Mood Board Making
Mmmm, Mood Boards
Ladies and gents, we’ve dreamed of this day. The day that our midnight coding tantrums and accidental hunger strikes would come to an end. That’s right, we fiiiiinally figured out how to create a simple mood board gallery that you guys can browse by color or by room. Just check out the new Mood Board tab up near our blog header:
We rounded up every last mood board that we’ve made in the last three years – which adds up to nearly 150 of them! – and whipped up (well, if you can call 50+ hours spent wrestling with code) a fun little browsing system for your perusal. Now you can find inspiration for your own home when it comes to color schemes, furniture placement, or just have some accessorizing fun. Even if the furniture, accents, or art that we’ve chosen are no longer available, they’re still useful guides for hunting down (or DIYing) something similar- and hopefully they’re just the spark that you need to get excited about your next home makeover. And of course we’d love to see before & after pics along with a link to the mood board that inspired the transformation should that occur!
And this idea gallery will always be growing since we’ll be sure to add more mood boards to the mix as we continue to whip them up (the newest boards will always be displayed first). So go forth and search mood boards to your heart’s content, either by color or by room. Or you can choose to view every last one of them if you’ve got some time on your hands. We hope you have as much fun looking around as we had coding it celebrating its completion!
Just follow this link (or visit the new Mood Boards tab under our header) and remember that you can click any mood board thumbnail for a bigger image and a link to the full source list. While it’s not the most technologically advanced gallery, we hope it does the trick of making it a bit easier to digest all of those furniture and accessory riddled mood boards.
And we’re planning something similar to wrangle all of the inspirational “afters” that we’ve featured thanks to readers and people that we’ve house crashed over the years too (just picture one big database of Reader Redesigns, Design Dilemmas that have been solved, and House Crashings arranged by room and color for you to sift through). But for now we’re just trying to muster the energy to look at all of that HTML again. So stay tuned!
Mood Board Making: Smoky & Sophisticated
We’re back with our weekly mood board and this time we tackled a serene and gender neutral bedroom full of moody grays, blues, yellows and whites. From clothing storage to display space for jewelry, books, and more, we really tried to squeeze in a ton of function without breaking the bank (affordable Ikea furnishings definitely kept the make-this-room-yours cost down). And we love how the happy doses of yellow add a bit of energy – so it might be a smidge easier to slide out of bed – while the muddy grays and blues paired with sleek white furnishings really keep the room feeling breezy and restful.
1. When it comes to the color scheme, we’d love to see dark charcoal grays, pops of lemon yellow, and a few dark wood pieces mixed with some crisp white furnishings. Painting the walls in the subtle blue-gray color (Benjamin Moore’s Silver Lake 1598) that we added as a thick stripe across the top of the mood board would add instant depth and moodiness- plus it would look amazing with crisp white trim and doors. And you might notice that the numbers in the board are a rich navy tone, which can definitely be added to the scheme if yellow, grays, and whites aren’t enough hue for your liking.
2.These geese ($25 a pop) would add energy and movement along with a sweet serene feeling to the space, especially when hung in a cluster above the white dresser(s).
3. This plate (under $8) would be a nice splash of our accent color when placed atop the dresser to display jewelry and watches in a charming and casual way.
4. This print ($21) and this print ($29) would look gorgeous hanging on the wall… or even leaning on the wall atop the bookcases that we’re about to mention.
5. Two of these bookcases ($129 each) placed directly behind the bed’s headboard will create a stylish and functional feature wall (and painting the wall behind them two shades darker than the rest of the room, Benjamin Moore’s Timber Wolf 1600, will really add posh dimension and interest). Then just load them up with books, baskets, and accessories like planters, vases, candlesticks, and other beloved collectibles in tones of gray, white, blue and yellow. A good friend of mine has two bookcases behind her bed’s headboard (kind of like this) and it really does make such an amazing impact and create a ton of storage and display space. And thanks to the bed having a built-in headboard there’s no worry that you’ll lean back into something on the shelves.
6. This bedding ($79 for a king sized duvet) works perfectly with our scheme- and the price for such a large duvet is pretty darn good.
7. Two of these striking and sophisticated yellow clip lamps can be attached to the bookcases behind the bed so they shine down for easy in-bed reading just like wall-mounted sconces (without the complicated wiring).
8. This sleek and affordable dresser (just $79.99) provides tons of budget-friendly storage – and can even be placed next to a second dresser of its kind for the look of a spacious 6-drawer piece.
9. This chic patterned rug that doesn’t break the bank (just $179 for a 6 x 8′) complements everything from the comforter to the wall color while adding some nice texture and geometric interest when it’s placed under the foot of the bed. Then hanging crisp white curtains (Ikea sells a number of affordable options) would finish things off nicely. Of course soft yellow or even gray and yellow banded curtains would work too. Or for anyone looking to add extra drama, rich velvet navy curtains along with a navy throw at the foot of the bed would add yet another hue to the room for that super luxe look.
So there you have a sophisticated and wallet friendly bedroom in a box- er, board. In fact, adding up every item in this board along with an additional $20 for paint and $20 for Ikea curtain panels brings the whole-board total to just $909. Not bad considering you can spend that much on two bookcases and a dresser alone – and we also squeezed in a rug, two lamps, tons of wall art, paint, curtains, and even a jewelry tray along with those three major furnishings. Does anyone out there have anything else they’d love to link to that would work well with this bedroom setup? Is anyone planning to snag anything in the board for their own sleeping space (send us pics please!). Is anyone already enjoying a gray, yellow, navy, and white palette in one of their rooms? Do tell.
