When approaching redecorating a room or your whole house it can be tricky to know where to begin. You don’t want to get halfway through and realise you aren’t happy with the colour or style, or that the new paint or furniture doesn’t fit in with your existing stuff, so it can be really helpful to organise your ideas first in a way that shows you what goes with what. Here we will describe how to make an interior design mood board to get you on your way to the room you want.
What is an interior design mood board?
Firstly it is important to know what we are talking about. An interior design mood board is a plan or general idea of what it is that you are hoping to achieve in your new room allowing you to visualise the space and what you might want it to look like. This can be a detailed, measured and complete floor plan with exactly how you want your interior to appear and what you want in it, or it can just be a colour, mood or feeling you are trying to capture to be adapted and brought to life as you go along. Used by professionals and first timers alike, an interior design mood board can clarify themes and styles and help prevent changes of mind, issues and regrets further down the line, so however you choose to imagine your room, an interior design mood board is a fantastic tool to allow you to do so.
What are the best features to include in a moodboard?
Again, how you decide to approach your mood board is really up to you and how you prefer to do things. Whether you work more in broad strokes or prefer a precise layout there are several features that are common and important on every board so here are a few of the best features to get you going.
- Colours – a crucial element, you should include the specific colour or shades you are thinking of using to make sure everything complements them and get you used to looking at them to make sure it is really what you want.
- Existing parts of the room and furniture that are staying and therefore have to be incorporated into the whole design.
- Other rooms or styles that you may wish to emulate. This can be an image of just a piece of a room or the whole thing, helping to inspire or acting as a reference point for you to match.
- New furniture and fittings that you are thinking of bringing in. Again you want to make sure that they flatter each other, the existing room and the new colours and items as well.
- A theme – you can also have an overarching theme, textiles or patterns that you might want to bring in or that you want everything to adhere to.
What you put in and how you organise it does depend on the person, but if you incorporate these features you should have a good idea of the colour, style and furnishings that you are aiming for.
Where can I make my mood board?
It is also good to remember that you don’t have to have any specific skill with design or knowledge of software to create your mood board. You can of course utilise any skills you do have to do a more technical or professional job, but anyone can put together their own interior design mood board using all sorts of sites and places to inspire and play around with ideas. Here are a few of our favourite places to get you started:
- Pinterest – a free and accessible choice for everyone, this is a great way to start putting together themes and colours. While not as intricate as other design apps, it is a good place to start. Especially if you are in need of some inspiration.
- Canva and Photoshop – depending on what you are hoping to achieve you need some experience or skill with these, up to a lot of knowledge, but with loads of images at the ready and more elaborate ways to set up your mood board they are excellent choices. Below you can see some templates Canva offer to get you started, with Photoshop the process is more manual and for novices Canva is likely the better option.
Conclusion
You don’t have to commit to using one design, so change it up, try different tones, images and software, and don’t be afraid to ask for opinions or just go with what it is you like. Now you know what you need and where to assemble it, select your favourite furnishings and décor, add them onto the current fixtures and fittings that won’t change and start imagining your new home today. A Moodboard is designed to help Interior Designers such as Instyle Deco Paris, get more familiar with the clientele’s likes and dislikes by assembling images, materials, and objects that inspire the look they are trying to achieve. They are a great starting point for any project and can help your designers get closer to your desired outcome straight away.
