Create Your Color Story & Inspiration Wall

What’s your color story? What visually moves you to be creative and productive? Is your office space a happy place? Can you hardly wait until your morning chores done so you can go to your office and start living your dreams?

My tag line is “Live Life Colorfully.” So there is nothing I enjoy talking or teaching about more than color. But let me prep you. I am not going to go into the science behind color, the tonality, the value, the color wheel. NOPE! This is FUN.

Sometimes in life we grown-ups just take the joy out of things. We get so serious about things that can and should be playful!  When it comes to creativity, I always say put away the rules and play!

So dump those markers out of the box and lets get started!

That was supposed to be figuratively speaking but it is a great idea so…if you have a box of markers or crayons get them. If you don’t shame on you. You NEED them! Markers are always improving. This is my newest favorite of 120 colors and have dual tips for broad or fine strokes. Click through to purchase.

 

Grab six colors out of a big box that makes you happy and set those aside. [bctt tweet=”When it comes to creativity, I always say put away the rules and play!”]

What Got Me Started

About one year ago, I was working with a web designer to make my blog site represent me. I had tried hiring someone once before and it was an utter failure but rather than give up, I just decided to forget about the bad investment she was and invest in me by searching out someone whose product I could see and fall in love with.

One of the first things I was prompted to do was pull together a mood board to help her determine my color story so she could get a feel of the direction to take my web site. This was one of the most enjoyable exercises I had ever done that I did it over and over and over again. I fell in love with this part of the Branding Process.

But we aren’t necessarily doing a branding exercise for you today. We just want to help you create a Color Story and an Inspiration Wall for your personal office space.

A little background here. When I was in high school and they did the test that was suppose to tell you what you should go to college for. I was pointed towards commercial art. The short story was that did not fit my parent’s plans for my college life and I became an RN. But you know that if there is a passion inside you it won’t stay silent.

For years, I was told how beautifully I decorated my home. Then later I was working at my church and began designing a beautiful new bulletin every week. I did gorgeous power point for the church to sing by. I created promotional products. I did all of this with zero training and using $19 software I picked up at the office store. I couldn’t believe I got paid to do something so fun!

Fast forward years. I have now been educated in Staging and Interior Decorating and had my own business for many years. Once I began blogging, well that opened the door to graphic design like never before. I could do that nonstop all day long and never get bored. Now I am in training for graphics, web design and other forms of commercial art….all at a second career age.

I have combined my love of creating Color Stories with my decorating skills to teach others to create a visual inspiration that is a focal point in their room and really expresses who they are.

It isn’t a hard thing to facilitate at all. You are the one that does the work. I simply point you in the direction to go.

Let’s Start Your  Color Story!

1. You need a Pinterest account. If you don’t have one it is easy to sign up and it is FREE. Just a warning, you could get addicted to it once you realize it opens the door to the world. It really is a Visual Search Engine not a Social Media Platform.
2. Create a Board and make it Secret.
3. Go to the search bar at the top and type in Colors. Yours should look similar to this:
4. Now click and save to your board without thinking. Save anything that makes you happy as you continue to scroll down.
5. Also notice there are tabs at the top of the page that you can click on like art, inspiration and more.
6. Once you feel like you have had enough fun with that, change your search to a word that makes you happy and you identify with. Don’t think too hard about it. The first thing that comes into your mind could be cupcake or spontaneous, polkadots or traveler.
7. Now scroll through repeating the process of the first search and pin and look at those tabs. Begin to explore.
8. Search a word about your business or your dream job. Look for pictures that you identify with and pin them.
9. Think about places you love, sitting by a fire, walking in the snow, strolling on a beach…search and pin.
10. Pick a word to focus on for this year, this month or just today….dream, achieve, conquer, happy, focused, you get the idea. This time you will find Quotes! Start pinning quotes that speak to you to your board.
11. Remember my big thing about being creative? You don’t have to follow these rules, if something comes to you do it.

Enjoy this process for at least 3 days at your leisure. Don’t sit down ever to do it out of a Have To. Only do it when you Want To.

What Did You Discover?

Let’s take a look at my first try at this:

 

This is the first snippet. I can’t show it all at once. What you want to do as you look at what you picked is to start asking yourself what it is about the photo that made you love it. I will answer that about this one.

