Yay! I’m excited to finally show you the mood boards that I pulled together for our master bedroom closet. You can revisit how we prepped to design our closet in Part I and how we designed it using Dakota Closets in Part II. This post is all about the looks.

When designing the closet, I knew I wanted a fun patterned floor to serve as the jumping off point for the entire design. I was inspired by the tile used in the bathroom above. The tile is by Mirth Studios and I was blown away by their amazing patterns (they even have an option to customize your tiles). The tile is actually wood and the company was founded by interior designer Sally Bennett. You should read the “about” section on the company’s website to see how the company was started. To say that I am in love with the tile is, well, an understatement. I love that it’s wood (so it won’t be too cold) and it has a tongue-groove design which makes installation straightforward. But the real star for me are the designs. Their tile patterns make me feel excited and happy! It was hard to pull out my favorites designs because they are all sooooo good. But I forced myself to narrow down the design choices for the closet to 6 options (see below).

Despite my love for the tile, I was nervous about spending $500+ on a bold pattern. I worried it would feel too trendy or I would tire of it quickly. This prompted me to start looking at other options that could easily be replaced if I changed my mind. So I started to look at peel and stick options and I found plenty that were fun, although none felt as lively as the options at Mirth. I pulled together 6 peel and stick options that caught my attention.

From there, I narrowed down my options to the top three and designed a mood board for the closet using each one. I already had a wicker hamper and baskets, which I wanted to incorporate into the design, so in each design those items remained constant. It’s funny looking back at the designs. I instantly liked the one we picked, one feels completely different than my current style and the other is in-between. Can you guess which one is which?

The first option used the blue and white floral tile, brown leather pulls and a powder blue light fixture. The leather pulls went well with the hamper and baskets. I wanted a leather trimmed mirror but couldn’t find one that I really liked. The one in the mood board feels too dark and heavy for such a small room, but it was a good visual representation of what I was going for.

The second mood board used a modern black and white tile, black and gold pull bar and a gold light fixture. This felt edgy and more lux than the other designs. The modern elements don’t played well with the existing hamper and basket. If the wicker was lightened (can you bleach wicker?), the room would feel more cohesive. I like each of the elements independently (especially that thin black framed mirror), but looking back I see that this design just doesn’t work.

The last option used an ornate blue and grayish tile, natural wood pulls and a natural finish flush mount light. The mirror was a natural wood and had an arch to provide some visual interest. Despite the elements having lighter wood tones, they played well with the darker wicker on the hamper and basket. It gave the room a cohesive look without being too matchy-matchy.
After all the designs were completed, I knew which one I wanted but since I share this room with my husband I wanted to make sure he was on board too. I showed him all three designs and, to my joy, he picked the same one as me! Yippee! I love when things work out! I think it’s pretty clear by my descriptions above, but to clarify we picked the last option.
I ended up making one small tweak to the original design. While ordering everything, I had the idea to change the light fixture. I wanted something that felt a little more special and could add color to the room. I’ve recently been attracted to Tiffany-style lights (I know I was shocked, too!). I found a rather simple but colorful one that I liked and plugged it into the design. I ended up liking it and thought it brought personality to the room.

I can’t wait to show you how it all turned out next week! I love the patterned tile and regret not splurging on the bold wood tiles from Mirth. But I don’t think my story will end here with the tile. Since we used a peel and stick tile, it will be easy to replace in the future (I need to give my husband some time before I ask him to disassemble the closet).
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