Mood Board for Our New House Decor: Vintage Contemporary Style

Who else has created a mood board? It's my first time! For years, I saved photos of favorite designs in folders on my computer or phone, but I never created a real "mood board" until now. After wrapping up the interior design process with the builder last month, I decided to try my hand at my very first one!

Also called a "Design Board," I wanted to create one mainly because it seemed like fun, and also to help myself stay razor-focused on the exact style we'd like to achieve in the new house. Do you guys want to see what I came up with so far? Let's do it! (I know some of you are pros at these - go easy on me, it's my very first one!)

My very first mood board for the new house design & decor. (Made with PicMonkey)

Well, there it is, in all its glory! Some of you know I'm "technologically challenged." But this was actually super easy to make once I figured out the (very simple) online software.

I keep referring to the mood board to remind myself of our end goal. As time passes, it can be easy to be overloaded with loads of ideas and get off track. In fact, we already bought a few things in advance of construction starting, so I want to make sure I remember what's in the boxes, so to speak, and stay on track with any more shopping and other decisions while waiting to move in. Seeing as we're doing all this for a house that doesn't exist yet, it can be hard to "picture" what anything will look like especially in context with other finishes and products chosen separately over months and months. Hopefully, this keeps my bargain-shopping over the next few months straight to the point. As you all probably know by now, two things I personally detest are clutter and waste, so I definitely don't want to buy "excess" things before we're sure what will fit and look right in the new spaces.

Who else loves this Hamadan style rug?

Want to get on to the fun part? Inspo photos, here we come! Below are the individual photos that served as my decor inspo and a little more info on the style I'm working towards. Please tell me what you all think!

A room in director Marc Webb's house as recently listed on Zillow. Designer: Vanessa Alexander, Los Angeles.

Design Goals: Vintage Contemporary Style

The photo above of a seating area in Marc Webb's 1924 renovated "Moorish Revival" villa, completely overhauled by Alexander Design firm, serves as an inspiration staple for my decor scheme in our new home. While the listing doesn't specifically say "vintage contemporary," the term fits the look. Seeing as I love both old and new styles, I'm hoping to do a tasteful mashup in the new house.

Vintage Contemporary Style is pretty much what you'd expect from the name; it's a mixture of current design innovations and trends with vintage items: old-fashioned flooring beneath contemporary hotel-style bedding, an electronic couch on a vintage Persian rug, an antique record playing Ella Fitzgerald as a modern gas fireplace burns in the background. I could go on and on... as the saying goes, these are a few of my favorite things. Old-fashioned charm warming up a conveniently modern space; that's vintage contemporary style in a nutshell.

I love these pillow covers! I have them in teal already and the navy version is in my cart.

This is probably the most colorful thing I've bought in years!

Color Scheme Inspo: My Cyber Monday Art Nouveau Deal

Historically, I've been stingy with color. I love black and white and pops of color (my last house had royal blue throughout) but overall I tend to use a light hand with color. One color in particular has always been completely off my list: red. I literally banned red from my house years ago. I wouldn't even keep a red spatula or dish towel. Red is a powerful color according to color theory (and feng shui) that represents fire, power and passion. Since I tend to lean toward calming colors, such as the colors of the ocean - blue and green and grey - and I also like a color-coordinated home, I found it easier to simply strip red (and other warm colors like it) from my decor scheme years ago.

Now, I still stand by color coordinating a home. It's a tactic many designers use so as you walk from one space to another, you still have the feeling you're "in the same home," so to speak. Think new construction model homes, for instance - they're usually color coordinated throughout. This is a great strategy to keep aesthetic order and I absolutely recommend it! But lately I've been expanding my comfort zone, and while the coordination shall continue, for the next house I'd like to create a more complex color scheme. It takes a little more finesse to pull together multiple layers of color versus what I've done before (blue and white for everyone!) but I feel ready for a bigger challenge! Therefore, I have a shocking announcement (well, shocking for me, haha!): Our new house will have RED as a main color accent. Yes, I'm finally ready for you, red!

The huge 60" x 40" canvas pictured above serves as my main color inspo for all the decor in the next place. Classic navy blues and warm rusty reds will be accented throughout the house in pillow covers, tchotchkes, and rugs. A few cool teals and warm peaches will round out the color scheme. Backing up all the fun stuff will be my favorite standbys, of course: black and white and grey. I snatched up this huge piece for 70% off on Black Friday! I think I paid about $150 versus the regular $600-ish price tag. Psyched doesn't begin to describe my excitement at that deal, haha.

Here's the link to the "Chocolat Ideal" artwork where I bought it on Wayfair (be aware it may be back to regular price now):

Link: Alfonse Mucha "Chocolat Ideal"

Also, below is another art nouveau style vintage advertisement that's very affordable on Amazon right now. This type of colorful poster is just so much fun! Browse and see if there's one that catches your eye. Common themes in these old ads were wine and liquor, treats including biscuits and chocolate, household products, vehicles, travel destinations, and occasionally, social events such as a theater's opening night.

Champagne with your "Chocolat", mon cheri?

Photo: Target.com

Our Bedroom: Decorative Beams & Faux Fireplace

As you know, I love fireplaces. Even when not in use, they make a room insta-cozy! In our bedroom, I'd like to emulate the fireplace and overall glam look this photo embodies. But there isn't a fireplace in our bedroom plans... which is why we'll be creating our first faux fireplace! I can't wait. I'm thinking dark wood surround, mercury glass mirror backing and (flameless) candles in place of logs, like in the pic above.

Also, as shown in the Marc Webb house photo at the very beginning of this post, we'll incorporate ebony beams into our design. They'll be in the main bedroom and will run lengthwise over our bed. You can run beams either way but feng shui influenced me to run them in a head-to-foot direction. Actually, strict feng shui rules would advise no beams at all, but we really wanted them, so... beams it is. After all, it is a country house.

This stylish set of flameless candles is safer than the real thing around a toddler, I'm thinking!

Photo: London Door Company

Our Wildcard - a Teal Front Door

Yes, I'm partial to black and white staples. But we decided to have a bit of fun with color for the front door! Both David and I agreed to add one colorful burst to the otherwise black and white exterior: Sherwin Williams "Reflecting Pool." I always love seeing a house with a wild door color. It just seems so joyful and welcoming!

I'd also like to add a brushed nickel door knocker for a pop of vintage flair. This door knocker (below) is in my Amazon saved-for-later cart as we speak. By the way, the Gaelic phrase on the door knockers translates in English to "A Hundred Thousand Welcomes."

This door knocker is in my Amazon "saved for later" cart, just waiting for us to move in!

Our new house design is an eclectic - and hopefully tasteful - conglomeration of everything we've loved and learned over the years. And my philosophy is that's our homes should be, a reflection of who lives there and what's led us to this point in our lives. From vintage to contemporary and from old-fashioned to new, it represents us as people and my own personal design sense. It's not for everyone, but these are the things we love so it's what we're doing in our home. We just can't wait to see all these ideas come to life!

With Love,

Molly

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