Crafting Inspiration: The Art of Creating a Mood Board
One of the earliest stages in our interior design process is the creation of a mood board. This is a curated digital collection of inspiration images, material samples, and color swatches which will serve to visually communicate our ideas to clients. It’s a powerful tool that also helps us channel our ideas and set the tone for the project ahead, and today we’re giving you a sneak peek behind all those goes into this critical step in our process!
Step 1: Defining Our Vision
Before sourcing specific images and materials, we take the time to define our design vision and align with our clients. Based on early conversations, we consider the atmosphere and emotions the client wants to evoke in their space. Whether it’s cozy and rustic, sleek and modern, or fun and expressive, developing clarity in our vision guides our choices as we begin our research and assemble the board.
Step 2: Gathering Inspiration
We then begin collecting images, swatches, and samples that resonate with our vision. This step starts with a great deal of research. We reference everything from our own materials library to popular resources like Pinterest and Instagram. This stage can be quite exciting, as research often leads us down unexpected pathways. It’s incredibly rare that we would start knowing the specific paint color, wallpaper, or fabric that we want to use. Instead, we look through dozens of options, often discovering something we’ve never used before. Each project is an opportunity to explore something new and delivery a truly unique design for our clients!
Step 3: Layout and Composition
Once we have specific images, we begin to lay out our ideas. We aim to arrange elements in a way that tells a cohesive story. We make sure to represent the color, texture, and patterns we are inspired by along with specific reference images that are most closely aligned with our vision for the client’s space.
Step 4: Refining and Editing
There is A LOT of refining and editing along the way. We are constantly reviewing our selections, ensuring that each element contributes to the overall narrative. We remove anything that doesn’t align or disrupts the visual cohesion. We strive to nail down a carefully thought-out compilation that will illustrate our ideas, inspire the client, and hopefully spark excitement for the next phase of the project.
Step 5: Presenting with Purpose
When the mood board is complete, it is important that it is presented to our clients and collaborators so we can articulate our reasoning behind each idea. We explain how certain color directions elicit certain emotions or how certain textures can contribute to the tactile experience of a space. We aim to ensure the mood board itself is clear on its own, but this layer of conversation is crucial to our process. Not only to ensure there is no confusion and that we are all using the same visual language moving forward, but to invite the client into the conversation to share their reactions and feedback. It is with our client feedback top of mind that we move into the design development phase, marrying the concept direction and client insights to select the paints, fabrics, finishes and details that will bring the design vision to life.
Image Left by Wall For Apricots
Center Image from Frederick Magazine Feature by Jessica Stambaugh