Sunday, May 1, 2016

How to Create a Mood Themed Room

How to Create a Mood Themed Room

Creating a Mood or Feeling Should be the Number One Goal When Deciding Upon the Theme or Design of a Space

When we decorate, we tend to think in terms of colors and furnishings, but the first real place to start is to ask this question:

What do I want myself and others to feel when walking into this space? 
Although starting with emotion can seem like an artsy-fartsy place to begin, it's far from it. 

A mood consists of many senses. For example, warmer tones, deep, comfy furnishings, and multiple lush textures would be the way to go if you'd like people to feel relaxed. 

Use wall art to feature warmer scenes such as rich treed forests, winter coziness, a sunset over the ocean, or an evening photo featuring the warmth of a summer city skyline. 

With decorating, it's very easy to get off track. When we decide to start with the mood, we're telling our decorating mind to stay focused on pieces and colors that tie into our initial goal. 

Here's an example: You've decided that the mood you wish to create is the feeling you'd get from a happy sunny spring day, so what's next?
  • What do you want to feature that creates Happiness in Spring? Is it flowers? OK, all flowers, or one? Let's say Sunflowers.
  • Next, which colors do you want to feature in the room that reflects happiness, spring, and sunflowers? That's easy: sky blue, various shades of yellow, leaf and grass greens, some white, beige, or cream.
  • You want wall art to enhance the size of the space, so you choose spring-featured 3D wall decal pieces that feature happy, light, and peaceful scenes - The art serves two purposes: to enhance the room's size as well as aid in achieving your first goal, to create a mood of happiness in spring.
  • Your bedding, rugs, draperies, and accessories are now easier to decide upon as you know you need to stay on track with your initial goal! Now, when you go shopping, you're not distracted by the next new shiny thing; you're focused on choosing pieces that will work for your room and ultimately help you achieve your mood goal.
As you read all of this, you may think it needs to be more complex. But the thing is, many of us need help getting it right. Even if we don't have the funds to go out and spend on new things to create a mood or emotion,  we can still use our existing pieces.

How to Use Existing Pieces in Your Room to Create a Focus Mood/Emotion:

Let's stay with a "Happiness in Spring" theme, using Sunflowers as the focus.

  • If you can't change your couch, you can buy slipcovers; if you can't afford slipcovers, then simply use throw pillows and a throw blanket featuring sunflowers. If your sofa is already patterned, use bright, solid, colored throw pillows and throw blankets.
  • Paint your room, choosing from the four colors of sunflower spring: sky blue, deep grass green, sunflower yellow, or beige/white/cream. Try a deep grass green on one wall with a pale yellow or beige on the others.
  • In regards to window coverings - This one is a little tougher. If you can't spend any money on new drapestry switching out drapes with another room, or if privacy is OK, remove them altogether. The change will often be enough.
In summary, if you can't spend a lot of money to change a room, then you focus on colors, textures, wall art, pillows, and small accessories, all of it tieing into your initial mood/emotion - 'happiness in spring.' 

When you're all done, give your room the name of the mood you created - 'Happiness in Spring.'

Do it for every room in your home.
  • The Kitchen (Fresh and Healthy) <---that would be fun to create
  • How about the Bedroom (Nautical Freedom) <--think what you could do to that room
  • A little girl's room (Confident and Brave) <---a switch from the usual 'be a princess' approach
Some Additional Emotions and Moods You Could Use as Room Themes:
  1. Grateful Contentment
  2. Enthusiastic Learning
  3. Wacky and Wild
  4. Utopian Earth
  5. Faith in People
  6. Lost in Space
  7. Euphoria Lives Here
  8. Barbie Goes Goth
  9. My Spiritual Abyss
  10. Being Down Died
  11. Flighty and Undecided
  12. Snowed In Forever
  13. Flower Fishing
  14. Paradise Sneezed
  15. Incoming!
Well, there you go! Those are 15 ideas to get you started.

Remember, the mood/emotion is just the first step. The best part is getting specific and deciding upon the pieces, colors, fabrics, and textures that will bring your idea to life.

Have a blast!



Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


15 comments:

  1. Awesome article! When I chose furniture and "fixin's" for our house, I tried to focus on joy and thankfulness, as well as bringing the outside inside (since we have lots of big windows). It took months to put it all together, but looking at any given item in our house evokes a good memory, making me feel happy and thankful. Sometimes I just sit in the midst of it all and look around, counting my blessings!

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    1. Thanks Susan - I can picture you in your home feeling joy and thankfulness as you sit in the midst of your creative home decor. I understand completely. When we redid the family room I was going for hotel comfy and warm hearted and my husband and I love being in that room - When one of my sons friends looked at the room for the first time after it was done he said, wow, I love it it feels like a hotel room - I thought, yah! goal achieved!

