Putting together mood boards

How does it all begin?

This month I want to share with you a little more about my design process and how I go about putting a colour scheme and mood board together.

There needs to be something in the room which acts as a spring board for the rest of the design. This might be something the client already has – a colourful rug they love or a piece of artwork which they would like to display. If the room really is a blank canvas, then my job is to come up with that ‘hero piece’ or the inspiration. I use wallpapers, patterned textiles, artwork, or sometimes even the view from the window to draw inspiration and act as the hero of the room – the piece from which the colour scheme will evolve. During the first colour consultation with my clients, I discuss these options, all the time listening and getting an insight in to how they want the room to function and feel.

Once I have a starting point in mind, I can build a colour palette around that. The main wall colour is the next thing to pick out – a colour that will tie in with the inspiration piece, but will also fit with the purpose of the room, the aspect and lighting, the mood and feel.

From wall colours I move to accent colours, starting big with things like rugs, curtains or blinds, and furniture. Each of these items need to stick closely with the colour scheme, so that the whole room will look cohesive. That’s not to say you can’t mix patterns – I’m all for that! But they do need to have similar colours in them to tie together. More on that another time. Once I have picked out the big pieces for the room, I can move on to different types of lighting, other soft furnishings and accessories. And so it builds up, layer by layer.

Clients I work with are often looking to change the décor, but not necessarily everything in the room. Often things like flooring and big pieces of furniture need to stay, or they have a particular item they want to incorporate. It is really important for me to consider the colours, patterns and textures of these often much loved pieces. I love this challenge of making existing items work within new colour schemes, so that every detail about the room works together.

I see putting together mood boards for clients as something of an art form. I don’t pretend to know much about painting, but my guess is artists start with a background, layer up the colour, and add the details to bring together something beautiful. This is how I see designing rooms - first comes the inspiration, then the wall colours, accents colours, then the finer details. And then, hopefully, a masterpiece. My ethos is all about giving people confidence to use colour in their homes and so it is such a joy to be able to put together these mood boards for clients, so that they can go away with confidence to redecorate and shop colourfully!