Vision Board

Creating a vision board can be a powerful way to clarify your goals for a new home. What’s that, you say? A Vision Board? Yes. A vision board!

Houzz calls it an ideaboard. Pinterest, a site dedicated to collecting and organizing images of anything, calls it a pinboard. Fashion and design websites call it a lookbook.

Wherever you do your visual discovery, the idea is to put all the images (and words too) that inspire you on one page you can look at daily: your dream kitchen, baths, views, or anything else! In other words, make an inspiring, home-oriented vision board!

Here are detailed instructions to create three different kinds of vision boards: (1) an old-school version on posterboard (2) a digital vision board on your computer, and (3) A digital version from your phone.

Review It Daily: Once you’ve created your vision board, look at it as often as you can, perhaps every morning.

Use it as a Guide: Refer back to your vision board to see if your priorities have shifted and to help you communicate your desires to others.

Happy house hunting! Off we go!

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Make an old-school Visionboard

• Gather Your Materials: Find a poster board, magazines, newspapers, or printouts of images and words that resonate with you.
• Think Broadly: Look for images related to your dream kitchen, baths, views, and anything else that you'd love in a home.
• Cut with Intention: As you go through magazines and other materials, cut out pictures of homes, rooms, or features that catch your eye.
• Include Words that motivate: Don't just focus on pictures. Find and cut out at least 5 words or phrases that describe how you want to feel in your new home, words that describe how you feel when you are home. Examples: “Joy,” “Delight,” “Family,” “Blessed,” etc.
• Find Inspiration from Others: Include finishes and features you've seen in other people's homes that you've admired.
• Consider Your Family: Add elements that reflect your family's happiness and comfort, like a big yard with trees or a wraparound porch.
• Think About Location: If you have a specific neighborhood or type of environment in mind, find images that represent that, whether it's a park view or a scene with more cows than people, or a specific landmark.
• Don't Limit Yourself: Don't just focus on the house itself. Include images of the lifestyle you envision, like greeting guests with a smile or a child peeking out from behind your legs.
• Use Diverse Sources: Look at home inspiration websites and fashion or design websites for a wide range of ideas. Print out images you love in black and white or color.
• Look at the Details: Add pictures of specific items that you love, like a certain type of floor tile, door hardware, or furniture.
• Consider the Feelings: Find images that evoke the feeling of being "at home”.
• Focus on the Future without limits: Let your vision board represent the dream house of your future. Don’t limit your imagination! You don’t have to be “practical.”
• Add Personal Touches: If there's a particular memory or feeling from your past that you want to recreate, find a way to represent that visually.
• Arrange and Organize: Place the images and words on your poster board in a way that is visually pleasing to you.
• Glue Everything Down: Secure all your clippings to the poster board.
• Make it Prominent: Put your finished vision board somewhere you can see it often.

Create a Vision Board on Your Computer

To create a vision board digitally on a computer, you can use various online tools and platforms. These platforms allow you to collect, organize, and visualize your ideas without needing physical materials. Here are 20 directions for how to do it:

