5 Tips to Create a Mood Board for Interior Design

Planning a room makeover can be overwhelming, especially if you’re designing a whole new home. If you’re feeling lost when planning your room redo, a mood board is a great way to get started. Not only will it help you figure out what you’re looking for, but a mood board gives you a chance to envision the kind of space you want to create.

So, what exactly is a mood board? Essentially, it’s a collage of images used for inspiration. The point of a mood board is to help you figure out the style, colors, aesthetic, and feel that you’re going for—all of which contribute to the mood of a space—hence “mood board.”

1. Plan the Aesthetic before Buying

Mood boards are not used for just finding all the pieces that you want in a room. That’s the next step—and you don’t want to jump ahead. The mood board should come before you purchase anything for the room, and once you’ve nailed down the aesthetic you’re looking for, you can start to shop.

2. Consider the Styles You Like While Mood-Boarding

Whether you like mid-century modern décor, you want to channel your inner coastal grandmother, or your kids have been begging for a mermaid-themed bathroom, a mood board will help you plan it out. If you know the name of a certain style you like, it can be easier to search for and find imagery that matches what you’re looking for.

3. Don’t Plan a Room around One Piece

By determining the design direction before you start an interior design project, you can avoid the struggle of committing to a floor, wall color, or piece of furniture you love and not being able to match the rest of the room to it. You know, when you buy a shirt you love, but you can’t find the pants to wear it with? You don’t want that to happen with an expensive couch or carpet. There are so many components to consider when designing a room, so you don’t want to jump the gun. Make sure that the floors, wall colors, window treatments, lighting, furniture, and art all work together. Creating a mood board and then matching the pieces to the aesthetic of the mood board will ensure that you don’t have to spend the time and money to replace a piece that just isn’t working.

4. Go Old-School

There are a few ways you can construct a mood board. You could go the old-fashioned route and make a physical mood board by scouring interior design magazines and catalogs for inspiration. By looking for inspiration this way, you can keep an open mind to different styles and possibly find a new aesthetic that’s perfect for you. It can also be fun to get your family or partner to join you in this mood-boarding endeavor. However, we get it if the thought of paper clippings everywhere and the smell of glue may deter some folks from this method.

5. There’s Also an App for That

If you’re not into the hands-on, crafty method, a great online option for creating a mood board is Pinterest. There, you can “pin” images of furniture, décor, fabrics, colors, and full rooms to your digital board. And if you’re planning multiple rooms at once, you can create a different board for each one.

The great thing about making a digital mood board with a platform like Pinterest is that when you click on something you’ve “pinned,” most of the time, it will take you to the site where you can buy that sofa, paint color, carpet, or window treatment. That way, when you finally start your project, not only do you have your mood board for inspiration, but you also have it as a guide on where you can find those items. 

Once you figure out what method you want to use to make your mood board, you can compile images of rooms you like, furniture pieces, rugs, floor types, curtains, artwork, paint swatches, lighting fixtures, and other room accessories.

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Need to get more flooring ideas first? Our design blog has dozens of articles to help you get started. Whenever you’re ready to tackle your insulation project, we’ll be here to help. Contact us online to get started, or call Factory Flooring at 469-583-7053