How to Make a Mood Board to Redecorate a Room

A mood board is another word for a collage that has an interior design focus. Professional designers use this tool to help focus their thoughts on a new design project. However, it’s completely possible to make one of these your own.

Read on below to learn how to make a mood board to redecorate a room. Use these tips to help you get clear on your vision for your redesign.

1. Choose your design program

The first step to creating a mood board is choosing your design program. While professional interior designers are likely to use a paid program like Adobe Suite or Affinity Design to create top-quality mood boards, if you’re just trying to put some ideas together for your next interior design project, you’re likely not going to need all of the bells and whistles that a paid program has to offer.

Instead, you’ll want to turn your attention to the free options that are on the market. We’ve laid them out below for your consideration:

Pinterest

Pinterest is an obvious choice if your main goal is to find the simplest way possible to create a mood board. Put simply, it offers an all-in-one experience. The site already has thousands of interior design images available for you to browse and re-pin at your convenience.

That said, Pinterest does have its limitations. Due to the way the website’s boards are set up, it’s not possible to reposition images and to overlay them the same way that you might see with a more traditional mood board.

Canva

Then, there is Canva. With Canva, you have the ability to start with a blank background and to overlay or reposition images however you see fit. But, unlike Pinterest, the site does not have a tremendous amount of images at its disposal. It’s likely that you’ll have to scout out your own images, download them onto your computer, and then upload them into Canva before you’ll be able to put the mood board together.

In truth, using a combination of these two programs might be the way to give yourself the best of both worlds. Consider sourcing images using Pinterest, then using Canva to combine them in an aesthetically-pleasing way.

2. Start by finding rooms that inspire you

Once you’ve chosen the program that you’ll be using, it’s time to begin sourcing some design inspiration. In the world of interior design, “design inspiration” can refer to any image that you like or that you find yourself drawn to in some way.

When it comes to finding design inspiration, you can look anywhere, including the internet or magazines. However, if you need some help getting started, Pinterest and Houzz are two great resources.

Start the process by finding pictures of already-designed rooms that you enjoy. Try not to think too much about it, especially in the initial stages. Your goal should be simply to collect pictures of different interiors that speak to you in some way.

3. Focus on individual furniture and decor pieces

Once you’ve got a selection of interior photos at your disposal, the next step is to focus on individual furniture and decor pieces. In this case, rather than having to pick the pieces out of an already-designed space, try to find product photos, which showcase the individual product against a white background.

Again, if you’re unsure of where to begin, here’s a list of various interior design elements to help you get started:

• Furniture
• Lamps
• Artwork
• Rugs
• Window treatments
• Throw pillows
• Decor pieces

Again, don’t get too hung up on making sure that everything you select matches or “goes together” at this point. This step is the interior design equivalent of brainstorming, so you just want to earmark any products that you think you like.

4. Pick some fabrics and paint colors

After you’ve got a solid handle on some specific products, it’s time to narrow down your focus even further. This time, you’ll want to focus on finding some a few particular fabrics, prints, or paint colors that match your sense of style.

Similarly to the last two steps, you should feel free to collect any fabric or color that suits you. However, before taking the next step and ordering anything, it’s important to be aware that colors often show up very differently on a computer screen. Do your best to see them in person before you make a commitment.

5. Go back and curate your selections

After you’ve collected all of your design inspiration, the last step of creating a mood board is to put it all together. Start by going through all of your collected images and re-evaluating them. Odds are that you no longer like some of the images as much as you thought you did on first glance.

Then, when you’re ready, begin loading the images into your design program and arranging them in an aesthetically-pleasing way. Keep in mind that this step may take a bit of time and that you may find yourself going through a few rounds of revisions before you end up with the version that will ultimately direct your design choices.