1st Birthday Mood Boards

A mood board is design Gold. I haven't started using them until recently, but wow they've added direction into my life. I've stepped away from my dabblings in interior design lately for 2 reasons. 1. We're still renting and will be for the foreseeable future. 2. Budget. I pretty much have the designs settled that I want for my apartment, but it's so hard to justify spending a lot when I know the second we move all of my design desires will change. So I guess it all goes back to the fact that we're renting. I'm okay enough with our overall design in our apartment and it's just not worth a major furniture overhaul. At least not this year. All that being said, my heart yearns to design so I've moved on to smaller scale designs like picnics, and parties. I used to plan these all the time in my head, but now that I'm planning my baby's first birthday, I've gotten serious.

Okay, so why is a mood board design GOLD? It keeps you on task. If your Pinterest is anything like mine you have thousands of things pinned. You like it all, but it doesn't all coordinate. Creating a mood board allows you to put different items together to see how they would work together before actually making any purchases. I can't be the only one who has gone to a home decor store and fallen in love with an item only to bring it home and realize it really doesn't work in the space like I thought it would. 

So how does one even go about creating a mood board? I've done mine digitally using the free version of the adobe spark app, but you can definitely use an actual board and pin up textures, prints, etc. Maybe, I'll do one of those soon, but for now let's talk about digital. 

You need to start with a jumping off point. My main jumping off point for each image is the same. Several months ago I was walking through home goods and found this sparkly wrapping paper. Up until that moment I had been planning a peach 🍑 party, but I was caught in the moment and bought it. Fast-forward to now that it's crunch time I'm sticking with the wrapping paper and letting that guide the new party theme.

From here I was thinking about location. I have always kept in mind a beach background for Autumn's first birthday so I tested it as a background. 

Next, I started layering. To coordinate with the purply pink I chose to add shades of that color. 

Each of these items add texture and warmth. I added in some blues and almost fell for it, but it ended up feeling too busy. So neutral and warm tones it is.

 Pampas Grass

Tealight Holders

Romper

 Next I added in a cake because, hello it's a birthday. I put that on top of a white wood to represent a small table I would build if I end up going with this design.

Add in some sparklers for the vibe and fringe to represent the blanket style and there we have it a mood board. 

From here I can purchase the items and add in other pieces that are true and consistent with this board. What do you think about this board?Yay or nay?

Fringe to add to a blanket

Fringed Blanket

I didn't just want one design to choose from so I made another. Again I started with the wrapping paper and then added in a location. This pretty pavillion is at Villa Montalvo at the base of a trail and is the cutest spot. So I've considered taking some birthday pictures here! 

In this design I wanted something a little more neutral. And with such a lush backdrop I had to add a blue.

Navy Dress

This outfit really set the stage for all of the rest. I made this the bold item and fell hard into a white and neutral rabbit hole. 

Macrame Pillow Cover

Coffee Table

Tealight Holders

Throw Blanket

To round it out I added the faux leather pillows for a natural element.

Faux Leather Pillow Covers

The last element was just the icing on the cake. The fruit tarts make it a celebration and add a pop of color. I love the moody neutral combo.

After I made the other two boards I started thinking about the sunset over a beach. I love that orange and blue combo so I decided to make another mood board. Well orange and blue did not look good with my wrapping paper, but I had already started a new mood board so I wasn't about to stop. This one morphed into my boho dreams and could be my favorite.

I kept the original inspiration of a sunny beach. After I took out the orange 🍊 and blue 💙, I slowly started adding in dissaturated pinks.

Romper

Balloons

I liked the macrame pillow and tealight candle holders from the previous mood board so I decided to add those in.

At this point it was really lacking those natural elements we all crave. So I went searching. I started my search and struck gold. I found the perfect centerpiece.

round coffee table

Unfortunately, it was $1000 so that didn't make it into my mood board because I would never realistically buy that for a 1 year olds birthday. However it served as major inspiration and I found these more budget friendly items.

candle holder

banana fiber stool

It was really starting to come together. I wanted a touch of green so I added some faux eucalyptus.

I was done, or so I thought. Later in the day I was searching for actual presents to get for her. I thought it would be fun for her to have her own toddler sized chair. I found these amazing chairs from the Rattan Company.



Rattan Children's Furniture Collection

I added it in to the mood board and it fit like a glove. Both of these chairs are in the $200 range so convincing my husband that it's a necessity will be a big hurdle. And I haven't even checked if they ship to the US, but one made it onto the mood board so we'll see what happens.

Edit: They do not ship to the US, but if you find something similar locally please let me know.

Her birthday is one month away. Help me decide which board looks best. Or should I keep creating to get something new altogether? Let me know what you think in the comments below.