How to make a mood board

Thinking of renovating a room or just simply redecorating? Before you take the plunge, try out the interior designer's trick of making a mood board to avoid any costly mistakes. Interior Designer and owner of The Interior Co, Kerrie Griffin-Rogers featured here filming with channel 4s Coast vs Country, tells you how and why this will help with your design dilemmas and disasters. 

I love mood boards because you simply let your creative juices flow. When interior designers play around with mood boards - it all looks so arty and imaginative and creative. But do they actually serve a useful purpose?

Yes, says interiors designer Kerrie Griffin-Rogers, who shows us that mood boards can be as useful as they are aesthetic. After all, lots of designers use mood boarding in some form or other to keep an archive of their favourite pieces and to create a certain style and imagery. We have a section on the website where I periodically add some of my mood boards creations to give my clients ideas. By collecting images, colour swatches, flooring samples of wood and tiles and fabric samples you have a great shot at getting the look down before purchasing anything avoiding costly mistakes. These tips will help you focus your thoughts and ideas in one place and come up with good ideas when you feeling in need of inspiration before even attempting to hit the credit card hard with purchases.

"If you're planning to remodel renovate or redecorate, you might have seen lots of pictures that you like in magazines, but you can't really get an idea of how that style or scheme might work in your own home without trying it out altogether in one place on a larger scale.

"A mood board can help you focus and helps you keep your ideas together so that you don't start going over the top - it's a reminder of what things you need to think about in the room and what you don't need, what colours will work and which won't. It's easy to get distracted and start buying all sorts when you're redecorating, only to find it doesn't work when it's all put together. A mood board helps you sort this process out in advance."

If you are tempted to try out a new colour scheme just simply tear out images in these shades that grab you from favourite reads such as Ideal Home, Period Living, Country Homes and Interiors, Living Etc and collect Fabric and wallpaper samples along with images of lighting furniture and floor coverings.

When you start just dump the whole lot on a table to sort through yes no and maybe piles for the mood board. You will also need sticky tape or pritt stick and a metal rule and a large piece of A1 Board from an Art shop.

Carefully cut around your images if for instance there is a sofa you like but not the coffee table in the image cut round just the sofa - the whole point of the board is to not take too much time making it look too perfect, but simply it's just to let the ideas come together. I like to put my objects in the correct place as I am a perfectionist, ie the lighting at the top of the board the furniture around the middle flooring at the bottom.

Some interior design schools say you need a certain type of board or a certain type of glue gun. But unless you're planning on being a professional interior designer, you really don't. Use what you have got. Just stick everything on to a whiteboard using masking tape if that's all you have - I just organise things how I want them before sticking them down then once I am clear with my design focus I glue them in place. You could just as happily use a pinboard, or Blu-Tack pictures on to a piece of thick cardboard if that's all you have, when you have done a few you will get a feel for how you like them to look. Personally, I like the white foam board as my backing in white because it's thicker so it will stand up and I like to see things on white space.

So now everything is now in piles of like and maybe, Start with the like pile this will have an array of different styles so you will need to keep focus you are keeping a theme, ie don't put a French gilt mirror with black modern furniture as an example. 

Started by picking out favourite wallpaper samples then the room colour you can get free colour charts from the likes of  Farrow and Ball and unusual companies like Andrew Martin have amazing unique ideas like this wooden board room feel paper it comes in various shades to suit every style idea.  

It's always best to start off with one piece that you want to build the rest of the room around - it can be wallpaper to set the scene, or it can be something like a favourite armchair or a rug whose colours you love. I tend to find a picture of a style of a room I love from an interiors magazine, if it's a possession that you already have - like the rug or furniture - then take a photo of it, print the picture, and actually stick it to the board so you can see it in context with other colours.

Another top tip is to paint the colour you think you have narrowed it down to on a roll of lining paper then tape it to the wall in different areas as different rooms have varying light aspects and what may look say green in one area may look grey in a darker corner. When I began as an Interior Designer I used to paint several shades on the wall side by side in small patched, this just confuses you over the period of the last two decades my lining paper trick is a must! Although for about the past 10 years I choose a colour and stick to it, its only when I visit a clients home I maybe suggest the option of two, suggesting this type of colour will give the room a more intimate feel or this colour would make the room look bigger for instance.

Never paint the sample pot colours on the wall! Why? have you ever done this and no amount of painting over will get rid of the dark patch that you will always see in that room. 

Here is a board I have recently created for a holiday let which used to be three wooden stables. 

DIGITAL MOOD BOARDS

Pinterest can transform your life with all your creativity in one place you can literally pin for hours, I have a page link here to our page we have 20.7 k per month wanting my ideas and I have 92 boards for you to browse through from Kitchen ideas, to recipes and places to stay, but predominately its based on my love of interiors so there are boards for just staircases, entrances, lighting etc, so this is a good place to start if you are thinking of doing this digitally. 

 I recently read the telegraphs article how this can help and you may find it useful.

Now if this is all to overwhelming for you I offer a service online to design you a mood board for your room including the following 

Kerrie will design your room after an email communication with you sending measurements and photos of the room and styles you like, you will write a short brief and fill out her questionnaire of wants for the room and she will create a stunning design to fit your brief.

This includes

1. Email communication limited to 6 

2. Room Design Digital

3. Colour Board Digital 

Suggestions for lighting, furniture, and Fabrics included 

This costs £570