Elevate your home's energy!
What's a mood board?
There was an activity that was popular to do in the 80's and still even in the 90's. It was clipping out images from magazines and pasting them together on a single page or board. These were collages and generally speaking they represented some ideal that the person making the collage felt was worthy to aspire to. It could have been the looks of a favorite celebrity, places you'd like to go and even the type of life you'd like to live. The motivations were all over the place. However, these in essence were particular versions of mood boards.
If you go back even further to the 1900s, the idea of a mood board was used by architects and progressed as a visual tool for advertisers as well. The idea is essentially to collect a series of images that capture the design and aesthetics of a concept. It is no wonder why this has so much value in the world of visual arts and design although the concept does apply to music, thematic ideas and a host of other areas of interest. As a common practice it is used widely in visual arts and design. So let's talk about the idea of designing your home or space.
Elevate Your Home's Energy
Have you ever walked into a home that felt like it had a personality of its own? It felt put together, like everything fit in the right place and had a purpose. Maybe you've walked into a space and felt immediately at ease without ever knowing why. Well, let's ponder the reasoning behind this miracle. In essence, the space was designed to elicit a specific feeling and to convey a particular kind of energy. Most of us would agree that our environment can affect our mood, performance, desires, and even how we think. There are some very practical principles that allow you to create the kind of mood-energy relationship you want in a space.
Yay Pinterest!
Before we get into the different elements that serve as a foundation for your mood board, let's talk about Pinterest! Since it's debut in 2012, it has become a "go to" tool for anything visual. It's strength allows you to curate images into boards with subject matter you can define. In this way it has blown up amongst artist, designers, and any visual thinker. The beauty is that now everything is organized in a single place. Prior to Pinterest, it was common to search & collect images from all the four corners and save them into your own local folders. Pinterest makes searching, saving and organizing a wiz! Many of you are already doing this. What I am suggesting is creating a board for your home! A home mood board.
You can create one board or multiple boards for different themes that may be attractive to you. You may be into rustic and aged. You may be into modern era designs, industrial designs or have something very specific to a certain year or decade. Regardless of your personal taste, you will most likely be able to begin to easily curate the type of inspirational ideas you can draw from later. Once defined, you could even share your mood board with an interior designer or begin to purchase what you want little by little. Let's get into the elements you'll want to consider.
Objects & Furniture
Here's a piece of art and design advice. Start from large to small. Begin with the largest objects and then work down. You'll be able to control continuity and theme better this way. So in this case, start with the foundational pieces like sofas, chairs, tables, and couch sets.
Surfaces & Textures
The material is what we are getting at when we are discussing things like textures and surfaces. What visually do you want showing? Warm earthy textures of wood, or maybe the patina of bronze, copper or iron. Are there certain patterns you would like to utilize to tie your space together creating a balance and unity. Some textures are innate to the materials and others you can simulate yourself. The things that you repeat as long as you don't overdo it can really connect a theme together. You may want to consider textures of stone or capture other elements found in nature. Tiles have traditionally been a great idea.
Lighting
Lighting is everything. Let me repeat that. Lighting is everything! The same actual color applied to a surface will express a wide breadth of color variation. Does the room have mostly natural lighting? Will it have to rely on artificial light and if so what kind? What is the color of that light and what will it make everything else look like. The image below is an example of a single color and its different tonal values.
Drapery & Soft Elements
These soft elements include curtains, rugs, carpet, furniture, throws, pillows, and drapes. These have multiple considerations. Color, material texture, feel, pattern, and smell. Being that these are soft items, you'll also want to consider longevity or lifespan of the items.
Wall Art & Placement
I've found that wall art is actually even more of a niche than many people expect. The old adage of "less is more" definitely works here. Remember when I had previously suggested to work from large to small, well this is where that really comes into play. You'll want to match up appropriate wall art to the larger elements of your space. You'll then be able to more easily match up the frame color, material and texture to the room. The subject matter of the art itself is more of a thematic choice that should also match the temperature of the room. Wall art can contrast and still work, but I would suggest staying away from wall art that clashes with the rest of the room. Where you display the art matters as well. When you are visualizing the best locations, keep in mind that there is a shape to that wall space defined by everything around it. That shape will get broken up by the art you place there and create other shapes. You can call it negative space if you like but it is something to be mindful of.
Overall Themes & Color Palettes
There are so many varied themes and it really is about your personal interests and what you'd like to convey. Some people love cows and farm themes. Others love fine art and even influences from other cultures. I have seen beautiful African and Japanese motifs. The more exotic, the more difficult it will be to match all your elements.
Color palettes should be chosen more conservatively. Having too many colors in a room will clash. Remember again, less is more. If you'd like an easy way to capture the colors that interest you, simply take a photograph of what may be inspiring you and draw your colors from that image. Choose 3-5 colors that really make sense and work around those, reducing anything you find unnecessary.
Accents
Adding accents are small tasteful ways you can break up a theme while still staying between the lines. They are the kind of conversation starters that you'll want to consider. An accent should be an element that stands apart but compliments the rest. With accents, you have so many options that work and and they are a lot more malleable. Play around with accent pieces and have fun. The more accents you have, the more you'll want to keep them aligned by shape, texture, scale or color. You'll also want to think about having a minimum. Having a single item may not have the emotional and energetic effect you're looking for. Having similar items but with slight differences works well.
More Examples
These are single page mood boards. In Pinterest, you'll have a board that can save as many images as you want. So go hog wild and keep your board selections in line with your theme. It's easy to muddy the waters with too many selections. The idea is to eventually whittle it down so you can be as specific as possible about your idea.
