There is something beautiful and innately human about cultivating one’s home and the spaces we dwell. New York interior decorator Billy Baldwin, also known as “the dean of interior decorators,” once said, “Be faithful to your own taste, because nothing you really like is ever out of style.” Frankly, I couldn’t agree more.
In a world where we’re now face to face with so many images of perfectly curated spaces fit for an interior decorator’s portfolio, I am on a never ending quest to create a home around my own tastes and not give in to “keeping up with the Joneses.”
If you’re anything like me, however, it can be difficult to take all of the things you like and pair them with the functionality your family needs in a home to create a space you love.
Pinterest is the perfect project planning tool you didn’t know you needed!
If you’re unfamiliar with Pinterest, it is a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more. It’s a great place to get home inspiration and to help you create a plan to bring all those ideas to life!
Here are five steps to use Pinterest as a planning tool for your next home project!
Step #1 – Create and Title Your Boards Intentionally
Once you have your Pinterest account you can create a “board” for each project with whatever that particular board’s purpose will be. When planning out your home projects, you can either create an entirely separate board for every single room in your house or, I prefer the option of creating a main board that’s specific to its overall purpose, creating sections inside it. For example, a board called “Outdoor Projects” could have sections titled “backyard,” “patio, “curb appeal ideas” and more. This is how you will organize all of the ideas and products you will be saving, referred to as “pinning” on Pinterest.
Step #2 – Find Inspiration and Start Pinning Ideas
Sometimes inspiration finds you and other times you go on a mission to find it! If you’re on Pinterest you can use the search bar to search for different ideas by being specific. For example, you can search “boho half bathroom” and pin ideas you like to your “bathroom ideas” board or “playroom organization” to pin to your “bonus room idea” board. Make sure to download the free Pinterest Chrome extension “pin button” so you can easily pin any ideas you see on the internet. If you’re browsing a local houseware boutique online and see a beautiful bed set for yourself you can pin it to your “master bedroom” board for instance.
Step #3 DIYs (Do It Yourself), DIFMs (Do It For Me), and Purchases
Review your Pinterest boards when you are ready to start planning out the execution of your next home project! You can drag and drop things to reorganize the order of your pins if you wish to group certain ones together, or delete whatever you longer need. Next, you will look things over and decide which pins to adopt to your space as a DIY project vs. DIFM and create a timeline for yourself. This is the perfect time to look at any pinned items that you’ll be wanting to purchase. If you pinned something for inspiration to purchase, open the mobile app when you’re out shopping so you’re clear on what you’re looking for.
Step #4 Share Your Vision with Family Members and Contractors
Pinterest is perfect for sharing your ideas with others! Collaborating with someone or want opinions on specific projects? You can share pins with them! Just make sure they have a Pinterst account of their own. You can also add them directly as a “collaborator” on a board so they can add pins to the board as well. Working with a contracted designer, painter or builder? You can share your board with them as well so they can see what you’re wanting and also get their opinions. You can even change a board to “secret” if you don’t want specific boards to be seen by other users or collaborators.
Step #5 Print Out Your Pinterst Board for Quick Reference
While the world may be more virtual now than ever before, there’s something special about a good old fashioned physical mood or inspiration board! You can print your Pinterest boards as a PDF or simply screenshot them and print them out so you have a handy reference tool while you’re painting a room, organizing a bookshelf, art shopping for a gallery wall, and more!
If you don’t already have a Pinterest account, sign up for a free one and begin planning your home one space at a time. Remember to be patient as your vision comes together and have fun in the process!
