I am currently the judge for the West Elm Pattern Palette Design Contest on Olioboard, and I really want YOU to enter! I know how talented all of you are, and I’d love to give some prizes in the form of West Elm gift cards to my fellow bloggers and design enthusiasts. As promised, today I am going to show you how to create virtual room designs using Olioboard. If you’ve never used Olioboard before, fear not. It is very user-friendly to use.
Below is a picture of the first Olioboard I ever created a few years back. Not too shabby for a first try, eh? The first thing I did was search for a room backdrop for my Olioboard using the “All Sets” tab or the “Backgrounds” category. I thought it would be fun to create a room with wood ceilings, so for this design I actually flipped the background upside down so that my flooring was now my ceiling.
I always like to begin my space with walls, flooring, and windows. Next, I choose the furniture and rugs to ground the space and then fill in with lighting and accessories from there. The process is not dissimilar to how you create a room in real life. To create 3D designs, you will layer and scale all of your items by using the “back” and “front” buttons. The board below was created for a post which was an “outfit to room” challenge. I chose a farmhouse chic outfit to inspire the room. Check it out here.
You can grab images you see online to add to your space, or you can search through Olioboard’s vast online database for images. I typically like to grab many of my own images because oftentimes I have a very specific vision for a space, but you will find Olioboard’s database of images extensive and amazing. The board below is a room design I came up with in response to a reader’s question regarding her sunroom. You can read the post about it here.
Sometimes I will create rooms very quickly just to get a feel for what a room design might look like. Here I was experimenting with redoing Matt’s office in his workplace.
The board below was created for a friend who wanted some inspiration for redecorating her living room. It is such a great tool for conveying a vision!
Here are some other ways I have utilized Olioboard for my own design purposes. These designs aren’t award-winning, but they don’t always need to be. Sometimes you just want to quickly and easily create a mock-up of your design to “try it on” in your space. This has been so helpful to me for creating rooms in my home. Below you can see my virtual designs followed by the in-real-life designs that were created as a result.
I used Olioboard when trying out some added design elements for my master bedroom.
I also used it to come up with a design plan for my half-bath.
And I used Olioboard to create my boys’ bedroom design plan. You can see that the actual Olioboard picture is far from perfect. When I design just for myself, I don’t worry about making it perfect. I just want to “get my ideas on paper” so to speak, as quickly as possible, so I can move forward with my real design. Olioboard is fantastic for this!
So are you ready to create your own virtual room design? Okay, let’s do it! Watch the following video in full. Don’t be scared of the length. In less than 15 minutes you will learn everything you need to know on how to create a gorgeous room design. It will seriously change how you decorate and how you create spaces from here on out. You can do this!
Do you have more questions about how to use Olioboard? Check out this FAQ page to find some of the answers to the most frequently asked questions. I hope to see your entries in the West Elm Pattern Palette Design Contest on Olioboard. Good luck!
Joanna H. says
Have to try this myself… Thanks!
Nicole Mercer says
AWESOME! I like how Olioboard works…. I really need this, Thanks for the video tutorial too! Great job Beth!
Jo @ Let's Face the Music says
I’m going to try this. Thanks for the explanation and inspiration. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
Jennifer says
Well, all I can say is, I’m now officially addicted. I’m up WAYYYYY past my bedtime because of the boards I’ve been working on. Also, you have got one heck of a contest to judge, lady! Whew!!
Bliss says
Pinning this so I remember to try it. I have a family room due for a makeover for several years now that I don’t touch because I can’t picture what to do.
Bliss
Cindy says
Beth, I saw your cute little mug in the judge’s bio earlier today when I went to check out the contest. What a fun surprise! 🙂 I hope I can find the time to enter. xo
Beth says
I hope you can too Cindy! It would be fun to know the winner :).
Lesley says
Awesome. We create boards very similarly. I typically create an inspiration board then work on the room. I also will post that board with my room reveal. I also like making an Olioboard as a source board for the products I used in a room that way readers can go straight to Olioboard and shop the products I used if they like them. Like in my son Gavin’s room I have an Olioboard with all of the items I used. In Jude’s room I made an inspiration board and the design turned out to be different but similar. Olioboard is a great starting point for design. And you don’t always have to do 3-D. I seem to be better at the 2-D design myself. Great article.
Beth says
So true! I create 2D boards for collages I need for trend-setting posts, or a list of sources. I wanted to focus on the creation of 3D boards here though because I’m trying to talk you all into entering the West Elm contest :). Go Lesley!