Any great interior design project starts with a vision. Building off a solid foundation of ideas will greatly benefit you in your mission to cultivate the perfect design for your home.
Vision boards, also known as mood boards, help you to envision the aesthetic and feel you hope to achieve when redesigning your space. It will serve as a visual representation of your ideal style to draw from when you move into buying decor and furniture. It will typically feature images of colors, fabrics, decor, furniture, and other elements you hope to incorporate into your design.
Let’s take a look at how to create a vision board from start to finish.
Where to Start
The sooner you get your vision board started, the better. Even if you’re not planning on doing any actual redecorating for a while, it’s a good idea to get your creative juices flowing ahead of time to set yourself up for success.
First things first, browse through images to get an idea of what you want your design to look like. Start with magazines or online sources such as Pinterest or Instagram. Take screenshots of what you like or cut out images that are calling to you. You can get really abstract here. If you like the colors of a bird’s plumage, save that picture to reference later. Save any and all images that invoke visions of your ideal design.
As you collect images, take notes on what you hope to achieve in your redesign. What elements are you drawn to? Is there a type of furniture style you keep seeing in your research that you must incorporate into your design? These are just a couple of examples of notes that might be helpful down the road.
Get Down to the Nitty-Gritty
You should now have a substantial bank of photos and notes to draw from for your vision board. Now it’s time to narrow down what you really want for the space you’re redecorating. Think about the objective of the room. Imagine how you want to feel when you step into it. What purpose will it serve in your day-to-day life? With that in mind, whittle down your wants versus your needs.
When you have a better idea of what your wants and needs for the space are, you can hone in on photos that truly represent your vision. Use these images as building blocks to define the look, feel, and function of the room. Be sure to include specific furniture and decor you might want to incorporate.
Browse our collection of decor for inspiration!
Construct Your Vision Board
It’s time for the fun part – putting your vision board together. You can do one big board or you can do separate boards if you’re redecorating multiple rooms. Another option is creating an overall mood board for your entire home and breaking it down into smaller boards for each room.
You have two options for putting your board together: you can do it physically or digitally.
If you choose to go the old fashion route, you can start with a corkboard or a poster board as your base. Print out images online or cut out photos from magazines. Use push pins to organize the photos in a cohesive, visually pleasing way. The benefit of a physical board is the ability to include textures such as fabric samples or paint swatches.
Those who prefer to build their mood board online have plenty of options to accommodate their skill level. If you know your way around Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, or Illustrator these programs might be a good place for you to start creating your board. But if you’re a beginner, you can turn to simple online tools such as Keynote or Canva. In addition to your vision board, you can also mock up a 3D furniture plan with SketchUp.
Have fun with it! You’ll add some things, take out others, and will end up with a mess of great ideas! Go make your house your home.