All great spaces start with a mood board!

If you’re planning to design a space, creating a mood board can help you try different ideas, examine different interior styles and test if they will look good in your space before making any purchases.

This step-by-step guide will help you learn what a mood board is and how to create one that helps you make better design decisions. 

What is a mood board?

A mood board is the place to start your design process. It is a visual collection of all the design elements you’re considering for a room. It includes inspiration images of rooms you like, furniture, colors and textures.

 

A mood board can even include a nice visual or quote that provokes a certain feeling. Ultimately, it’s about seeing all of your ideas in one place so you can make sure they work together and to have a focused vision that you return to through your process. 

 

 

How does it help you design your space?

A mood board is a way to help you organize your ideas and inspirations and help you imagine what the space looks like so you can easily make design decisions with a focused approach. A mood board isn’t necessarily your final design but it should include most design elements you plan to use.

 

 

Why should you start your design with a mood board?

A mood board is key to help you achieve a good design because it helps you learn what you want in a space, test different ideas, and decide what you like best. It serves as the foundation that you go back to whenever you’re confused during the design process. 

A mood board simplifies the design process because it helps you have a vision of what your space will look like. Just like any creative process, there is no right or wrong answer in creating mood boards. As long as you achieve a good design then it means that your process works. 

However, I’ll share my own mood board process that helped me design my living space so you can implement it in your own way and add your own touches to the process. 

 

 

What to include in a mood board?

Collect inspiration references for all interior elements:

• Flooring ( tiles, rugs…)
• Walls (paint, wallpaper..)
• Lighting (pendant, wall light, floor lamp…)
• Ceiling (structure, decorative …)
• Furniture (sofa, armchair, bench, console..)
• Fixed Elements (wall shelves, TV unit, panels…)
• Artwork (painting, frames…)
• Accessories (vases, decorative objects, books…)

 

 

How to create a mood board

Step 01: 

Create a board where you collect everything you like. Don’t hold back here and don’t worry about functionality just yet, simply collect everything you like.

 

In the next stage, we will refine it. This step is especially helpful when you don’t know exactly what you like or don’t like or the style you want.

Start a board digitally or manually and collect anything that inspires you, here is a list to get you started:

1. Inspiration Images of rooms in the style you’re going for

2. Specific furniture pieces you’re considering

3. Textiles and patterns you may want to bring into the space

4. Specific paint colors you’re considering

5. Existing finishes or pieces of furniture that will remain in the space

6. Lighting, artwork, and accessories you want to add to the space

7. Keywords or Project Manifesto that explains what you’re going for

8. Text explanation next to items you chose to help you remember why you chose images

9. Materials and finishes as close as possible to reality 

Quick tip: You may prefer to print some images and have them in the space to help you narrow down choices. Seeing everything in front of you everyday help you to refine and remove options you don’t like

 

Step 02:

Select an Interior style and create a refined mood board with elements you like the most and start seeing them in context with each other.

 

Here’s how to work through this step:

1. Look at what you’ve collected previously. Think about why you made those choices then you will start to come up with some common elements. For example, “I chose this because it is comfortable”. Write down keywords and feelings you want to create in your space.

2. Select images and styles that represent these keywords and start looking at images as references and try to reverse engineer it.

3. Collect images of all elements you want to use without background in PNG format

4. Whatever colour scheme you choose, make sure you see it in the context of the whole room. For example, when choosing a paint colour it’s very good to look at the inspirational images they have of the colour in rooms so you can make sure your choice is right in a larger space

5. Request samples of things like paint, flooring, and fabrics to see how it works in the space and visualise how it all works together. If you are creating a physical mood board, you can use these in the mood board

 

Quick tip: You can create vision boards on programs such as PowerPoint or Canva 

 

Step 03: 

Start making a mockup of your room using images of all collected elements, some designers call this process room collage. Remember that you can do it digitally or manually.

 

Here’s how I do it:

1. Collect png images with white background of all elements you are planning to use (walls, tables, accessories etc)

2. Once you collect everything together, try to place windows and doors in their approximate positions in your space and try to make the proportions as close to reality as possible

3. Start applying materials and textures and add any existing material in your space

4. Start arranging all furniture choices that you collected in whatever way you like! remember that you can refer back to the mood board in Step 01 any time.

5. Once you are set with the design, leave it for a few days and come back to it for any tweaking. It’s important to envisage all elements before making any purchases

6. Start market research. Try to look for where you can source all these elements.

7.  If you can’t find specific items, you can replace items with similar things you have found. Make sure you edit the mood board to see if it all works together (this is something you should refer back to, not just make and forget). 

Through this mood board process,  you can create a design that resembles your real room with proportions close to reality.

 

Quick tip: Learn how to use PowerPoint to create your own a mock up room Design here  

 

At the end you should have a collection of all elements and a final design visual that resembles your room with proportions close to reality, this will help you make considered design decisions. If you want more mood boards inspiration check out our mood boards collection in Pinterest.

Share this with anyone you know starting an interior project. We would also love to see what you create! Share with us your mood boards by email at hello @cerkled.com or tag us on Instagram