How to Make a Moodboard: Pinterest Inspired Home Decor

If you recall I’ve been taking a bit of a break for the last month or so. I took some time off work, lazed around played with the cats, read a ton of books, went swimming, met old friends, and generally had a nice little peaceful break. Also within that month we finally decided (me, the husband and our two cats Sylvester & Dobby) that we are moving again! This time to his folk’s place. It might sound strange for our non-Indian readers but it’s quite a common thing in India to move to your in-laws once you’re married 🙂

When the idea was first broached I was quite unsure, but a couple of things changed my mind. We all live in the same city, and they live all alone. So Maddy really wanted to move back even if it is for a bit. Also, it means we will be moving back into the city! After living on the outskirts of Bangalore for a year, though it has the advantage of being close to work, I’m ready to move back to hustle and bustle of the city. I’m sorry but all I can think about is Starbucks will be within walking distance again. LOL. This also means that now I get to do up and decorate our room there! Ever since we moved to our current apartment a year ago, I’ve been obsessed with home décor. I don’t know what it is; maybe the elusive Nesting Syndrome has finally struck 😀

Through the process of setting up this apartment, I’ve figured out a few tips and tricks or hacks if you will to get that clean Pinterest-y look without breaking the bank. It might seem a lot of effort at first, but it is your home so why not make sure that it reflects your taste and is the coziest and best looking space it can be!

Step 1

The first thing I do is create a Pinterest board for it. Name it accordingly like Bedroom, Living Room etc so its easier to track later. I have a generic Home Décor board as well but I made a new one called Bedroom Inspiration just for this. Whatever pins I had on my existing home decor board that I felt were suited to this project, I re-pinned to my new board. Yeah I know, slightly crazy but totally effective.

Step 2

Next start putting together the general look and feel of what you would like your room to look like. In this case Maddy’s room is sort of like a loft space with stairs going up to smaller floor space above. So I started looking for décor for similar spaces. There’s already a bed and built-in wardrobes so I concentrated on what I could do with the space above. I eventually decided I wanted to make it into a small living room with a small couch and a cozy reading nook.

Once you have a decent number of inspiration pins, you should have a general idea of what you want your space to look like and also the color scheme you are gravitating towards. I realized all my pins were very neutral, like mostly white, grey and black with metallic accents. So that’s what I decided to go with. White, black and grey with gold, silver, copper accents. Very into mixed metals right now.

Step 3

Now comes the fun part. Looking for specific items or décor pieces that go with your theme. This is the most important part. Before you set foot in a single store, you must go online and check for the exact things that you want. If you don’t do this and go shopping directly, you will end up getting distracted and buying a bunch of things that might look great in the store but don’t go with your theme. I have done this more times than I can count so trust me on this. This also ends up being the hardest part to do in India. Most of the things I see on Pinterest are from Ikea or other stores that we don’t have here in India, and even if they ship to India it’s going to cost more than the item itself. But don’t give up. It doesn’t have to be the exact thing, can be something similar. Remember that its just inspiration, and the look and feel of your inspiration pins can be created with different and sometimes much more affordable things.

So I tirelessly searched online for a couple of days, and I have to say that I’m extremely happy with the stuff I found. Some things are even an exact match! My favorite stores so far are FabFurnish, Pepperfry and Urban Ladder. I even found some things on Amazon. Though Urban Ladder seems to be the priciest of the lot, it also has the most stuff. I found that often multiple sites will have the same item listed at different prices, depending on what offers or sales are going on. So don’t forget to check for that. I always put things that I like on my wish list first on these sites. Then once I’ve checked everywhere I go back and decide which items to pick from where. But wait, we’re not quite done yet.

Step 4

The final step is to create an Inspiration Board or a Moodboard. This is my first time creating one, so please excuse the fact that it looks totally amateur. This is the tutorial I used to figure out how to do it. Never mind if it doesn’t look amazing, the point is that it’s only for you.

Also it’s very different from creating a Pinterest board, because on your moodboard you are going to add your inspiration pictures along with the items that you found online. You’ll notice that mine has some individual furniture pieces, lamps and rugs. These are things that I have already found online. That gold wire stool is actually the same one on this picture I found on Pinterest, which I’m extremely excited about. Also this one with the cat sleeping on the bed just had to go on my moodboard. If that doesn’t reflect the mood that I’m going for then I don’t know what will 😛

This final step is crucial as this is where you will be able to see how it actually looks compared to the inspiration pictures. Once your moodboard is ready you are all set to go shopping! Buy online or go to actual stores to see where you get the best deals. Make sure to have your moodboard on your phone or print it out and carry it with you and have some fun!

I hope this gave you some ideas and inspiration for your décor projects. I’ll do a follow up post with before and after pictures when we actually move. I’m super excited about home décor as you can probably tell by now and would love to know what your tips and tricks are when it comes to affordable décor.

– Satarupa