The boards that make me moody

Grade 7 Home Ec class... The teacher assigned a project that we each had to create a collage of pictures of things we would want in our first place and write a paragraph or two about how we imagine our first home away from our parents.

Now these collages are being called "vision boards", or more commonly, "mood boards".  And they are being touted as a tool of the professional interior designer.  Entire books have been written on the subject of mood boards, and there are now numerous websites that allow the user to create their own mood boards, save them, share them...

As an interior designer, I take issue with mood boards.  A mood board is nothing more than a visual wish list of sorts.  So what is my issue with mood boards?  A client presented me with one she had evidently spent hours making; it was a melange of images taken from cheap big-box furntiture stores, uber-expensive hand-crafted items from Europe, several pieces from manufacturers not locally available... And she expected me to use this as a shopping list of sorts for her project, with little care that several of the items really didn't work well together, that the proportions of different pieces made them incompatible. On the website where she created this mood board, other users gave it a 4-star rating, so it must be me who is wrong in finding fault with her selections!

So yes, I am drawing a comparison between these mood boards and my grade 7 Home Ec project - a wish-list collage.

Mood boards do have a purpose: they allow you to combine different pieces, styles, colours, even textures, and provide you with an idea of how different things can look together.  But they have their limitations.  If used as a tool to help create a starting point for a decor, they can be a great help, and really fun to make.  Just remember that a mood board is not a specifications manual, and it certainly cannot replace a professional interior designer.

Free Design Seminars - a part of LG's Home Appliance Days events

We've been busy at Idealspace Design. Aside from designing homes and businesses for our clients, we were approached to design and present mini-seminars for LG in and around Montreal.

If you are interested in doing renovations at home, you should come visit us at one of the locations. The mini-seminars (being presented in English and French) cover the topics of:

• Environmentally-friendly renovations 
• Laundry room design
• Kitchen planning

Each mini-seminar runs about 15 minutes, and we are also offering short free consultations on-site. Bring photos of your space to redesign, and bring your questions that you'd like answered. Demonstrations of LG's new steam washer and dryer are also being done.

And while you're there, also ask Jack  (the guy in the LG shirt) about the contest - you can win one of 3 prizes in "The LG Designer Contest" - you could win interior design services for your upcoming project.

The events are taking place from 12:30 to 2:30 at the following venues:

• Saturday, July 24th at Corbeil in St-Leonard. 6725 rue Jean-Talon East
• Sunday, July 25th at Corbeil in Longueuil. 3595 rue de Chambly
• Saturday, July 31st at The Bay in Montreal. 585 rue Ste-Catherine West
• Sunday, August 1st at The Bay in Anjou. Galeries d'Anjou 7895 boulevard Les Galeries d'Anjou.

Similar events are also happening in Toronto, so if that is closer to home for you:

• Saturday, July 24th at Tasco in Mississauga at 2111 Dunwin Drive, unit 11
• Sunday, July 25th at Tasco in Toronto at 3041 Dufferin Street
• Saturday, July 31st at The Bay in North York at 3401 Dufferin Street at Highway 401
• Sunday, August 1st at The Bay in the Eaton Center in Toronto at 176 Yonge Street.