I’m sure many of you have engaged in the “old school” method for drawing inspiration for a home decorating project…thumbing through home decor catalogs/magazines and tearing out the pages that contain appealing images…
How many of you have file folders filled with catalog and home decor magazine pages collected over the years? These pages may contain images of the perfect color palette for your master suite; or perhaps those files contain a great example of just the right furniture configuration for your family room, or an innovative window treatment idea.
The digital age has brought about an evolution in the way we research and gather information across all aspects of our lives, including interior design. Today, I’ll share my top two online resources for interior design inspiration. As a bonus, I’ll introduce a promising new resource to keep your eye on as well.
Pinterest came on the scene just a 3 short years ago, and is currently the 4th most popular social media website in the world. In case you aren’t familiar with it, Pinterest is an online pin board…essentially a digital version of your file folder containing ripped out magazine pages. A “pin” is a link to an image or video that a user has added to Pinterest. Users can add a pin from a website or upload an image directly from their computer. Any pin on Pinterest can be repinned, and all pins link back to their source on the web.
Pinterest boards are used to organize your pins by topic. You could pin ideas for bathroom paint color and faucets to your Bathroom Renovation board, for example. Boards can be secret or public, and you can invite other people to pin with you on any of your boards. Here’s a screenshot containing some of my Pinterest boards:
When you follow someone on Pinterest, their pins show up in your Pinterest home feed. You can follow all of someone’s boards or just the ones you like best. Not only do I use Pinterest as a mechanism for capturing general design ideas, I also create project-specific boards for client projects that the client and I can use to communicate ideas, share product/sourcing information, etc. It has become an indispensable tool in my business.
Click here to link to my Pinterest Boards
Houzz
Houzz is the the largest collection of interior design and decorating ideas on the Internet. Word of warning: when you enter this website, you will be engulfed in a sea of home decor eye candy! Most of the image collections that are posted on Houzz represent the work portfolios of interior designers, decorators, and home stagers.
Houzz users can gain inspiration by browsing images sorted by room type and design style. They can post to discussion boards to ask for or offer advice concerning their own specific design dilemmas. They can source products that are featured in room design images, and even research local design professionals in their area.
Similar to the Pinterest board, Houzz enables it’s users to organize their curated images into categories via “Ideabooks” that can be shared with others to facilitate collaboration on a particular project.
Click here to take a look at my Houzz Ideabooks
 
ZILLOW DIGS
You may be familiar with Zillow, a popular search website for real estate listings and real estate market information. They’ve recently introduced Zillow Digs, an online community for home design ideas and inspiration. Similar to Pinterest and Houzz, this site lets you browse images and save them to idea boards. You can search by style cost, and room type. But Zillow Digs boasts one unique feature…it provides an estimated cost for the project. I am looking forward to exploring this site in greater detail in the coming months.
So there you have it. My short list of “go to” websites to get my creative juices flowing when embarking on a new redesign/home staging project. How about you? Do you have any great online resources to add to the mix? If so, please share in the comments section below.
Want to learn more about Natalie Gallagher and Refined Rooms?
Visit www.RefinedRoomsLLC.com