you in trouble. Maintenance? You’re on it. Community? You crave it. Help? You’ve got it. You are a home with room for a garden, bees, chickens, or other forms of life you can tend and check in on. Your Craftsman self gives you a good perch to surveil and connect, and their traditional earth tone palettes speak to your down-to-earth style.

NEEDS: Someone else’s needs to attend to.

OR MAYBE JUST: Get a garden or a porch.

3: THE ACHIEVER / TUDOR

This modern Tudor offers the best of both styles.

HOUSE TYPE: TUDOR

Your 2025 goal list? You made it in October. Your main desire in life? To achieve greatness — but you get to decide what that looks like. You might be a Tudor, like this modern one, with gables that show you are always reaching for new heights. In the United States, Tudors came into fashion as a response to Craftsman style and as a nod to status. Whatever you choose to achieve, you’re got a master plan for it and you know exactly who you are trying to impress.

NEEDS: Symbolic symbols of success and admiration.

OR MAYBE JUST: Work on your curb appeal.

4: THE INDIVIDUALIST / ECLECTIC

HOUSE TYPE: ECLECTIC

“Oh Lord: Please don’t let me be misunderstood,” is your guiding song lyric. You take your playful, witty, idiosyncratic expression and apply it to every level of your life, whether it’s what you where, eat, make, connect with or, yes, the place you choose to live. Resale value is the last thing on your wish list. The style of you as a home? It might not even exist yet.

NEEDS: Authentic, original expression.

OR MAYBE JUST: Replace your basic B door with something artsy and unexpected.

5: THE INVESTIGATOR / VICTORIAN

HOUSE TYPE: VICTORIAN

Want to live in a time when people respected scientists — and people like you, who live to delve deep into whatever you’re investigating? You might be a Victorian, which emerged in the latter half of the 19th century, known for the rise of technological advancement and the introduction of the celebrity scientist. Victorians provide an exceptional breakdown between public and private spaces, but make sure you carve out space for your library, studio, garage lab, or other place you can dig deep. Will this level of filigree work for you? You’ll look into it!

NEEDS: Privacy, autonomy, and space.

OR MAYBE JUST: Designate a space in your garage for tinkering.

6: THE LOYALIST / CONCRETE MODERN

HOUSE TYPE: CONCRETE MODERN

“Safety first!” is your guiding principle, and stability comes in all shapes and sizes. Mr. Rogers is still a reasonable mentor in your life. You’re not boring — you just crave a level of stability that extends to all you hold near and dear. How does this translate to your home? You’re a concrete home and you want a reasonable feeling of security in an ever-changing world. But you might also feel best in a well-established neighborhood where you know your neighbors. Pick your place and never move again.

NEEDS: Safety, stability, loyalty.

OR MAYBE JUST: Install a fence.

7: THE ENTHUSIAST / LUXURY CONDO

HOUSE TYPE: LUXURY CONDO

House dreams? How about travel! Or anything other than staying in one place, looking at the walls. You need more and more of the Shock of the New to get excited about life, and that’s okay. Pare down and live out there in that oyster-making world. But you can also be your own crash pad where you can refresh during your minimally-mandated down time. You’re a luxury condo. Enjoy the pause.

NEEDS: Variety, stimulation, adventure.

OR MAYBE JUST: Pare down anything and everything in your part-time launch pad.

8: THE CHALLENGER / BUNKER

HOUSE TYPE: BUNKER

Most people? Boy have they got it wrong. Deliberate vagueness? Just get to the point. There’s a reason people like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dave Ramsey end up in the same breath as 8’s — they like to challenge convention and get people to think for themselves. As for homes, you could be an off-grid sustainable hut or a private compound. I say “bunker” for 8’s, since challengers like to buck convention and build a world of their own making. Have you read that Patricia Marx story about bunker really estate? Now is the time.

NEEDS: Control, power, self-sufficiency

OR MAYBE JUST: Install your own solar panels.

9: THE PEACEMAKER / MID-MOD

HOUSE TYPE: MID-MOD

You’re Simone Biles on the balance beam, always projecting an outward calm and keeping your people aligned while balancing it all. You’re Claude Monet capturing the light — seeking internal peace for yourself and for others. At what cost do you ease the conflict of the group at the expense of your own inner turmoil? You’re still figuring that out. You’re a house with an inner atrium or other light-swathed private space, a home with a boundaried facade so you can block out the things that disturb you. Mid-mod design feels just about right.

NEEDS: Patience, self-reflection, boundaries.

OR MAYBE JUST: Designate a corner of a room as a meditation site.

P.S. Hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it! Chime in and tell me what kind of house you are (and if I got it right) in the comments.