The Pining Pinterest Problem
How to discover your design style while not being overwhelmed!
One of the most frequent questions I get asked by clients is how to use Pinterest as a tool for turning their design inspiration into real life results! Whether that be for remodeling their entire home, renovating their kitchen, or redesigning their backyard.
If you are like most people you use Pinterest as a tool for saving images you like to one day go back and use to redesign a certain space in your home. The only problem with this that I find with many people is that when it comes time to actually start the work you go back to your ”Home Inspo” board and realize you have been pining over a million different types of styles and materials to the same board! This then causes the panic to sink and internal debate with yourself to start flowing. For example, you may start to argue with yourself by saying; “ well one style cabinet I like are completely white shaker style and then over in this photo, which I love too are clean and sleek modern style cabinets!” All at the same time your contractor and husband are pressuring you to make a decision, so you basically throw a coin in the air and pick one hoping it works! This strategy is a disaster waiting to happen!! To avoid this all together I am going to give you three tips and tricks that will make the interior designer in you come to life!
Tip Number 1: Discovering your interior design style
The root of the triple P problem I like to call it “pinning pinterest problem” usually stems from clients not knowing what they actually want. Is your style contemporary farm house or chic modern? Many do not know the answer to this question. When I first sit down with my clients I always like to ask what design style are your trying to create in this space? The answer 9 times out of 10 is usually “I don’t know...I like cute things and want my house to look nice.” While this is a great description of your taste lol this is not a style! How to discover your style is actually very simple. First think about all the homes, restaurants, hotels that you have been in that you like. I guarantee they all have some common theme to them that you never realized you liked but just thought looked cute or felt right. Start to jot down what it is you actually liked about the spaces. Was it the hard wood flooring, the subway tile, the color of the paint. All of these items will lead you to your style. If you like white subway tile with white oak hardwood flooring 9 times out of 10 I would describe this as contemporary. If you like marble with glass doors and all white walls I would say that this is more of a modern style. Secondly look back at all
hundreds of items that you pinned to your board and ask yourself “ why did I pin this photo?”. What exactly in that image made you choose to save it to your board. This will help you slowly start breaking down your style, as well as materials choices. I guarantee you will find common themes within each pin such as; wall color, textures, tones of the room or lighting that made you stop and say ’’hmmm I really like that and would live there!”.
Tip 2: Organization, Organization and again...Organization!
This can be one of the most important tricks you can use on a daily basis! Most people use and create one board for all their home inspiring images. This has to stop!! By doing this you are creating one mismatch of a board that becomes overwhelming with bathroom photos, master bedroom, living room, outdoor, etc. By creating one board for each room of the home you will save yourself time in the long run when it comes down to redesigning that certain part of your home! Another MAJOR way this will help save time, money and stress will come into play the next time you are shopping at Home Goods or Pier One and see over a million choices where you then forget why you even came to the store in the first place! You can now reference back to your ”master bath” board while shopping! This will also help you not overspend and buy the items you actually need because you are staying on task! Again by breaking down your boards room by room you will become organized and actually create the dream space you desired with fewer headaches and in faster time!
Tip 3: Follow up...Editing the Boards...
Last but not least always remember to edit your boards! As time goes on you will start to slowly save over 100 photos to one board. This is great and what Pinterest was intended for ,but always remember to go back into each board about every three to four months and trim away what has outgrown you! For example, six months ago you may have loved marble countertops with all white cabinets, but today you have moved onto a dark stone with a light grey shaker style obeaunce. This will in the long run help you minimize the internal debate with yourself when it comes time to remodel the kitchen you have always wanted! Just like everything else in life your style and taste changing with time so you need to make sure your boards reflect todays you!
By following these three tips, you will find yourself becoming more efficient with your time and discovering your own personal interior design style!