I’m having a little bit of fun today! If you’ve been here for a while you know that I love to design things: printables, mood boards, organizational binders, rooms… pretty much anything and everything I can get my hands on!
A couple of weeks ago a friend asked me to help her design a mood board for her upcoming kitchen renovation… she saw the mood board I recently made for my own kitchen makeover and wanted in on the fun!
The only guidelines she gave me were that she looooved the new matte black trend that’s going on. For a girl who’s kitchen mood board consisted of white, gray and blue that was a big jump but I was open for the challenge!
I really don’t blame her though… I mean look at all this matte black goodness!
She reallllly loved that faucet… I mean it is GORGEOUS. A definite jumping off point!
So I gathered up my inspiration and set about creating a mood board… and since I love all of you I decided to share my thought process on the easy way to create a mood board!
Of course, for me creating a mood board is a bit of trial and error… squishing a bunch of things I love into one photo until they go together!
That’s definitely one way to go about it but if you’re starting from absolute ground zero it’s not an entirely effective way… for anyone starting from nothing it’s a good way to spend an afternoon beating your head against a brick wall!
If you’re not big on design or don’t know exactly what you like… maybe you’re trying to mix a couple styles together (maybe a wife who loves french country and a husband who loves clean modern?) here’s an easy way to create a mood board!
Step 1:
This is the fun part! Grab a cold can of Diet Coke, a snuggly blanket and any device with Pinterest. A laptop, phone, tablet… whichever you like to curl up with for an hour or two of scrolling.
If you’re already a Pinterest user you may have a good jumping off point… such as a Kitchen Inspiration board for your new kitchen project. If not go ahead and start a new one for your new project!
Now pin, pin, pin!
Don’t worry about too much other than saving photos or products that you love. We’ll whittle the list down later, this step is all about figuring out what styles you’re subconsciously drawn to. Plus… it’s fun!
Step 2:
Now it’s time to sort through the madness. Look through the board and try to determine what the common items are: do you see a bunch of black cabinets? Exposed brick? Black matte fixtures?
What items show up again and again in different photos? Chances are these are the items you’re drawn to! These are the items you’ll want to include in your final mood board.
I am actually working on a mood board for a friend and these are a few of the photos she sent me. Do you see any common items?
I’m seeing a bit of a modern industrial vibe: exposed brick, subway tile, black or stainless steel appliances, gold pendant lights, striped towels, glass or open shelving, gorgeous black faucets… the whole shebang!
If you’re trying to mix two different styles then your photos might be a little different than mine… plus I tried to group mine in two different groups for this post whereas they were sent to me all in one big jumble. The more photos you have the fewer items you might find in common: one project all I could find were two items!
If you have a short list of items you have two options: keep surfing Pinterest until you have more photos and therefore more common items that you love. Or start your mood board with the items you have and go from there!
Step 3:
Now it’s time to put all of your common items together. Start to surf Pinterest or Google for images like exposed brick or products like gold hanging lights. All of the big items on your list!
I save all of the images to a folder on my computer so that they’re easy to find. Once you’ve found all of the items I add them to an easy to use photo editing site like PicMonkey or Pixlr… laying them out is the first step in creating your very own mood board.
It lets you see how the elements you love play together in one place… and what you need to add to pull it all together!
Step 4:
So far, So good! We’re on the last step! Now that we have a basic image to work off of it’s time for the fun part of the whole process… accessories!
If I’m working on a room in my own home I’ll include accessories that I own and know I want to use (like the dishes in my own kitchen mood board)… even if it’s not an exact match a good likeness often goes a long way to creating a mood board!
Once you’ve added in any items you might own go for broke… add items from Pinterest or your favorite shop. Remember this isn’t a shopping trip, just because you put something on the mood board doesn’t mean you have to buy it. It just means that you love it’s shape, or color, or function… these aren’t set laws y’all. They’re more like guidelines.
Except for that faucet… I’m definitely getting that faucet!
Well? Are you off to create a few million mood boards?! I absolutely adore working on a new project and after I send this little mood board off to my friend I’ll be working on my new craft room! Eeek!
Either way I’m loving the new matte black finishes that are floating around out there… maybe I can convince my friend to makeover her bathroom next!
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I have never made a mood board before. I might need to try one… like now!
Thanks for the info!
They’re like pringles… you can’t have just one! Once you get started you’ll be making them for everything! Good luck!
This post may be one of my favorites ever for inspiration. I love mood boards and vision boards. They just help bring life to whatever you are dreaming of and that is such a huge thing for someone who is visual like me. Thank you for sharing this. Your friend is going to have a beautiful kitchen!
Thanks Leslie! I looove love love all of the fun accessories I found for her (that crock pot? and those hot pads?!) I totally agree with you… having a vision board laid out during a project helps tremendously with visualizing the finish line. It’s so easy to get lost with just buying random things if you don’t have a clear path. Thanks for stopping by hon!
Thank you for an awesome article. I want to go into Interior design, with no formal training (long shot! ☺️). You have no idea what this article has just done for me!