I was tasked with helping my aunt on a couple of minor improvements to her home, a home that is hardly three-years-old. She wants to improve the look of her half bathroom and paint the wall behind her television in her living room an accent color. Today, I thought I would take you along as I complete the very, very beginning stages of a mood board.

A big part of any creative field is simply starting, getting feedback, and making improvements. These are my initial ideas for the improvements she wants to make. As I was completing this, I could already see some things I wanted to change; of course, budget is a big thing, and since I do not know about a budget, I kept things cost efficient and slightly simple.

To start, I use Canva and Procreate on the iPad Pro to do my rough (and I mean ROUGH) sketches and schematic thinking. On Canva, I use the Presentation template, which correlates to 1920×1080 pixels on Procreate.

TV Wall

For the accent wall in her living room, I thought an olive or army green would be a good choice considering it is her favorite color and there are muted hues in the living room, especially the rug. The couch and accent chair are both neutrals of two variations. The wall with the television is also next to a white shelf that has brown and wooden decor and memorabilia.

To find the paint colors, I used Sherwin Williams. These are the three options I came up with and how they would look on a VERY rough sketch of the accent wall.

Half Bath

This was kind of a challenge. She wanted the choices in the bathroom to be based on a Mickey Mouse painting done by my sister. I wanted to incorporate the colors of the painting, but since I have no idea what it looks like, I did a big guestimate.

I used Lowe’s Home Improvement to find the vanity and mirror since that is the store they are wanting to purchase them from. The vanity needs to be between 24 and 35 inches, and I gravitated towards 30 inches to fill more of the wall. Furthermore, I focused on white vanities and thought it would be good to bring in color with the walls and various accessories including the painting she wants to leave in the bathroom.

Wallpaper was consistently mentioned when we initially talked about this, so I went to Wayfair for peel and stick (which was specifically requested).

With all of this in mind, these are the three starter options I’ve come up with. Like I said, I can already see areas of improvement (and the three triangles represent floating shelves).

Now, I wait for feedback, and while I wait, I will continue making improvements to my starters. With any creative endeavor, there are always things to be improved and opportunity to improve them.