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How to Create a Mood Board

How to Create a Mood Board

Are you looking to start a new project this year, but can’t quite pull together the vision? Are there so many options and choices to be made you’re just not sure where to start? There are many resources and planning tools out there, but one of the tools that we think helps tremendously is creating a mood board. What is a mood board you ask?

A mood board is a collection of images & materials that creates a visual representation of what a newly designed room will feel like, or what the room’s “mood” will be. This can include fabric cuttings, pieces of tile, pictures of furniture, paint color samples, decor, and anything else that the room’s finished design plans to contain.

Why you should create one

Creating a mood board can help give clarity on the look and feel you hope to achieve for your space. It can help you group your ideas together and also help you siphon out anything that may not fit into the overall design of the room. It can also be really helpful if you’re unsure what style you gravitate toward or need help convincing a partner who is having a hard time visualizing the redesigned space.

Whether you’re using professional design services or you’re planning to do the work yourself, a mood board can help you communicate your vision to someone who has the tools to make it happen. It can also help you test out new ideas for bigger, more costly decisions, like what backsplash to put in your kitchen, that way you can pick materials with the utmost confidence they will look good with the existing elements in your space. This can be a super helpful exercise to really help you hone in on what you like and come up with a cohesive design.

What Program to Use

There are many programs you can use to create a mood board. You can use Canva, Pages, Pinterest, Powerpoint, Photoshop, InDesign, or you can even simply create one by hand if you prefer. If you’re going to use one of the programs mentioned above we’d highly suggest using Canva.

Why Canva? Well, we think Canva is the easiest, most intuitive to use. It has a drag-and-drop feature and a recently added “effect” tool that removes the background for you with just one click. We think that you will find this functionality really handy when creating your board. Canva is also web-based so you don’t have to worry about installing a new program. If you don’t have an account already you can sign up here for free!

How to Get Started

First, you’ll need to begin gathering images for inspiration. For this, we recommend creating a new folder on your computer and naming it after whichever room the design board is for (eg. Living Room, Master Bedroom, Etc) to keep things organized. When you begin your board, we suggest searching for a larger item for the room first like a rug, bed, or sofa to give you a foundation for the design that everything will stem from. This will give you a good starting point and then you can keep building from there. Typically, you’ll want to save items like lamps, pillows, and decor as the final touches.

Selecting Your Images

Some great sites to use for inspiration for your space are Houzz, Pinterest, or HGTV just to name a few! There are many others, but these are some of our favorites.

A great tip when you are looking on these websites for images is to scroll through all the images offered for a particular product, like a bathroom vanity for example, and find the image that shows the product on a white or solid background. This will be the best one to download and save. Also, choose the image with the straight-on view, not one from the side or at an angle, or one showing the item staged in a room setting. You want to be able to see the full detail of the piece so it is easier to remove the background when you get it into Canva. This will allow you to layer that piece with other items on your board.

Creating Your Board

Now that you have compiled your images, next we’ll go over how to create a new design in Canva and upload all your images so you can begin the fun! Start on the home page by clicking on the purple “Create a design” button on the upper right-hand side of the screen. This will bring down a drop-down menu with several templates, but instead of using a template we will choose “Custom Size.” Input the dimensions 800×1000 px. Your document is ready to go!

To upload the photos you have saved to your computer, navigate to the left of your screen and find the “Uploads” button and click it. Then click “Upload Media.” Then as you can see in the video below you can select where you want to upload your images from. Select the folder you’ve created on your computer to begin uploading all of your images. Then all you need to do is click on an image and it will be placed on the white page you just created. Now you’ll be able to drag from the corner to resize and place the image where you want it.

Removing a Backgrounds

You may have started to notice if your images have a background you’ll need to remove it if you want to layer items nicely on your board. See the video below for instructions to complete this step.

Remember the images don’t have to be to size. The purpose of the mood board is just to see how items look together. You also do not need to have all the items that you will have in a room on the board just to get a sense of the mood. On the flip side if the current board gets full, but there are items you still want to see together you can add another page by clicking the “+ add page” bar right below the current page.

Once Your Board Is Complete

When you’re satisfied with the board you’ve created no need to save it. Canva does the heavy lifting for you and saves changes as they are made! You can always access your design by going to the home page where it is stored under your recent designs. If you’d like, you can also download the design as well to share with a friend or someone you trust for feedback.

We hope we’ve equipped you with the tools you need to create a space you love for you and your family! If you’re looking for more in-depth videos on using Canva head on over to YouTube where you will find a wealth of resources! Here is one of our favorite videos to get you started! If you’re looking for some of the latest home trends for 2021 to kickstart your home transformation, check out our previous blog post here!

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