Creating an idea book or mood board before renovating your home
You have been planning to renovate your home for several months or weeks. While thinking about the project, there are so many ideas that are popping in your mind… so many things to consider, such as paint color, walls decoration, furniture and appliances, lighting… actually almost everything! These things keep cluttering in your mind and there will be a time when you don’t know where to start. This is where the mood board or the idea book comes in. The use of the mood board and idea book will visually illustrate the style or design you wish to be accomplished.
Here are some tips on how to create a mood board that will lead to the design of the house that you always wanted:
Why create a mood board?
Once in the planning stage, you visualize the things that you wanted to accomplish in your home. You see your wall painted in bright colors, indoor plants to use, kind of fabric to place, decorative items to display. How are you planning to have all this done? With the use of mood board will help you see and feel your ideas, able to select the style and most importantly, select the appropriate items that would blend together and make all tangible.
Where to begin?
To start things, you need to have inspiration. Where to get inspiration? Well, nowadays it is not that hard to look for inspiration. They can be found in the internet, real world, magazines and other reading materials. With this, you will be able to collect ideas from various sources and from various perspectives. There are even sites online that let you download mood board templates, and other online resources on how to create your own mood board. There are also apps available which you can download in your iPad or tablet.
What you want to create first is your physical mood board as this will provide you the visual and tangible experience. You may use any board such as white board, cork board and the likes. It simply has to be functional. With the use of these type of boards, you will be able to collect and pin your ideas so that it will help you in crating the design you like and prevent you from buying stuffs you don’t need saving you time and money.
What do I have to put in my mood board?
Actually you can can pin anything on the board. Any idea that comes into your mind. They may be clippings from a magazine or printouts you got online, swatches, color samples, wallpaper samples, fabric samples...practically anything that you think will be useful for the project. After collecting all the things you think you need for the project, you need to dispose stuffs you feel would not be appropriate for the design you are planning. Arrange the mood board as you would your room and what the things you need and discard the unneeded items.
Balance the mood board by checking if it has the right amount of everything, such as same color, texture or patterns. Do the colors blend with each other? Are the furniture and other electrical appliances right with each other or do they fit the rooms? You may also want to consider asking for opinion from someone who has an experience or interest in interior design. The objective of which is to materialize the ideas that are in your mind.
Where to get ideas and inspiration?
Just like in any art composition, before creating something, artists need to have an inspiration. In this case they will be able to visualize the art they are going to create. Mood board creation is likewise the same. For some, looking for inspiration is difficult. It will only be difficult if you do not know where to look. Nowadays, the easiest way to look for inspiration is online, where there will also be pictures of samples of mood board or idea book. Books, magazines, journals and other reading materials may also be good sources that you might find interesting in creating the mood board or idea book.
Thinking out of the box, you may also find inspiration inside a cafeteria, hotel, coffee shop, or even your friend’s home. Just do not forget to take picture of the things you like and pin them on the mood board. In this way you will have direction that you will be needing in renovating your home.