How to Create an Interior Design Moodboard

An interior design moodboard serves as a blueprint for creative direction, providing a visual tool to explore and experiment with the elements of a space, from colour palette selection to textures and textiles.

By organising ideas visually, moodboards transform abstract inspiration into a clear and tangible design direction. As a crucial step between the initial concept and the first draft, they play a key role in both interior design planning and presentation.

Their thoughtful combination of elements and juxtaposition of styles can also spark fresh ideas, making moodboards not just practical tools but a rich source of creative inspiration.

Learn how to create a moodboard for interior design with this step-by-step guide. Whether you’re planning a full renovation or refreshing a single room, moodboarding helps you clarify your design vision, stay aligned with current trends, and establish a cohesive concept from the outset. 

Explore our ABI Interactive Moodboard Builder to bring your dream design to life. Choose from our extensive range of fixtures as well as your favourite furniture and finishes, then download and share your custom moodboard — all for free.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a moodboard tells the whole story…

So, why use a moodboard? We’ve narrowed down the three key reasons why moodboards will have a positive impact on your interior design projects:

Interior design moodboards provide endless inspiration, capturing not only the visual style of your project or renovation but also helping to shape the mood and atmosphere you want to achieve in the finished space.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or already have an idea in mind, this visual planning phase brings clarity to your selections. It’s also a practical tool that allows others to engage with your ideas, offering fresh perspectives and creative input.

Once you’re ready to move forward with a clear vision, your focus often shifts to managing tasks and coordinating with different trades. At this stage, it’s easy to lose sight of the original purpose behind your project. An interior design moodboard is the perfect way to keep all your initial goals and ideas in one place. You can easily revisit it to ensure your latest concept still aligns with your original vision.

Creating a moodboard is a powerful way to understand and communicate ideas visually. Whether you're collaborating with interior designers, builders, or clients, moodboards help bridge the gap between envisioning a space and bringing it to life — offering far greater clarity than words alone.

Effective collaboration depends on everyone sharing a clear understanding of the goal, and a visual representation makes it easier to give specific feedback on each element.

We’ve created this step-by-step guide to help you get started on creating your interior design mood board:

Begin your moodboard with the ideas you’ve already gathered, whether that’s colour palettes you’ve noted, favourite interior influences, or Pinterest posts you love. 

This goes hand in hand with defining the atmosphere and feeling you want your space to evoke. Whether it’s minimal, bold, or coastal, these keywords unlock the mood for the room, so select those that resonate with you the most.

These initial themes will inspire your colour palette — whether it’s neutral, earthy, or pastel — and guide your choice of materials that align with the style.

These themes also make it easier to search online for inspiration or specific images to include in your final moodboard. Explore a variety of moodboard maker interior design platforms, including Pinterest, Instagram, Unsplash, and popular home decor websites, to gather inspiration and visualise concepts.

If ideas aren’t flowing easily, interior design magazines and publications are a fantastic place to jumpstart your creativity. Our blogs on The Interior Edit offer a curated mix of insights, ideas, and inspiration for your home design.

Alternatively, you can build your interior design moodboard around a single item you feel connected to — whether it’s a favourite artwork, a piece of antique furniture, or a souvenir you’ve picked up on your travels. This personal touch provides a strong foundation from which you can combine cohesive colours and textures to shape your overall design.

Once you're confident in the theme and direction of your moodboard — considering style, colour palette, and materials — begin gathering elements that will bring your vision to life.

These elements could include: 

• Benchtop finishes
• Window furnishings
• Floor coverings
• Paint swatches
• Wallpaper samples
• Furniture
• Fixtures
• Artwork
• Accessories

Fortunately, many suppliers offer samples to try, whether you’re shopping for tiles, curtains, or other materials. Having product samples on hand is one of the best ways to experiment with colour and texture before committing to a full purchase, especially when working with a physical interior design moodboard.

When selecting from our range of vanities, tiles, basins, showers, and tapware, ABI Interiors provides a carefully curated selection of colour and tile samples. This allows you to have a true sense of how our products will look and feel in your space — making it easy and inspiring to create the perfect moodboard for your bathroom, kitchen, or laundry. We also offer our Pietra sample pack, thoughtfully curated to encompass the ABI finishes showcased in Shelley Craft’s Tuscan-inspired, modern Australian renovation, Pietra.

Many people now prefer using digital tools, apps, and shareable platforms to create their interior design moodboards, as they offer flexibility and convenience across different stages of a project. Canva, in particular, stands out as a user-friendly tool that unites all elements of your design into one cohesive concept. For a more tailored platform, our ABI Interactive Moodboard Builder offers a full catalogue of our products, as well as a range of completed moodboards of homes to help inspire your own.

However, the tactile experience of physical samples, from wood and stone to tiles and textiles, helps bring your ideas to life through look and feel. Touching the textures and seeing how each finish will look in the room's natural light allows for more accurate design decisions to suit the space.

For example, the veining of a marble bathroom vanity might enhance the golden tones of brushed brass fixtures, or the texture of travertine tiles could match the organic finish of a concrete basin. A physical moodboard opens up possibilities that digital options simply cannot replicate.

By this stage, you’ll likely have more elements than you need for your interior design moodboard. Narrow down your selections by choosing pieces that work harmoniously together and eliminate colours or textures that don’t fit with your predominant theme.

Take a step back to reflect on the overall design and see if it aligns with your original concept. Any creative process takes time and various attempts, so trust your instincts. If something doesn’t feel right, rearrange your moodboard until you’re completely satisfied.

The hands-on approach of interior design moodboards offers a clear understanding of your project’s direction while demonstrating how various design elements work together. It also serves as a platform to explore and showcase different styles, trends, and possibilities.

If you want to save time creating your moodboard and get professional guidance, book a free online or in-person design consultation with our expert team to help bring your dream space to life.

Want more design tips for your project? Check out these blogs: 

Organic Modern Interior Design: Celebrating Natural Beauty

Bedroom Colour Schemes to Transform Your Space 

6 Ways to Easily Update Your Space on a Low Budget