How to Make a Design Board

If you are planning major home décor changes, then the process of picking everything out can seem like a lot to handle, let alone visualize. This is where design boards come in.

They can help you visualize these changes before you go all in. Here’s what you need to know about design boards.

What is a Design Board?

So, what exactly is a design board? A design board is a visual tool that you can use to plan out what certain rooms in your home will look like once you decorate them. A design board gives you the opportunity to visualize home décor, furniture, curtains, paint colors and everything in between before you actually purchase these items or start decorating.

Simply put, you can lay it all out digitally before you make expensive purchases and start testing out new furniture and paint inside your actual home. While design experts have been using design boards for years, thanks to technology now almost anyone can make their own design boards right at home so they can make better decisions about their décor plans before they purchase a single paint sample.

Where to Start With Your Design Board

First, we recommend taking images of the room that you want to design around, while you won’t need every image for your board, you may want to include certain structural components of the room in your design if it applies, this may be a fireplace, an existing tile, a large statement window or some French doors.

Once you have images of important things that are staying int the room. you’ll need some screen shots of products or inspiration pieces you want to include in your design. Pinterest is a great place to start, or you can use Google or Instagram to find what you’re looking for.

Nothing is too big or too small. It can include a beautiful vase you love, a great sofa or an accent pillow you can’t live without—it’s all up to you.

At this stage of the process, it’s OK if you feel like you have a lot of images and inspiration. You can swap out things as you get further along.

Finding a Focal Point

Every design board needs a focal point. Find something that you truly love in your collection of images and build around it. This will be the “one thing” you know will be in your room and that you can’t be without.

Perhaps it's that tiled fireplace, or it’s an antique vase or a rug that has all of the right colors you love. Whatever it is, make sure that the one piece is the center of your design board and that you build off of that one piece as you include other elements.

Your focal point can really be anything, even a paint color. Once you have your focal point, it’s time to start narrowing down pictures to use on your design board.

Design Tips For Building Your Board

Now comes the fun part, building your design board. This is all about adding (or subtracting) items that you want in your room based around your focal point. This can be fun, but it can also be a lot as you try to narrow down what you want to include. Here are some tips to help:

• You won’t love everything, there are some items that will just work with the design you have so don’t get too focused on making sure every single item is your favorite thing in the world.
• Not everything works together. You may love two items separately but when you see them together, you may realize they don’t work—this is why design boards are so helpful.
• Don’t be focused on making everything match, it should just coordinate.
• Search for products from actual stores. There is nothing worse than falling in love with an item from a magazine or image only to find it doesn’t exist anywhere you can buy it.

With your images narrowed down and with pictures of all of the items you want to include in your room design, it’s time to actually make the board. But how do you do that?

Don’t worry, we have you covered.

Which Program Do I Use to Make My Design Boards?

The good news is you don’t have to be particularly tech savvy or have an expensive program in order to make your own design boards. Many people love using the program Canva for all of their Mood Board design needs, and Canva has a very robust free version you can use.

Here’s how to use Canva for your upcoming design board project:

• Open up the Canva app and search for “Mood Boards” to start your design.
• Browse through the available templates, Canva has a wide range of mood boards. Just click one that speaks to you.
• Once you have a template you can start designing with the different Canva features and all of the images that you’ve saved for your mood board.
• There are plenty of tools that let you add graphics, professional elements, background colors and text boxes.
•  Keep customizing until your mood board looks exactly how you want it. Upload art, décor items or any furniture that you want and make sure to try things out and be creative with your design.
• Once you’re done, you can save, share or print out your design to use as inspiration as you begin decorating.

The next time you’re feeling inspired to give your home a little bit of a refresh, but feel you might be overwhelmed by the idea of visualizing the final product—turn to a design board to bring your vision to life.