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  2. I really love this article and the suggestions! It sparks so many ideas in my mind. I have always considered my home my own private "studio" where I could decorate according to how I felt or with the items that speak to me. I allow my husband and children the same privileges in their own areas and rooms. As a result, we have a very ecliptic look that would drive a professional decorator crazy, but we love it and call it home. Your previous article here prompted me to start clearing out clutter, I even cleaned out my closet. I wonder what this article will prompt me to do as I stare at the four walls immediately surrounding me. I'm thinking, "Where the Fun Begins" theme.

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    1. Cynthia, lol at what you'll create after you pick an emotion-mood theme; you'll have to blog about it - could be so much fun as well! - I agree with everyone having the freedom to design their room their way as well (ok, within reason - like um, no real cows or anything?) - we can worry about neutralizing the space when we're ready to sell, until then I'm a believer in creating a home and a space that reflects you and your family, and that is you and your family! How much fun is it to walk into a home and have the owner talk about each room, what it means to their family and why it's decorated a certain way? Well, with my background I can tell you it's a ton of fun - I find other people's dreams and decorating goals fascinating and extremely interesting.

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  3. Wow I never ever thought of decorating with moods. What a great idea, I always just think of what color I like and what type of furniture I want. I wonder if that is why nobody ever comes to visit!!! Thanks for impressive ideas.

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    1. Sam, lol! Give it a try next time; I found when I approached the room that way, I stayed on track with my decor choices and avoided going off the rails when someone yelled squirrel, squirrel squirrel :)

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  4. Hey, Barbara - great ideas. I recently redid the small bedroom in my home I use as a combo office (computer room) and craft room. Not redecorating as such (since it's a rented apt and I can't paint, etc), but in eliminating clutter and reorganizing/rearranging. When I first moved into this apartment, I had my second TV in here (one of those big old-style monsters on a large TV stand, both of which took up an enormous amount of room in a small space, making me feel cramped and crowded. The TV & stand were too heavy to move, so I couldn't even put it in a more convenient space. I realized I hardly ever turned on that TV anymore (preferring my flat screen TV in the livingroom), so I 'downsized' by donating the TV (with the help of the nice hubby of the office asst. manager) to "Goodwill" and incorporating the TV stand (which is wood and pretty) into a storage area for craft and office supplies. I put one of those 9-cubbyhole storage units in the double closet for lots of storage, moved my computer desk down and my craft table over.... well, you get the message. The end result was a lighter, more open, less cluttered area that I LOVE to walk into every day. Everything is organized and at my fingertips and perfect! Guess you'd say my mood now is HAPPY! :)

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    1. Pat, you nailed it. I totally understand how it changes the feeling in the space to rearrange and re-purpose the pieces in room. Great idea to reuse the TV stand for a storage area for craft and office supplies. I've reused and moved things around in our home for decades. It sure keeps one from hitting a store and spending too much money! When we go to gargare sales we creative ideas on how to use other people's stuff so it makes total sense to start thinking of our own stuff that way too. You have me thinking of a mood name for your room now - Happy for sure! ...Happy & Creative? lol - can't help myself! Am currently planning a face lift this year for our master and my mind is already starting on the mood theme - hubby wants 'comfy' - so again, I'll have to expand on that one!

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  5. I love this! Normally, I would not think about it like this. Lately, I've begun to think that I want the color of mint in some of my living space. Not sure why... just love the color of mint. Your article hits it on the head... the color of mint makes me feel a certain way. Cool article!

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    1. Thanks Dawn. You'll have to tap into what the color of mint actually makes you feel and then expand on that feeling to create a named theme that you can use to decorate the room with :) - interesting!

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  6. Love those themes you listed. I smiled when I read "Flighty and Undecided". We just took possession of our Condo but we still are away so no decorating yet but we can start the planning. Because we work in other countries, we often have to make our rented places suit our taste. When the contract is just a short time, vases of flowers and plants often are our go to. As you've pointed out, there are plenty of themes to choose from. It is only limited by our own imagination.

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    1. Aesta, great way to personalize a rented premises, using flowers and plants - can make such a difference, not to mention the good things it can do for the air as well as add color :)

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  7. What a great idea to decorate by mood or feeling. When I read your list though, I did have a giggle when I read "faith in people." My thought was, "I wonder what she would say if I told her my theme is going to be: Has lost all hope for the human race." LOL. Not really. I decorate all my rooms in traditional nostalgia because I like to have my memories around me.

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  8. What a great idea to decorate by mood or feeling. When I read your list though, I did have a giggle when I read "faith in people." My thought was, "I wonder what she would say if I told her my theme is going to be: Has lost all hope for the human race." LOL. Not really. I decorate all my rooms in traditional nostalgia because I like to have my memories around me.

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  9. I've never thought of this. Most of what we have we didn't buy ourselves, and we mostly feel we are working a puzzle when we decorate, trying to get the pieces in the right places.

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