Before we begin our residential design process to design a new home or renovate an existing one, we invite our clients to create an inspiration board for their project all into one place. We recommend using either Pinterest or Houzz to create an inspiration board. It typically includes photos of exterior or interior spaces they like, images of specific products, material or color samples, and any other inspiration that captures their vision and relates to the project.
This should be a fun and enjoyable task. However, I realize that not everyone knows where to start or how to go about gathering inspiration.
Today I’m going to share with you our instructions for creating an inspiration board on Pinterest or Houzz and why it’s an essential step in the design process for your home!
Why is It Useful to Gather Inspiration?
Gathering inspiration for your next residential project is a fantastic way to give us a sense of your current ideas, your style, and your vision for the design.
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” as the saying goes. This is an essential step in the design process! It helps serve as a common ground from which we can move forward.
There are many benefits to gathering inspiration before we start the design process. Most importantly, an inspiration board will help communicate how you would like your home to look and feel. If you’re not convinced that it’s a worthwhile endeavor, here are more benefits we have seen in past projects:
It helps clarify your vision.
You might have a general idea in your mind about what you want. However, taking the time to find visual inspiration can help you get from a blank slate to a beautiful vision.
It allows you to reflect on functional requirements for the project.
You can take into consideration practical needs for you and your family. It can be useful to see
It helps you get a sense of the scope of investment you will be making into your future space.
Building a new home or making changes to your life represents a serious investment in your space and your future. You might find images you love, but once you take a closer look, you may realize certain aspects are out of your budget right now. Or, you may decide certain ones are worth the splurge, too!
It can help you identify areas of uncertainty and concern.
If you’re struggling to find inspiration images for certain areas, it might be because you haven’t given enough thought about it. This is a perfect chance to pause and reflect before diving too deep into the design process.
It helps showcase your unique perspective.
When you’ve finished gathering inspiration that reflects your ideas and goals, the end result is a collection of images that truly represents YOU.
Our Instructions to Create an Inspiration Board
Here are the exact instructions we give to guide your process as you create your inspiration board. There’s no one right way to go about creating an inspiration board, but these guidelines will hopefully serve as a useful reference when you need it.
Step 1. First, save any and all images that inspire you.
You can save as many images as you want at this stage (actually, the more the better). Search for broad keywords related to your residential project and save images that reflect your ideas, style, and personality. You can create one or multiple boards, but choose either Pinterest OR Houzz to create them. (I recommend 1-4 hours for this step.)
Step 2. Next, take a day or so to reflect.
Look for common threads in your inspiration board as a whole. What is catching your eye the most? Which images reflect your ideas the best? Did you cover all the major areas or categories related to your project?
Step 3. Last, spend time editing down your collection of images.
Remove any images that don’t truly represent what you want. In the end, you want to make sure your inspiration board feels cohesive and reflects your ideas and vision. Curating and narrowing down your images will help bring a sense of clarity and focus as you move forward.
Tip! Don’t get stuck because of inspiration paralysis! There are SO MANY beautiful images, and it’s easy to get drawn into them and then go down the past of despair and overwhelm, worrying that you’ll never achieve something as beautiful. Don’t let too much inspiration prevent you from accomplishing the task or making decisions! That’s why I recommend giving yourself time limits with each step!
Example Process
Want to see an example of how to create an inspiration board?
Here’s one way you can approach the task so you can take your project to the next level. Each project will be different, and you certainly don’t have to follow this example. The general idea is to organize your project into several categories.
Example Project: Let’s imagine we are planning to build a new summer house set in a natural landscape. We generally would like a traditional minimal design with a gabled roof, and the ideal area is 200m2 to 250m2.
Example Categories: Exterior Inspiration + Interior Inspiration + Key Details
Exterior Inspiration
For this home design, we are inspired by the traditional house form – an exterior featuring a gabled roof. It’s a simple but timeless shape. We also would like to incorporate a covered porch or sitting area, overhanging eaves, and natural wood materials.
Interior Inspiration
We decided to subcategorize the interior inspiration into specific rooms. Shown here are the inspiration boards for the kitchen, dining room, and laundry room.
Overall, we are really drawn to a coherent, clean aesthetic that is carried throughout the entire house. We want a light, airy atmosphere in this design home design, but we don’t want a completely open plan space in the kitchen, dining, and living areas. We also want an extra touch of design in the laundry room, an often neglected space, so that there is a sense of joy and organization around these tasks.
Key Details + Other Inspiration
Now that we have gathered inspiration for the exterior and important interior rooms, we can turn attention to the details and other sources of inspiration. This can include furniture, doors and hardware, storage space solutions, textures, materials, color palettes, art, outdoor spaces, etc..
One key theme we want to include is bringing the beauty of nature and green plants into the home. We want large, tropical plants in unique plant stands. We will have to consider natural light and placement when designing the home layout.
A Final Note
When you have finished creating your inspiration board, our next step would be to begin the design process! You will send us the link to your Pinterest or Houzz board. Then, we will chat together with you about the images that were chosen. We like to hear more about your ideas and why you chose these particular images, what caught your eye, etc…
As a residential designer, I’m happy to offer my own perspective about your images (where helpful!), especially when you are uncertain if something will work.
In the end, the process of creating an inspiration board is highly beneficial to your next residential project. We are always excited to see the images selected for a client’s inspiration board!
I’m an architectural designer passionate about residential design, classical architecture, & architectural history. Together with my husband Dmitriy, we help busy families and couples with residential designs, extensions, renovations, and new builds. My goal is to help you stop feeling overwhelmed about your home & start designing the life you’ve always wanted. Read our full story here!