HOW TO: MOODBOARD/INSPIRATION BOARD

mood boards can be soooo helpful when it comes to working out or refining your style. since having my own virtual moodboard (i.e. pinterest) i have been able to refine my style so much more which means the decisions i make for my home I generally end up much happier with! so, how do you do this exactly? its really quite simple, it can just take some time to nail it! there are two methods of preference, however the method is generally the same.

1. find material that you like
this can come from several different sources and doesn't need to necessarily be interiors focussed. my suggestions for inspiration would be as follows:
- magazines
- books
- blogs
- fabric
- wrapping/packaging
- photos
- prints
- type/font/words (for the content or the typeface)
- ribbon
the material you select can be picked for any number of reasons...you like the colour scheme, the feel of the image, a pattern, an object, the lines in the picture. it could be interiors, clothes, outdoors, balloons, people...anything that you look at and go 'there is something about that'!

2. collate
to get a really thorough idea of your style, collating the images into one location is best, as the single items you love give you a glimpse into part of your style, however everything together gives a much more holistic view of what you love. putting it all together, you will also start to see recurring colours, styles etc. that you are drawn to.

3. physical or virtual
boards can either be virtual or physical. its really up to you!

physical: all of your pretties can be mounted to a piece of cardboard, pinned on a corkboard, sticky taped to the wall (you could use washi tape for a fun spin on it - pick one you like so it says something about your style), put in a frame (again, be selective about the frame). my preference is to use a flat medium as opposed to a folder as its all in front of you in one glimpse. having said that, i also stick things in my notebook and enjoy flicking through that (i did this for our wedding). once you've decided on your medium, lay everything out and stick it down. put it up somewhere so you can look at it as you go about life, and feel free to add or take away over time either based on your changing taste or your further refinement.

virtual: my virtual method of choice is pinterest, but tumblr blogs are also heavily image based and could be utilised. alternatively there is photoshop, illustrator or indesign if you want all your material in one print or image. for pinterest, you will send a request to join and they send you an email once they've let you in. you can see pinterest and everyones boards before this, you just won't be able to create your own. once you get your own login, you create boards. you also follow people. initially they suggest people and you can add people who's pins you like so they come up in your 'feed'. you can repin the images to one of your boards or you can pin images from anywhere on the internet (except facebook) onto your boards. this then means that all you images are stored in one place. pinterest also saves the links for all your pins with the image so you can get back to the original source of yours or another person's pin. again, feel gre to add or take away as your taste changes or you refine your taste.

a note before you get started - whatever your taste is is ok. please don't feel like you have to pick things you think others would like, or what your friends like, or what style your existing spaces are. let loose. lots of people have different taste to me, but i have learnt the long way around that if you are trying to fit into someone elses style for whatever reason, you won't be happy with the outcome.

the end. yep, its that easy...and there's no wrong answer or right way to do a moodboard...so go get started!!!!! here is some inspiration...

image: shannon fricke

image: shannon fricke

image: shannon fricke

image: brown dress with white dots

image: decor8