How To Use Pinterest For Inspiration

The other day I was chatting with a new friend and she told me how much she hates Pinterest.

What?  How could anyone hate Pinterest?

She went on to explain she hardly ever looks at it because all it evokes for her is feelings of discontent.  The rooms on Pinterest seem unobtainable to her and the fashion is for younger, thinner, women.  She said she really only uses it to find some recipes.   I have to say, if you look at the surface of Pinterest, I would agree with her.

Which got me to thinking…maybe you would like to know some of my tips and tricks for using Pinterest.  You know, break down how I use Pinterest to evoke inspiration for myself rather than discontent.  In the teaching world we call this metacognition (saying out loud what you are thinking as you complete a task).   #itworks

If you are an avid Pinterest user or another blogger this may be a total yawn for you.  But if you are like my friend, this may help you tap into what seems to be unending possibility.

Curate Your Feed

Whenever you open up the Pinterest app you are greeted with a page of images.  Pinterest has an algorithm that creates this special feed just for you.  Don’t you feel special?  If you don’t see the feed when you open Pinterest, tap the icon of the red “P”.  Pictures enter your feed in one of four ways.

Promoted By

This is when a company pays to have their Pin promoted, essentially entering the Pin into feeds of people that meet their target demographic.  This is why you will randomly see Pins in your feed for items such as shoes, hair products, etc….  You really have no control over this because it is essentially an ad placed in your feed.

Picked For You

You will see Pins enter your feed that Pinterest believes you might like based upon your previous searches and what Pins you have clicked on and saved in the past.  This is sort of like, “If you liked that, we really think you’re going to like this.”  The picked for you is always changing based upon what you do on Pinterest.  For instance, I can safely say I’ve never searched for anything in Cars and Motorcycles, but if I did, the next time I opened the app there would be a Pin tucked into my feed from that category.

Found In/ From

Whenever you see Found In/From pop up under the picture in your feed, this means the Pin was Pinned into a specific board you are following.  For example, if you followed my Pinterest board titled, Slightly Coastal Blog Images, every time I Pinned something to that Board, it would show up in your feed pretty much right away.  So if I put it in there at 2:00 in the morning, you probably wouldn’t see it (unless you can’t sleep).    Your home feed is always updating with the newest Pins going on top and some things will get buried.

Just the Person Who Pinned It

When you just see the person who Pinned it under the image without Found In, Promoted By, Picked For You, this means someone Pinned it that you follow.  So if you want to see what your best friend is Pinning, you would have to follow her on Pinterest.  Every time she Pins something to any of her boards, it will show up in your feed.  Again, if she is Pinning at 2:00 in the morning because she can’t sleep, you might not see it.

It’s important to curate your home feed so it is filled with images that inspire you.  You might be wondering how you find people and boards to follow other than searching through tons of images and randomly following people.  Here’s what I do.

In the search box I type in what I am looking for, “French Furniture” and before I hit the little search icon to complete the search, I scroll down my screen to see what Pinterest found for me.  They will show you popular search terms, people named “French Furniture” and boards named “French Furniture”.  If you click on the person or board and like what they are pinning, you can follow them by tapping the red button titled Follow.  Whenever they Pin something new it will go into your feed.

 

Using Pinterest As A Source of Inspiration

I can totally see why my friend might feel discontentment after scrolling through Pinterest.  The homes and projects all look wonderful.  Many times the images I’m most drawn to are images of homes I can’t attain (i.e. cathedral ceilings, palatial master bathrooms, exposed authentic vintage brick).  So what’s the point of looking if that can never be your house?

Break It Down

When I see a Pinterest image I like I break it down.  Would I want the entire room in my house?  Sure!  But, since that isn’t a possibility I think about how I can pull elements from the photo into my space.

For me, this room is all about white, medium wood tones, and wrought iron.  If my kitchen was white, I would pull in some medium tone stools with wrought iron elements that fit within my style.  I would look for a way to pull wrought iron into the lighting and maybe even the cabinet pulls.  If I had a wood tone kitchen, I would still pull in the wrought iron but would pull in white stools and white accessories everywhere.

If you can really imagine, you can take the concept and pull it into a totally different room…like a bedroom.  I could translate this into white bedding, wrought iron sconces on the wall, and a tobacco tone chair/bench.  You could go white, wood or black furniture because they all fit within the elements.  Pick out three elements from the picture and try to repeat them in combinations within your space over and over again.

Build It Up

A lot of Pinterest is snippets of home decor like vignettes or parts of rooms.  If I’m struggling with how to accessorize my sofa table, I can go to Pinterest to help me build up my space.

Okay, this photo caught my eye.  Do you have a dresser in your house?  Oh good, me too.  Let’s create this in our homes shall we?  Now, you might be wondering how to create this since you don’t own a cool old wooden box and neat old pottery and a botanical print.  Let’s do it anyway.

Step 1:

Add a backdrop.  It could be a large picture, blackboard, empty frame etc….  Then place something in front of it.  It doesn’t have to be a botanical.  How about a wreath? mirror? monogram? letters?  The point is layer the backdrop so it has interest.  See what you have and fill in as needed.

Step 2:

Repeat a breakable.  If you don’t have vintage pottery, what do you have?  Glass vases?  Mason jars?  Pitchers? Giner jars? Group them together.  The key takeaway from this picture is that all of the crocks are the same color.  Stick to using similar items and grouping them into two groups of three (just like the picture).  Put some greenery in them.

Step 3:

Place a container on the top.  If you don’t have a vintage box, you could use a basket, tray or even an old cake pan for a farmhouse look.  Put three of the breakable items in the container and leave three out, just like the picture.  Things are always more interesting in groups of three.  The container takes it from “I have a bunch of stuff sitting on top of a dresser.” to “I have a vignette that reflects my style on top of my dresser.”

 

I hope these Pinterest tips inspire you to pull out your phone the next time you are waiting in the car line or waiting for your White Chocolate Mocha and dream about what you can do in your home.  We may not all have an incredible architectural home but we can make our homes Pinterest worthy one little tabletop at a time.

Have a fantastic day!