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?
I really think this is an awesome idea. My friend started doing this when she bought her first house, so she knew what would look good, and where. I’m glad she showed me, because I have been throwing things on the wall and shelves, hoping it would go together nicely. Uhhhh … doesn’t work! lol
P.S…. I love your color/style choices! They’re adorable!
Now this is an office I could be at home in…
LOVE this!! I usually get an idea of one item that is a must have and then build around it. But, when you fly by the seat of your pants, like me, you don’t always know how is all going to come together! So, excited about this resource! Glad I ran across your blog a couple of weeks ago!
Hey Lindsay, Love your home office design. I agree, the desk totally makes the space. What a great find. 🙂 For this not being your typical style, I think you really nailed it. It’s the mix of distressed antique pieces, sea inspired accents and a great colour scheme. I could happily work away in this space for hours. Thank you so much for participating. It’s been a pleasure collaborating with you.
Hey, Lindsay I love your space! It looks great and all those elements together really make it a beautiful room. I used that little blue coral in my space too. Wait til you see what I did? Pssst, it has a Shaw rug in it. Yep, liked that rug a lot. I cannot get my footer to work.
Oh my word! Olioboard is like the best of Pinterest all in one space! I love it! I cannot wait to play around with it!
Great job, Lindsay! I love the coastal details!
(LOVE your new bed too!)
Beautiful designs! I just came back from Port Jefferson, Long Island (grew up there) so I’m all about coastal and nautical themes. Stop by my blog if you can, I just posted about it 🙂
I love your board Lindsay! I really like the natural textures that it has! Great job!
Cassity
I love this! Where did you find the set of seashell prints in the blue and brown tones. They would go great in my coastal living room!
I found those on Olioboard, so I’m not sure where they originally came from. There are some similar (and even cooler) items on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade/art/print?search_submit=&q=shell+print&view_type=gallery&ship_to=US&noautofacet=1
I was quite taken with your blue shutter desk as I apool housem furnishing an 11′ x 13′ to be my “she cave” and office. I want the colors to be a distressed blue or a washed blue,primarily. So, is that blue desk for sale? How is it outfitted? Can you customize it to accommodate my needs? I will want an approximately 5′ length and a 3 or 4 ‘ length.
I look forward to your reply. thanks!!!! debby
Just found this and is exactly what I am looking for as I am re-doing my office in a coastal theme. I would love to find these sea shell prints. Need to check out this olioboard, have no idea what it is, but about to find out. Thanks for sharing this. It’s my inspiration.
Yay! I’m so glad I could help. I’m not sure where those shell prints came from, but there are some really fun ones on Etsy.com. http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=shell+print&view_type=gallery&ship_to=US