Pinterest Tips for the Home Buyer

Purchasing your first home is a huge deal for anyone, especially when you’re 22 and just graduated college. This was unheard of amongst my friends, considering we were all scrambling to figure out what was next in our lives, not settling down in a house. I was clueless as to how to decorate my home, how to weatherproof, energy saving tips, cleaning tricks–the list goes on and on. As a millennial, where did I turn to for solutions? Pinterest of course! There’s a wide variety of categories that you can browse through, in addition to the regular search. I frequented the DIY & Crafts, Design and Home Decor categories to inspire me.

The beauty of Pinterest is you can find whatever you are looking for. The biggest task I found with this was picking my couch color to match the walls. All I had to do was type in “beige walls, couch” to reveal hundreds of room design ideas, color schemes, and a world of inspiration. Once I figured out what couch color I was going with, it was time to find an area rug. Again, I fell into the black hole of viewing all sorts of decorating ideas that I ooh’d and ahh’d at.

According to RJ Metrics, 17.2% of all pinboards have been categorized under Home. After that, Arts and Crafts comes in at a 12.4%. The #1 most popular board name on Pinterest is “For the Home.” These numbers make sense, as Cison shares the most pinned categories are “Food & Drink, DIY & Crafts, Home Decor, Holidays & Events.” In another study, Ahalogy reports “83 percent of active users prefer to follow a brand than a notable celebrity.” People use Instagram and Twitter to see what their celebrities are up to. They’re using Pinterest as a source that gives them home decorating ideas, recipes, gift ideas & a neverending assortment of inspiration.

Tips for using Pinterest for Home Improvement:

1. Don’t get settled on one idea. If you begin your home decorating adventure with specific ideas in mind, you might have a harder time finding inspiration. Be open to all that Pinterest has to offer.

2. Search broad terms. Of course you can search specific items or ideas, but to get the most out of the Pins, keep your search broad.

3. Big project? Make specific boards. Create boards like “bedroom,” “bathroom,” “kitchen,” to keep your ideas separate. Rather than having one big “home improvement” board, organize your ideas by room, color, etc. for optimized search on your end!

4. Don’t forget to Pin from websites. Looking to buy a fridge and shopping various websites? Install a Pin It button in your browsers so you can pin the fridges or other items to your boards!

5. Download the app. Out and about and see something you like? Whip out your phone, search it on Pinterest, Pin, and you’ve saved your newest idea!