Product Mood Board

After you've created the moodboard to capture the essence of the room design, you're going to want to create a mood board with a collection of furniture and decor you are interested in using in the room. It helps you to visualize all of the components coming together, prior to purchasing them. By sending it over to your client to review, they can let you know if they are on board with the purchases, or if there is something in the collection they really don't care for. Product moodboards are incredibly easy to make. You just bookmark, after browsing online, any products you are interested in buying for the room, and simply save the product photo. Do this for every product you intend to purchase. Then bring it together in a photo collage/mood board setting through one of the websites recommended in the prior chapter (Canva, Picmonkey, etc.), and you’ll get to have a visual board to work off of.

These steps really showcase your professionalism to ensure the final room design is exactly what your client wants. Pre-planning, instead of buying a few items and just throwing it together in a room, is going to give a better end result, and make the process a lot less stressful. Without taking the steps to bring your design on paper first, you could end up wasting money on products that don't fit the space, both in size and aesthetically. Then, if you have to wait to purchase a replacement item, it extends the project completion date and just doesn't leave a great experience for your client. 

When setting up your product board, first add the main pieces that are going to be a must have, i.e. bed, couch, coffee tables, etc. Then you'll be able to work in other decorative pieces. If you found a piece of furniture in a store, that you can't locate online, you don't always have to use the same exact product photo. Just find a product that has the same color and feel to it, and use that in its place. Play around with a few different decorations next to your main pieces to see which ones go the best. You may be surprised to find that what you initially thought looked good in your may end up not working out. Don't forget to add the wall color against the backdrop of the furniture so you can ensure it all comes together. What looks good on a white paper backdrop may look bad on a bright pink wall.

Have a blast putting your mood and product boards together, this is where you really get to see your design skills come to life! Don't clutter your mood boards with too many pieces. Be realistic with what you put on the product board to match your client's budget and room space.