Mood Board Making: Into The Wild
We had a grand old time whipping up this nature-inspired mood board for anyone who’s looking to add some kick to their living or family room. We sadly can’t find the time to create custom mood boards anymore (it took a good 6+ hours to make one client commissioned board since we’d have to familiarize ourselves with the space, note the items that they want to keep/lose, brainstorm a new floor plan, etc). And because we don’t want to shortchange clients by tossing sub-par mood boards together (or watch mood boards disappear permanently from our site) we’ve come up with what we like to believe is a nice compromise…
We’ll be whipping up general mood boards that anyone can adapt for their own home and sharing them on the regular! Happily, we can whip up mood boards a lot faster when we get free rein to build a room entirely from our imagination instead of working with existing parameters & furnishings. In fact, they can now be completed between Clara feedings (which is totally part of our criteria when it comes to evaluating what we can and can’t do these days). So without further ado, our nature-inspired mood board full of punchy hues, branchy textures, and even a few nocturnal creatures. Man it feels good to be back.
1. We love the handsome yet playful combination of dark chocolates, deep teals, sandy wheats, cheerful yellows, and crisp splashes of white. And speaking of white, when it comes to paint for this space, we’d love to see glossy white trim along with clean white walls (Benjamin Moore’s Decorators White works for both surfaces) so the punchy art and accessories really pop. Of course a soft cream, tan, or even a subtle teal or yellow would work too if you’re not the white wall type.
2. This graphic geometric pillow paired with this saturated teal beauty will add interest and color to amp up the sandy tan tones in the sofa, coffee table, and the rug.
3. This glittering $69 chandelier introduces ambiance and softness, plus we love how the round disks (and the round shape of the fixture) will echo the curves in the round coffee table that will sit beneath it.
4. This amazingly affordable clean-lined sofa (on sale for $699) is perfect for the masculine meets feminine vibe that we have going on in the room.
5. These punchy yellow accessories will add a splash of sunny hue to any media stand, console table, or fireplace mantel.
6. This abstract yellow and amber toned art (for just $24.99!) has us so smitten that we wouldn’t object to ordering two identical prints and hanging them in thin wood frames with large white mats above the sofa.
7. & 8. & 9. The juxtaposition of the patterned twiggy rug (just $299 for an 8 x 10!) and these sleek & modern teal side tables gets us all hot and bothered. We’d love to see one on each side of the sofa with playful matching owl lamps on them (just $39.99). It’s such a fun eclectic pairing.
10. This round light wood coffee table will subtly blend in with the area rug and ground the entire sitting area. And the wood grain is such a playful pairing with the branchy rug that will rest beneath it.
11. This $159 slipper chair in faux alligator leather is not only outrageously easy to care for (so wipeable and beverage/pet/kid friendly!) but the price is pretty nice too. We imagine two of them flanking a fireplace with the sofa facing them for a nice luxe and balanced effect, but other floor plans would work too – slipper chairs are amazingly flexible.
So that’s our twiggy, owl-riddled, nature-inspired mood board for anyone who’d like to adapt it in their space. Got any favorite items among the roundup? Or any additional pieces that you’d love to suggest for those who may bring this dream room to life? Anyone out there who may be implementing a few ideas from this mood board? We’d love to see your after photos! Happy decorating…
Wedding Week III: Bedroom Va-va-voom
In honor of wedding week we whipped up a romantic bedroom mood board just for fun. So if you and your other half are looking to spice things up in the bedroom (er, in the decorating sense of the term) just check out a few of these charming and wallet friendly items.
1. Colors like light and dark plum, brown, mocha, soft teal, and hammered gold make for a romantic and welcoming boudoir. And when it comes to a wall color that we’re imagining for this space, anything from a soft lavender (Benjamin Moore’s Violet Mist 1437) to the warm sand color shown behind the headboard above (Benjamin Moore’s Dellwood Sand 1019) would look lovely.
2. Necklaces and earrings never look more ooh la la than when they’re dangling on a wall mounted jewelry holder- especially when it’s shaped like a sweet little bird cage (and costs just $28 beans).
3. A personalized $30 Etsy print with you and your honey’s name (and even those of your children if you’ve got ‘em) can add more customized whimsy and charm. Plus those blue-green leaves tie in perfectly with this room’s color palette.
4. Matching end tables flanking the bed with these babies hanging above each of them will frame out the bed and make for some super romantic ambiance. And at $48 a pop they’re cheaper than nearly all other chandeliers we’ve seen.
5. This luxe tufted headboard (originally $600 but now on clearance for $269) has sexy curves and detailed button tufting that adds a soft and enveloping vibe to the space, especially when paired with the patterned bedding we dug up.
6. This large champagne colored mirror will add a bit more glitz to the space without stepping into Donald Trump territory. And mirrors always bounce light around for a soft come-hither ambiance that bright overhead lights just can’t provide.
7. Nothing whispers kiss me like a paisley loveseat, right? This one pairs perfectly with everything from the tufted semi-formal headboard to the plum patterned bedding- and it looks like a nice place to sit and smooch for a spell. Plus a seating area in the bedroom always feels kind of indulgent if you can squeeze it in.
8. This organic plum patterned duvet (on clearance!) is geometric enough to please most males without stepping into the dreaded “floral” category of textiles that has most guys exercising their right to veto. And adding some breezy white curtains (Ikea’s Vivan panels are $6.50 a pop and oh so sweet) along with a plush 8 x 10 rug (anything mocha, chocolate, or even cream would work) will complete the look with style to spare.
So there you have a romance-inspired bedroom in a box (well, a board) for anyone who’s looking to feather their love nest. And speaking of romantic touches, what do you guys associate with love when it comes to home decor? Scented candles or a flickering fireplace? Pink tones and ruffled textiles? Plush flokati rugs and velvet curtains? Framed photos and other personalized memorabilia? Do tell.