1. I love the combination of PINK and ORANGE.
2. The roses are delicate and a living representation of color that I am happily attracted to.
3. The orange soda quenches my thirst…think Orange Crush
4. The silk is soft and luscious
5. the threads just more of that spectacular color combo
6. the gold sprinkled into the color makes me take it to a sparkle level!!!

 

 

Sliding down I went into things that make my mouth water!!!

1. Another color combo that leaves me wanting more is LIME and PINK
2. There is something about Flamingos that I am totally drawn to in home decor especially
3. The Doors and Shutters on the textured stucco of the old home stand out as a bold and happy statement that I would love to make
4. the lime and cucumber popsicles also have my mouth watering
5. a peak at a stool in green makes me want fun colors in my home
6. the quote reminds me of me, I don’t fit in and I like it that way

 

 

 

The last peak at my board was Pink.

1. Dreamer speaks to me
2. I am feminine
3. I like a sparkle in lights or glitter
4. The soft texture of petals evokes pleasure in me
5. Doors and old homes have a character that pleases my eye
6. Shiny feminine pink and sporty…that car has my name on it!

This was just a part of my board but it was enough to get my designer working on the right track.

What did all of the boards have in common?

Look at the textures, are they sharp, soft, shiny, dull?

Are there any clues to the personality of the person who created this board?

 

Here was the Color Story that my designer gave me. I truly loved it. So how did I take that and turn it into an Inspiration Wall?

 

 

I used this board as my inspiration. Here is what my wall looks like now.

 

Using the Color Story, I had already been collecting things in colors that were me and didn’t know what to do with them. Like the wreath…I had that for over one year! So what does this wall say about me? I love the sea shore…the wreath is made of shells, the turtle shell, the canvas are coral and of course there is the Conch shell on the bookcase which because of the way I designed it, those items on top of my shelf are a part of the wall display. The pops of PINK and soft CORAL are seen in the mood board, tulips, shell and upholstered chair as well as the word sign. Messages are everywhere. “Be Joyful Always” reminds me a Scripture and anyone who has seen me expressive worship dance usually would use the word “joy” in their description. be.YOU.tiful is another way of saying I don’t fit in but I like it that way. I also have a couple of very functional but pretty pieces in my inspiration wall.

 

 

I found this collage frame at a Gordmans on clearance for less than $20. I knew as soon as I saw it that it would make the perfect focal point for my inspiration wall. It meant I had 12 spaces to fill and that was going to be difficult because I loved so much more.

My interpretation of this collage:

• I decided to choose the blue door to represent my Love of Homes, my business as a Realtor and the idea that the door is open is a metaphor for me and my dreams.
• The Grapefruit represents freshness, health, taste and gorgeous color as well as scent
• Each quote is inspirational to me
• I love watercolor and how it doesn’t follow lines…remember how I don’t want things to stay in the box? Same idea
• There are those soft and gorgeous petals again but in another dramatic and breathtaking color
• The flamingo as stated above represents me standing out in the crowd, colorful and proud
• The color swatches were the colors that my designers picked for me
• How do you build the wall?

Gather your items together after you have collected things you love. They may not all be used and you may have to run out to the store again. Just be flexible.

1. Locate the best space in your room to hang your visual inspiration and measure the space.
2. Next, get some painters tape and place it on the floor in the size of that space you just measured.
3. Now you play. Lay your pieces in different ways and take photos of it. Walk away after a while and give it another look.

 

Advice on things to add to your wall.

• Don’t use all flat items.
• Get some textured things.
• Be careful not to get everything in the same size, it will have no focus.
• Use a variety of items and mediums. Wood, metal, glass, nature.

 

I hope this gives you the curiosity to find out more about how your own special Color Story and Inspiration Wall would look.

If you have questions or comments I would love to talk with you about them.

If you are excited about this idea, but totally afraid or overwhelmed by the how and would like me to work with you to create your own Color Story and give you suggestions for what to purchase for your wall, click over to Create My Color Story for more information.

I would love for you to follow me on Pinterest, FB & Instagram. Check out my YouTube Channel too. All links are on this page. Thanks for sharing me with your friends!