How you can use Pinterest for home decore ideas

Pinterest is the latest social media craze, and although some have expressed concerns over the site’s policies involving affiliate links and the ability for people to “pin” pictures without permission from the owner, these growing pains don’t diminish the fact that Pinterest is an awesome resource for renters and homeowners alike. This social network can give you great ideas for decorating your home. Here are a few tips for using it:

• Sign up for the site instead of just perusing it.

You can look for ideas on Pinterest, but it becomes even more useful if you actually sign up. When you’re a member of Pinterest, you can “repin” (i.e. save) the ideas you like in a single spot, which allows you to return to these ideas later. Saving your ideas is very helpful, since few of us have the time to complete projects as we see them.

• Organize your boards well.

On Pinterest, you have “boards” which each have a theme. You can have one overall home decorating board where you visually share home ideas, but if you’re really committed to the look of your apartment, condo, or house, you might want to organize your boards more clearly. For example, maybe you create a board that is just for bathroom décor. Or maybe you create a board for wall art. Or maybe you create a board for furniture you like. However you organize it, having more boards is better than having a single really crowded board.

• Follow lots of people interested in home décor.

You can use Pinterest for home decorating simply by looking at the general home décor category, where you’ll see everything that anyone pins on the topic, but for even better surfing, trying following the home décor boards of people you like. When you come across a pin that is totally your style, check out that person’s entire board and follow it if it fits your aesthetics well. That way, when you log into Pinterest, you’ll see those pins first, rather than having to wade through lots of pins that aren’t very interesting to you.

• Pin stuff beyond what you find on Pinterest.

You can pin almost anything you find online, so take advantage of this option! Whenever you find a home décor idea you like, use the Pinterest toolbar button to pin it to one of your boards. That way, you’ll be able to keep all of your ideas in a single place.

Allison writes for RentersInsurance.com, where you can find great cheap renteres insurance to financially protect all those awesome Pinterest projects you complete.