If you are not one of Pinterest’s approximately 70 million users, we highly recommend you take a look at this ever-growing social media platform. Perhaps you’re hesitant to set up yet another social media account or you find the amount of content on Pinterest intimidating. It may take a few minutes to learn how to use the site, but once you get the hang of Pinterest it can be a very unique and valuable tool, especially when it comes to gathering ideas and inspiration for your home. Please keep reading for our three best tips on how to use Pinterest effectively when planning upgrades or renovations in your home:
1. Get Organized
The amount of images and information on Pinterest can be overwhelming when you first begin to look. It is easy to get excited and want to start saving ideas or “pins” to your boards right away. While it is lots of fun to post pictures that resemble your dream home, this can prove to be a waste of time if you haven’t filed away any realistic options or can’t find a specific idea when you need it.
We suggest taking some time before you start browsing to really think about what kind of content will be most useful to you and then creating boards to reflect your needs. For example, rather than having one board called “Home Decor” try splitting it into sub categories for specific projects like “Kitchen Ideas” or “Curb Appeal.” We have split our Pinterest boards into different glass products within the home such as: windows, mirrors backsplashes and stairs. Well organized boards will help you to avoid frustration and have ideas ready when you need them.
2. Search Specifics
Save time by taking advantage of Pinterest’s search function. If you simply click to the Home Decor section on Pinterest you can easily spend hours scrolling through images of furniture, holiday decorations and DIY projects without finding anything useful to you specifically. While it is enjoyable to browse the general areas of Pinterest once in while, it is much more effective to search exactly what you are looking for.
Are you making over your kitchen and considering a glass backsplash? Type “glass backsplash” into the search bar and hit enter to instantly see hundreds of images that are relevant to your project. Now you can save specific ideas to your properly labeled board to show to your partner, your designer or your contractor when they ask what you have in mind for a backsplash in the kitchen.
3. Be Flexible
As we mentioned above, having ideas ready before talking to whoever you’ll be working with on a renovation is helpful, however it is also important to be flexible. Keep in mind while you are putting together ideas on Pinterest that limitations such as your home’s layout, your budget and options available in your area will all have to be taken into consideration. Try to focus on the general concept being shown when pinning an image. Sticking with our glass kitchen backsplash example, you may want to pin tiles that you like for their colour, shape or layout but realize that your final project may be an adaptation of one of these images or even a combination of several.
We hope you will find these Pinterest tips useful! We are really enjoying using the tool to explore new glass ideas for our clients’ homes and invite you to take a look at our Pinterest boards if you need some inspiration.