• Start with intention:Before you start collecting images, get ready to have fun. Let this process be an inspirational one! Dream big!
• Choose a Platform: Use a digital tool like Pinterest , Houzz, Milanote, Canva, or Miro , which are all designed for creating mood boards and vision boards.
• Start a New Board: On your chosen platform, create a new board or "ideabook" for your home design project. Give it a specific and descriptive name, like "Dream house!"
• Search for Keywords: Use the search bar to find images that match your vision. Use specific keywords like "minimalist bedroom," "farmhouse kitchen," or "modern eclectic living room."
• Pin from the Web: Many platforms have a browser button or web clipper that lets you save images, links, videos, and other content directly from any website you're browsing.
• Upload Your Own Images: Don't limit yourself to online content. Upload photos you've taken of homes, furniture, design elements, or people and places that you like.
• Explore Different Design Styles: Use various design terms—such as traditional, bohemian, eclectic, or minimalist—to explore different aesthetics and see what appeals to you.
• Look Beyond the Obvious: Go beyond the standard search results by visiting home design blogs, interior design websites, and furniture store websites to find unique inspiration.
• Curate Your Content: As you find images and ideas you like, save or "pin" them to your board. Don't worry about being too selective at first; you can refine it later.
• Use Sections for Organization: Organize your board into sections or sub-themes, such as "kitchen layout," "bathroom tile," or "outdoor space," to keep everything structured and easy to navigate.
• Include Inspiring Words: Look for quotes or short phrases that motivate you or describe the feeling you want to create in your home. Incorporate them into your board.
• Create a Word Cloud: Consider creating a word cloud from the phrases that stand out to you to provide an extra source of motivation.
• Collaborate with Others: Share your board with your real estate agent, family, or friends. Many platforms allow you to invite collaborators to add their own ideas and feedback. Use the note features within the platform to add text explaining why you like a particular photo or what specific features you want to remember. This helps clarify your vision to others.
• Edit, Refine, Look for Patterns: Once you have a good collection of ideas, review your board. Look for common themes or design trends that emerge. Remove images that no longer fit your vision. What colors, materials, or layouts appear most frequently? Is there a style preference emerging?
• Save Your Board as a Template: Some tools allow you to save your layout as a template, which is useful if you want to create different versions or give your partner or spouse a leg up in starting their own vision board.
• Export and Display: Download your final vision board as an image or PDF. You can set it as your computer's wallpaper or print it out to keep your goals visible.
• Use AI Generators (Optional): Some platforms offer AI-powered tools that can generate visuals based on text prompts, helping you quickly create a starting point for your board.
• Keep It Fluid: Remember that your vision board is a living document. You can continue to review, edit, and add to it as you move through your home search and your ideas evolve.

Create a Vision Board on your Phone

• Choose a Vision Board App: Select an app like Pinterest , Canva, or Milanote , all of which are optimized for mobile use. You can also use a photo-editing app or a blank canvas app like Procreate or Concepts to build your board from scratch. You may find other apps that are also geared to building vision boards. NOTE: Some will have free and paid versions (including in-App purchases)
• Start a New Project: Create a new board or canvas within your chosen app. If you're using a simple photo editor, open a new blank file.
• Search Within the App: Most vision board apps have a built-in search function. Use keywords like "modern living room," "cozy reading nook," or "dream kitchen" to find and save images.
• Pin from the Web: Use your phone's browser to find inspiring images from home design websites or online magazines. Use the "share" button to save them directly to your chosen app.
• Use Your Camera Roll: Go through your phone's photo library and add pictures you've already taken of spaces you like, or screenshots of designs you've encountered on social media. Include a picture of yourself, your family, or your pets to make the vision feel more personal and real!
• Take Live Photos: As you're out and about, snap photos of things that inspire you—a beautiful building, a unique piece of furniture in a store, a landmark, or a nice color palette.
• Use Your Phone's Notes App: Jot down words or phrases that capture the feeling of "home" for you, such as "peaceful," "joyful," or "cozy."
• Look at Fonts and Colors: Experiment with different font styles and color palettes within your app to add a personal touch to your board.
• Include Quotes: Find inspiring words, quotes or mantras about home, life, or success and add them as text or image elements to your board.
• Use Text-to-Image AI: If your chosen app has AI features, try generating an image by describing your dream home in a text prompt.
• Organize into Sections: If your app supports it, divide your board into different sections for various rooms or elements like "kitchen," "outdoor," or "finishes."
• Refine and Curate: Regularly review the images and content on your board. Delete anything that no longer feels right or doesn't align with your vision.
• Identify Recurring Themes: Pay attention to which styles, colors, or materials appear repeatedly on your board. This will help you pinpoint your true preferences.
• Create a Collage: In a photo-editing app, arrange your favorite images into a collage format to see how they look together.
• Set as Your Lock Screen: Make your final vision board image your phone's lock screen or wallpaper. This keeps your dream home visible throughout the day.
• Share with Your Team: Send a digital copy of your vision board to your real estate agent to help them understand your preferences beyond a simple checklist.
• Talk About It: Use your vision board as a conversation starter with your partner or family to ensure you are aligned on your goals.
• Let It Evolve: As you continue your home search and learn more about what you like and dislike, feel free to update your digital board.
• Trust the Process: Believe that consistently visualizing your dream home will help you recognize it when you finally find it.

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A Reminder

Review Your Vision Board Daily: Once you’ve created your vision board, look at it as often as you can, perhaps every morning.

Use Your Vision Board as a Guide: Refer back to your vision board to see if your priorities have shifted and to help you communicate your desires to others.

Happy house hunting!