How to Make a Mood Board That Actually Helps You Decorate (And Why Every DIY Project Needs One)
How to make a mood board for a room that you can actually use + a peek inside my Italian-inspired backyard makeover
If you’re lurking around the interior design space trying to figure out how to DIY your own home, you’ve probably seen plenty of mood boards and thought, “that’s nice, now just tell me how to do my room.”
I get it and I will, but let me try to convince you to use one to actually help your DIY process go faster and even save you time and money.
A mood board isn’t the same as a vision board, where you gather a bunch of vibey pics and try to manifest them into reality. A mood board is actually a tool if you use it effectively. Think of it like your North Star — it’s something you can use to give you clarity, direction and focus, so if the things you’re choosing for your home don’t fit with your vision, you’ll have an easier time walking away.
You’ll learn to refine your taste, and based on the project you’re working on, you’ll learn to make coherent decisions so the room looks cohesive rather than chaotic.
As a home stylist, I highly recommend taking the time to make one. It’s the first tangible piece of evidence that the space you’re envisioning is getting real. Plus, it’s fun, and we all need to lighten up a little, don’t we?
I haaaate blogs that ramble before giving you the good shit, so if you want to get straight to it, scroll past this next section and go straight to the how-to part (7 Steps to a Usable Mood Board), but if you’re interested, I’ll quickly tell you about my own current DIY home design project and the mood board I’m using to stay on track.
Backyard Rescue
I love hot tubs. I would just die for one. It’s on my manifestation list, heavy, but a few years ago, I decided I couldn’t wait. A friend of mine starting telling me about her backyard updates and all these stock tank pool ideas she was trying, so I got the wild hair to get ahold of one and turn it into a hot tub! I really wouldn’t recommend this. It was a pain in the ass, and I’m not handy enough to make it worth the maintenance.
However, I do recommend a stock tank pool if you’re excited about a backyard on a budget. I got mine used from a family friend, and all I added was mulch, pavers, some plants and lighting!
If you’re looking for a backyard retreat, stock tank pools are fun, low maintenance and great for little yards like mine! And honestly, I did all of this myself, aside from some friends helping dump sand and position the pool.
RIP to my lil baby stock tank hot tub! It looked so cute until it didn’t.
Last year, I lost my corporate job and threw myself head first into launching Alchemy of Home. I didn’t have much time to care for the pool, and this winter, I ended up just draining it, deciding to start fresh this year.
Well — starting fresh we are not.
My yard is in disarray. It feels less like my own private oasis and more like a junk yard. It stresses me out just looking at it, and the pool got so rusty that I’m pretty sure I’d need a vaccine of some kind just to get in it. This spring, I was really disheartened by that, because I feel like I need a damn vacation like every day. If my yard looked like a little retreat and my pool was actually usable, I could incorporate more of a vacation attitude this summer, which always makes me feel more rested and creative.
I feel like I deserve that. Don’t we all?
Here’s what I need to do to make that happen:
Clean up and cure my roses of whatever is attacking them
Spread new mulch everywhere
Re-light the back yard
Refinish the pool, seal and paint it
Clean up my fence line and add some natives to combat the weed growth
This project might take me all summer, or it might take me two weeks — I guess we’ll all find out together. I’m just really craving an Italian-inspired backyard escape — my mom’s side is Sicilian, and I’ve never been to Italy, so I’m channeling a little Portofino energy into my Missouri backyard. You can track my progress and hold me accountable on Instagram!
Here’s the inspo:
This is the mood board I’m using to guide my back yard transformation
This mood board might be pretty to look at, and you might even be able to feel a sea breeze tickling your neck when you look at it, but let me point out the seven key ingredients I used to unlock my design process step by step. Once you see the hidden code, you can’t unsee it.
7 Steps to a Usable Mood Board
If you’re making a vibey vision board, you can really make whatever you want, but if you’re making a mood board to help you make decisions, let me tell you exactly what to include so that you can make quick and easy decisions that help you make your vision real.
These are not rules, and you don’t have to take them extremely literally. Use each suggestion as a guide to get you where you’re going.
Step 1:Include an image or word that captures the overall vibe you’re going for. For mine, the background, the chic woman relaxed and reading, and the word “ciao” are all a part of my vibe creation. These images and words represent the energy I want to feel in my own back yard.
Step 2:You need 3-5 colors that anchor your vision. When I think of the beach, I think of sky blue and sandy linen, but when I think of Italy, I think of red wine and pasta sauce and dark, rocky beaches. I included these colors because they’re a whole mood, AND because I want to stay focused when I decide to change paint colors or potentially buy anything new!
Step 3: Include a piece of furniture that fits what you’re going for. Here, there’s a wooden chair, which happens to be the same color as my wooden lounger, and I also included this umbrella as “furniture” that I’d like to add.
Step 4:Incorporate a texture that helps you feel into the mood you’re going for. Here, the woman’s breezy clothes and the umbrella’s outdoor fabric embody summer vacation for me.
Step 5: Don’t forget lighting. I love a beach sunset, and I love sipping wine while string lights pop on as the light fades into night. I know I for sure want to add string lights to my yard, because there will be evening solo and social hours in the pool.
Step 6:Find a piece of inspiring art or decor that expresses the feeling you want your project to create. I didn’t make this one so literal because I’m not really a yard art person, but the woman reading a book in her chair represents the energy I want in this pool area: one that’s relaxed and curated exactly to my taste. Books are a great representation of that — and hey, writing is an art form, no?
Step 7: Add a natural element to infuse some life-force energy! The purple poppies I added are native to Missouri, and they will vine all over my fence line, adding romance, keeping weeds at bay (hopefully), and creating more natural beauty. They don’t compete with the Italian coastline, but they’re not trying to!
Make Your Mood Board a Reality
Listen, DIY is not for the weak, yet we love it, don’t we? It saves us money and it’s fun to get creative, get our hands dirty and make something out of nothing, especially in our own homes. That said, it’s also completely overwhelming at times, and I know that you’re capable of styling your space, but if you don’t do it for a living like I do, having a ton of ideas won’t get you very far if you have no idea where to even start with them. That’s why knowing how to bring your ideas to life is even more important than having them inside your head with no plan.
Now that you’ve seen the ingredients that go into making a mood board, you know how they can be used to help you make clearer decisions, shop without impulse or guesswork and stay focused on one vision so your space ends up looking and feeling cohesive!
We do this as a warm-up exercise within the Foundry Formula Home Styling Course, that way, when you’re moving through each step of the style process in your home, you have your North Star guiding you the entire time.
If you’re interested in getting more support for your DIY design projects, the Foundry Formula is an excellent resource. It’s a completely self-paced and self-budgeted digital course that I created for overwhelmed DIY-ers who are ready to stop guessing and start doing.
We start with a mood board, and we end with a space that looks and feels unmistakably you — and whatever vibe you happen to be on.
You can enroll right here whenever you’re ready.
Whether you’re ready to begin right now or you’re not quite there yet, I’d love to keep in touch! Jump into our weekly newsletter for even more tips and DIY styling processes to make your design projects easier and more fun!
See you in there!
