Since we last connected on suburban happenings (previously: Welcome to the Suburban Years, Lessons Learned in Home Buying, and Move-In Ready), I’ve been channeling my inner Emily Henderson. One of the best #protips that I’ve gleaned from reading way too many design blogs is the general helpfulness of mood boards.

Pinterest is a great tool during initial ideation, but mood boarding allows for the best ideas to be culled in a useful way. Best of all, you don’t even need Adobe Creative Suite or any other fancy software. PowerPoint gets the job done, allowing you to virtually build a room to your heart’s content.

In our old apartment, the furniture was composed of either used finds from Craigslist and thrift stores or basic builds from Ikea (hello, Malm). Hand-me-downs from family filled in the gaps. The generally mismatched nature of all of our furnishings didn’t bother me in the least. However, now that I’m hardcore adulting, I am insisting that our house be at least presentable.

For a non-designer with a track record of prioritizing function over form, being able to visualize a room’s color palette and layout prior to buying anything is incredibly helpful. Mood boarding also lets me sit with an idea for a few days and show my vision to The Astronomer for his buy-in and input.

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