{create} home mood boards

Very few things make me more crazy than when I fall in love with a piece of furniture, but can't buy it because I'm not sure if we have room for it. Or, when I'm paralyzed by the fear of poorly coordinated fabric at the fabric store. Does this happen to anyone else? For the last couple years I've been wanting to create a comprehensive resource of our home decorating/renovating. I know notebooks are popular when you're renovating a room, but those projects are usually on time lines. We're not on a time line, and I don't want to lug around a notebook. 

My solution? I created a mood board booklet.

It's a collection of paint and fabric samples that fits into any of my bags.  I wish I'd done this a long, long time ago friends. And, it was actually really fun to put together. Let me show you how.

I think most people wouldn't even need to go to the store for this project. I'm not even sure why we don't have index cards or glue in the house. But we do now! (Anyone need index cards?!) So, I started with 4" x 6" index cards. The 3" x 5" are just too small to fit a good color and fabric sample.

Then I gathered up all our paint samples, fabric samples, and measurements for spaces we need to fill.

After that it was just gluing and labeling.

Now, I did run into a couple of issues during the process. The first is we have a living room rug that I can't carry around. (The sample alone is 2' x 2'!) So instead, I added a fabric sample that features the rug colors (above). It's not perfect, but it's a lot closer than me trying to guess.

The kitchen. Lots of room for new fabrics!

The second issue I ran into is that our duvet has a crazy (awesome) orange color. I don't have a fabric sample, but it's one of *those* colors that paralyzes me at fabric stores. So, I took a pillow case to the paint store and picked out a color swatch that matches the color perfectly. Problem solved!

I also added extra pages to the back so as we decorate/renovate the booklet can grow. This project was so easy (and so fun!) and I know will save me so many hours of indecision and so much money from buying fabric/furniture that won't work. In fact, this little booklet has already been to a fabric store with me, and it was a huge help. The great part is that it works for both renters and home owners. We all have spaces we need to fill and decorate, and we're all busy. I love how little projects like this can save so much time.

January has been a great month!* Thanks so much for reading along! I am excited to share with you the other projects we've been tackling in the last couple weeks though. Hint: there a room remodel involved!

So, tell me, what's your fabric/furniture shopping style? Do you carry *the notebook*, or just wing it when you get to the store? 

Happy friday friends! Hope you have a great weekend!

*In case you missed it, I spent the month of January taking control of my *style*. First I organized our basement and kitchen. Next, I read a book that really inspired me, I took a look through my inspiration files, and I defined a house color palette. Lastly, I took a hard look at what needed to change in our house to create a cohesive style.