Do you use moodboards when designing a room? When I first began decorating, I just flew by the seat of my pants. Now that I’m a bit more seasoned (ha!) and have learned a few tricks to keep me on track, I create moodboards for each room. It’s a good way to get a general feel of how you want the finished room to look.

You can always use a poster board and magazine clippings to create a mood board, but an even better “high tech” way to do so is to use the free moodboard creator at Olioboard. You can “clip” any photo from the internet to include on your moodboard or you can use the preloaded photos from favorites, like Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn, to create your look.

This week, I’ve teamed up with Olioboard and five other bloggers to bring you a series of Coastal Cottage inspired rooms. Yesterday, Lynda at Focal Point shared her gorgeous Coastal Cottage studio/library. Today, I bring you a Coastal Cottage themed home office space.

As you know, Coastal Cottage isn’t my typical style, so it was fun to create a room with such pretty elements.  It also helps that I’m sitting on a balcony watching the waves roll onto a white sandy beach as we speak.  Honestly!

My Coastal Cottage themed office was inspired by this beautiful, blue shuttered desk.  Paired with a white Chippendale arm chair with yellow striped cushion, I think it really makes the room.  White peonies in a square glass vase add a contemporary touch.

Instead of the traditional white cottage furniture, I added a dark brown bookcase to the moodboard.  I’d likely have one to flank each side of the blue desk.  A white faux coral bowl, distressed white clock and brown rattan office supply caddies are fun elements and textures to add to the bookcases.  The antiqued white shelf really brings home the cottage style.

You’ll notice that I have selected gold toned elements for the room, such as the bookends and starburst mirror.  I think the gold tones warm up the room, that might seem too cool with so much white and blue.

I fell in love with this chandelier as soon as I came across it.  It is antique white wrought iron with dark turned wooden pendants.  It has such a beachy feel, don’t you think?  A set of seashell prints in the blue and brown tones of the room would look nice hung in a row over the desk.

I couldn’t resist a simple jute rug to rest under the desk, as well as the blue coral, stack of old books, driftwood-esque candle holder and blue vessel to grace the bookshelves.  Add the gold three-legged lamp to the corner of the desk, and the home owner is ready to get to work in serene style.

Tomorrow, head over to Rhoda’s place to see how she designed a Coastal Cottage style living room.  I can’t wait to see it!

Do you use moodboards?  Have you tried out Olioboard yet?