Mood board inspiration: styling tiles five ways

[Advertisement – this is a paid partnership with Claybrook, but as always all words and opinions are my own]

I love creating mood boards: they’re a great way to gather inspiration in the early stages of planning an interior scheme, and they act as a handy visual guide which you can reference going forwards. And they’re huge fun – I sometimes put them together even when I have no particular project in mind, as it gets my creative juices flowing and lets me play around with different colour and texture combinations.

To show how you can use mood boards to guide your own decorating projects, I’ve teamed up with newly launched tile brand Claybrook to style five different schemes featuring designs from their debut collection. If you haven’t heard of Claybrook, it was founded by a group of people with more than 100 years of industry experience between them. Their aim was to create distinctive, high-quality tiles with competitive prices and excellent customer service, and the result is a beautiful range of porcelain, terracotta, stone, marble and glass designs at much lower costs than you’d find elsewhere.

All the below boards were inspired by places that I’ve encountered on my travels in recent years, and all of them would work equally well in a bathroom or kitchen. I’ve also shared a few tips on how to create your own mood board at the end of the post.

Mood board 1

My first mood board was inspired by the stark but beautiful landscapes I discovered on a winter road trip around Iceland and brings together a monochrome palette with sleek lines and textures. My starting point was Claybrook’s ‘Brookhaven’ and ‘Sea Cliff’ ranges, which feature smooth black and white marble and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. I also included a drawing from artist Beatrice Felicki’s ‘Nordic Light’ series, which perfectly captures the look and feel I wanted to achieve. The dark grey of the background would make a great wall colour for this scheme, but if you wanted a lighter option then white would work well, too. Matte-black fittings and accessories and minimalist toiletries provide the finishing touches.

Mood board 2

For this scheme, I took inspiration from a little ryokan (traditional inn) that I once visited in rural Japan. The overall look is understated and refined, with earthy colours and textures that reflect both the local landscape and the natural materials (paper screens, tatami mats) which feature heavily in Japanese design. The muted ochre backdrop is complemented by Claybrook’s ‘Gandino’ wall and floor tiles, which have a mottled, matte finish that resembles stone, and minimalist earthenware pottery in burnt brown hues. To bring the look together, I also added some dried grasses and a few contrasting brass elements.

Mood board 3

This mood board is based around café-lined Italian piazzas, with weathered wood, beige-coloured ceramics and natural fibres alongside dazzling white marble. The elegant, subtly veined look of Claybrook’s ‘East Haven’ floor and wall tiles proved ideal, as did the range of shapes and sizes, which include decorative mosaics together with simple squares and rectangles. Grey and taupe linens complement the scheme perfectly; if you were using it for a bathroom, I’d also suggest incorporating hammam-style towels in similar shades.

Mood board 4

My starting point for this mood board was the patio of beautiful hotel Don Totu, which I stayed at on my travels around Puglia last year. It’s rustic but minimalist, with soft greys and whites alongside gnarled wood, breezy linen and silvery olive branches. It features two Claybrook ranges: ‘Eglise’, whose decorative patterns were inspired by cathedral floors, and ‘Semaphore’, whose contemporary design is based on ship flags and offsets the more traditional, ornate elements. As well as bathrooms and kitchens, I can envisage this scheme working well in hallways, dining spaces and even bedrooms.

Mood board 5

My final scheme was inspired by the peeling walls, sunny courtyards and wooden doors that I’ve encountered in Morocco, Spain, Latin America, southern France, Italy and Portugal. The starting point was Claybrook’s ‘Cannes’ tiles, which are handmade from terracotta and painted with a variety of pretty patterns. The pinks, greens and blues evoke the colours of the places I have in mind, but I’ve paired them with soft white to create an understated, accessible look that won’t seem out of place in modern homes. Tan leather, brass and rough wooden accents complete the scheme.

My mood-board tips

• Find one thing that you’re drawn towards and use it as the starting point for your board. It could be anything: a tile, a fabric swatch, a wallpaper sample, a paint colour card, a bit of product packaging, a photo from a magazine, even a pebble from the beach
• Then bring in other items until you have a group that complements each other. Try to add one or two elements of contrast, too
• At this stage, focus on colours, textures, patterns and the overall look and feel of the space. Specific furnishings, lighting and accessories can be decided later on, although do include a photo of a particular piece if you’re building the scheme around it
• Once you’ve gathered everything together, lay things out and play around with different combinations. Weed out anything which doesn’t sit well, and consider whether anything is missing
• Don’t spend too much time creating a neat, perfect arrangement. I did for some of the above boards as I knew I’d be photographing them, but the aim is purely to experiment and let ideas come together
• Once you’re happy with the selection, stick everything to a board using pins or tack, and refer to it as the project progresses. It’s a great way to stay focused and avoid impulse buys that won’t work with the finished scheme

To see Claybrook’s full range of tiles, click here. Prices start from £36.96 per sqm for metro tiles and £69.90 per sqm for encaustic tiles.

Most photography by Abi Dare; images of the tiles in situ via Claybrook. Japanese ryokan photo by D Zalami and Italian piazza image via Koby Brown

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave