Pinterest Fun & Fear

Pinterest is the latest social media platform to capture our imaginations. According to Comscore, 1 in 4 consumers is spending less time on other social media sites in favor of Pinterest. In many ways Pinterest makes sense. We're all starved for time and Pinterest makes it easy and fun to visually find and save information. That's the fun part but there's something going on here that scares me.

Social media connects you with people!
Pinterest connects you with … things?

Fears About Pinterest

My fear is that Pinterest is fueling American's obsession with buy, buy and buy more things we don't need … and can't afford! My fears aren't focused solely on Pinterest. My fears include Americans wanting bigger homes, and bigger homes mean more furniture and more everything to the point that we probably only use 20% of what we own on a regular basis (read Kitchen Gadgets: What Do We Really Need?).

Don't get me wrong. My business is all about the home, so sharing photos is really important because a picture is worth far more than 1,000 words where too few people read more than the headlines, unless you need to learn about something. My goal then is to share ideas for using Pinterest to enhance lives, to identify ways you can use Pinterest to shape your life away from the computer.

Pinterest for Research and Inspiration

For years people have collected ideas for remodeling projects. We've ripped pages from magazines and filed them in folders which helped when we built our home. It is far easier to show your builder what you want than than finding the right words to describe something visual. We no longer have to fold the corners of home idea books – kitchens, bathrooms, children's spaces and more. With Pinterest, we can find the same or similar photos online and pin them!

Finding the right books and magazines once required multiple trips to the library and/or bookstore. Rarely did we photograph ideas we liked because of the cost and delays in processing film before digital cameras became commonplace. Today I question the practicality of wanting our homes to look like those on HGTV television or their website, as only a small percentage of homeowners can afford to work with an interior designer or decorator.

There are lots of great ways to use Pinterest to research home building, remodeling and decorating projects. It's also great for sharing cooking recipes, party decorating ideas and more. Here's my list and I invite you to share your ideas below.

• Gather ideas for remodeling projects (recommend setting up boards by room).
• Gather and compare products visually, like these cabinet hardware photos pulled from multiple websites.
• Audition decorating colors for a room in your house and there are different ways to do this. You can collect lots of photos of bathrooms you like, and then look at them to find the similarities. You might want a bold red bathroom but you're nervous, so collect photos and see how others are using the color and live with it virtually for a while.
• Plan a child's bedroom with them via Pinterest, but be sure to explain that they won't get everything pinned. It's wise to explain to children (and ourselves) that budgets will control how many dreams you can turn into reality and my recommendation for remodeling projects is to pick one focal point for the room.
• Collect colors you love and see how others are combining them, i.e. blues with green or blue and white. There's really an advantage to testing what you love with multiple photos rather than one, that investing time and money to find the idea doesn't work in your house.
• Recipes, recipes and more recipes are a fantastic way to use Pinterest. No planning required and no need to buy another cookbook.
• Party planning means you can collect ideas on decorating your house, menus to fit your theme and more than I can possibly describe here but you get the idea.
• Holiday decorating is huge and lots of Pinners are now collecting ideas for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• Organizing tips is probably the biggest home topic on Pinterest (check out our organizing board on Pinterest). There are lots of great ideas on where to find more storage, and then how to organize what you own to find things easier.
• Oops, almost forgot you can find photos and diagrams to help you maintain your home (remember this all started when I owned a handyman business), especially if you're a DIYer.

What are your favorite home organizing ideas?

Words or links to your Pinterest board.