Mood boards have been part of my interior design process for more than 16 years. I actually looked back and found one of my early ones from 2010, back when “e-decorating” and “virtual design” started gaining popularity (still do those too!)
I create mine in Apple Pages. I keep them saved on my iPhone and iPad so I can pull them up whenever I’m sourcing furniture, comparing finishes, shopping, or working through ideas for a room.
A mood board lets you see the room before the room exists.
I use them to bring together:
● Furniture shapes and styles
● Paint and color palettes
● Fabrics and textures
● Lighting
● Rugs
● Art
● Materials and finishes
● Inspiration images
● Small details that help establish the overall look
The biggest benefit is that everything is in one place.
Instead of saving dozens of random screenshots and hoping they eventually make sense together, I can look at one board and immediately see whether the pieces are working as a whole. These boards are the actual selections that I’ve sourced too – not just conceptual looks. There is always a detailed spreadsheet that accompanies the boards, for the client to recite items, lead times, & budget.
How I Create Mine
I’ll always start each and every project with inspiration photos for direction. I create a seperate mood board, or “concept board” for this too.
Then I begin adding actual pieces — a sofa, chair, rug, light fixture, table, paint color or material — and arrange them together in Pages.
I move things around, remove what doesn’t work and keep refining until the board feels cohesive. This helps to get in idea of what does or dorwn’t work. I also edit and update as the client makes decisions. Often, I have several renditions of each board
Because the boards live on my mobile devices, they also become a kind of furniture and finishes look book.
If I’m shopping or sourcing, I can quickly pull up the board and ask:
Does this work with the direction?
Is the color right?
Is the furniture style consistent?
Am I drifting away from the original idea?
That alone can prevent a lot of expensive impulse purchases.
This Will Be Especially Helpful for Next Month’s Room Challenge*
When the 30-Day Room Redesign Challenge starts next month, mood boards will be one of the easiest ways to start figuring out what you actually like before making changes to your room.
They will help to identify:
● Colors you continually gravitate toward
● Furniture styles you like
● Shapes and silhouettes that feel right
● Materials and finishes you prefer
● The overall mood you want the room to have
● Pieces you already own that can work with the new direction
You don’t need to know the name of your decorating style before you begin.
And as we move through the challenge, they will become a visual reference to come back to while making decisions about layout, furniture, color, lighting and finishing touches.
*Next month’s 30-Day Room Redesign Challenge is exclusively for paid subscribers, with daily designer guidance to help you transform your room step by step.
A Subscriber Perk
I also gift “The Big Book Of Mood Boards” to paid subscribers as part of Your Design Guide.
The idea is to help you create your own visual direction, build a furniture look book for your room and make design decisions with confidence.
Because before you start buying things for a room, it helps enormously to be able to see where you’re going first.
And after more than 16 years of creating mood boards for design projects, they’re still one of the first tools I reach for.
Originally published on Your Design Guide — read and subscribe free: https://yourdesignguide.substack.com/p/how-i-create-mood-boards-and-why
