Pinterest: My Newest Obsession

For the Apartment Therapy home tour, they asked what home decor advice I would give to others.  I said something about patience, but now that I've had time to really think about it, I would say that the single best key to creating decor that you really love is internet stalking.

I'm a little remiss to admit it but I follow nearly 300 blogs on my Google reader, and when I have something more specific in mind, I love a good Google image search.  Seriously, the internet is so inspiring, but what this means is that I struggle to keep track of all of the things that inspire me through a mish-mash of Google reader tags, Google spreadsheets, and draft emails to myself.  It's not a perfect, organized, or rational system, but up to this point, it's worked decently well for me.

Enter: Pinterest

I started using this just yesterday, and I am a 100% believer.  

They call themselves a "social catalog service," which honestly means nothing to me. In practice, however, you install a little button on your explorer menu bar.  When you're browsing and/or stalking the internet for ideas for home decor, fashion, or really anything, you use your button to "pin" photos, which then get put on your virtual Pinterest pinboard, cataloging them into useful categories of your choosing.  And maybe the best part (especially for bloggers) is that it takes note of the photos' sources so that you can give credit where credit is due or know where the heck you found that perfect little black, er, throw pillow.

You should head over and check out some of my inspiration boards: http://pinterest.com/fabricpaperglue/.

I had the perfect project to take my Pinterest account out for its maiden voyage.  My friend Jamie is moving into a new place in a week and is taking the opportunity to get a fresh start at her home decor.  So she emailed me for advice on her sofa/throw pillow situation, and of course, I was more than happy to dump my opinions on her. 

Her basic parameters:

• Tan walls that she can't repaint;
• Light hardwood floors;
• A white sofa and love seat with back pillows in need of recovering; and
• This lovely yellow rug from West Elm.

I first collected a few inspiring living rooms for this board:

And then I put together a few options for her:

Option 1 is a combination of a yellow Premier Prints suzani,  light blue velvet, big royal blue houndstooth (designed by me via Spoonflower), and Dwell Studio Bella Porte Twilight.

Option 2 uses a neutral Premier Prints diamond pattern, over-sized yellow chevron, yellow Thomas Paul Aviary, and royal blue velvet.

Option 3 is comprised of big teal houndstooth (designed by me via Spoonflower), yellow Premier Prints coral, yellow Premier Prints zig zag, and azure blue Thomas Paul Aviary.

We've settled on an option, but I'd be interested to hear which option you prefer!

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