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Creating a mood board is one of the most exciting steps when re-designing or refurbishing a room.

If you’ve gone through major renovations before, you know that while it is a creative project to start with, it can also be stressful as you rely on other people/tradesmen for the project to come together and one thing you can’t control is what others will do.

We always hope to work with tradesmen who are professional, conscientious and who will deliver on time but sadly, it is not always the case.
The trickiest thing is finding reliable and available tradesmen that can do the job on time and within budget AND nurture the relationships while they work for you (in case you need them in the future)…but let’s focus on the fun part of a project ;-)

Why should you aim to create a mood board?

A mood board is a great way to show your tradesmen what your vision is for the room rather than emailing them thousands of pictures from Pinterest.

It will give you a better sense of how the finished space will look, as well as giving you a clear understanding of what pieces you may need to keep or buy to create a well-balanced space.

It is also a great time and money saver as you can try out different things on your board without committing to buying them first or finding more affordable options further down the line.

I also find that mood boards enable me to remain focused on my end-goal without being distracted by other inspiring things I may find on the internet or magazines.
While a few tweakings are good and required now and then, you don’t want to u-turn on your vision every other week.

The vision of what the room will look like at the end of the project gets me really excited and help me push forward through the few hiccups one encounters when doing renovations work.

STEP 1: DO SOME RESEARCH
Start collecting images from magazines or Pinterest that inspire you.
You can follow and repin some of my most popular boards like bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens but also the naturals one which I’m really enjoying at the moment (see below). Then regroup your favourite images by colours to see which colour scheme is striking a chord with you and whether it fits with the rest of your home.
As you can see from all the mood boards I uploaded in the Renovations highlights on my Instagram, they are all pretty consistent with each other and have all a beachy, natural look.

STEP 2: WORK OUT WHAT STAYS OR GOES
Re-decorating doesn’t always mean spending a lot of money.
Sometimes just moving things around in the house is a great, economical way to freshen up a room without breaking the bank.
Maybe you can paint an old piece of furniture and give it a new lease of life like I did for Mila’s vintage wardrobe now painted in a lovely soft pink (see my Instagram stories).
You can also mix and match modern and vintage pieces together and have fun sourcing some at flea markets and second-hand shops.

If you no longer want/need something, sell it on eBay, through various Facebook groups or Instagram like I do with my bodieandfoupreloved account and raise some cash towards future purchases.

I’m currently obsessed with having a few sculptures like the ones spotted in this lounge in neutral hues or the pictures below.Since I only have two that I made in an Art class in London years ago, I know I will enjoy sourcing a few more in flea markets. It is not something urgent but having it on the mood board, helps me to fine tune decorative details.

STEP 3: CREATE A MOOD BOARD
For my clients and myself, I use Photoshop but they are plenty of tools out there you can use like Pinterest where you can create a secret board, an app called Moodboard (avail. on iTunes) and if the paid version puts you off, try Moodboard Lite.
There is also Olioboard to create rooms in 2D or 3D and Canva, GoMoodboard which are both free.
Niice incorporates a ton of functionality and purpose into one easy-to-use tool and you can try Niice for free with a three mood board limit, or upgrade to a paid account.

If you don’t want to use any of these, don’t despair!
Before using Pinterest and Photoshop, I was doing heaps of mood boards cutting images from magazines and putting them together.

It was the way I decorated my notebooks at Uni and the love for putting beautiful, inspiring images together has never really left me.

So paper or digital, my process to make a mood board is pretty much the same.

First, I add a lifestyle image representing the colour tone I want for the room then I start adding images with features I want like beautiful drapes for our window, a grey minimal bed frame like this one from EVE, our Moroccan stools which we will be using as bedside tables and cut-outs of objects I have or need to purchase.

For instance, I need a new mirror in the room and although I like the lines of the Ikea one I’ve added to my mood board, maybe I will just fit one on the inside door of my future wardrobe.
At that stage, it is not important but at least, I will remember that I need one.

Finally, I add a few more lifestyle images of objects I don’t necessarily have or intend to buy but which represent the style I’m aiming for…stonewashed linens (which I have plenty), a messy arty corner, vintage clothing, ceramics, anything that exudes the natural, laid-back vibes I want this room to have.

A lot of people tend to use just cut-out images (i.e pictures of the products on a white background) on their mood boards but the emotional/visual side of me respond better to lifestyle images.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter as long as your mood board is visually pleasing to you!

I created the above mood board (top image)  for our master bedroom.
As you can see here, I have already starting to change the styling of the room by introducing natural accents, which give the room a more soothing, relaxed vibes compared to the previous boutique hotel look which you can see here.

I now need to paint the wall behind our bed and give the other walls a fresh coat of white paint. For the feature wall, I have chosen Light Gray no 17 by Farrow and Ball which has an earthy feel and will help to create a very relaxed, natural feel and I’m hoping to show you the final look by the end of the month.

I hope you have found this post useful and if you have any more questions about how to create a mood board, please leave a comment below xoxo

// 1 Mood board by me | 2. Via A Merry Mishap | 3. via my Pinterest | 4. Home of Annaleenas in Residence magazine | 5. Karine Köng Photography