Did you know Pinterest is one of the hottest social networking sites going? It cut down the time it takes to source images for my blog by more than half – so awesome, and it still took me months and months to finally set up my own boards. What the heck was I thinking??? When I looked at my statistics, Pinterest was up there as one of my highest sources of traffic so that’s when I realized I had to join the club.
This is my adorable board.
If you are doing a renovation, it’s a great place to categorize your inspiration photos and if you’re a designer it’s perfect for creating boards that express your aesthetic. If I need to specify knobs and pulls for a kitchen, I just go to my ‘kitchen hardware‘ board and there are the ones I like the most (I do need to add more to this one).
If I’m in an on-line or in-person consultation and we need lighting? We just pop over to my lighting board. Way easier than searching through thousands of lights to get to the one I would specify.
When I need inspiration for styling a space or I want to show my on-line clients what I’d recommend we just go to my Styled Interiors Board. Simple.
Want to know which Tile flooring I can handle? Go to my Tile Floors I Like board. As you know there isn’t much. Just put hardwood everywhere you can I say, this way you aren’t so bossed around by specific colours or undertones for the life of the blasted tile.
What about fireplaces? Don’t you just shake your head at the designs of some of them that you have to live with for a time until you can do something about it?
I don’t know if I’ve ever said ‘Let’s paint that stone white’, I mean stone? That doesn’t normally work. Well my lovelies, it’s working here and I’m a little shocked. Is it the white walls and the white floors I wonder? Anyway there’s a first for everything. I can occassionally change my opinon. It does happen!
Pinterest (Happy Bathrooms)
And I know you will be shocked but I found some accent tile that I like! This is how it’s done if you must have it!
Another time saver is My Style Board. I just collect fashion looks that I like so then when I need to pack for a trip it’s way easier to get inspiration for putting outfits together! Love it!
See all my boards here! Happy Pinning!
If you would like to learn to how choose the right colours for your home or for your clients, become a True Colour Expert. JUNE DATES FOR TORONTO!
Don’t forget to click like on my chair for the Urban Barn Chairity Competition, so far I’m winning – Yaay!
Related posts:
One more Reason you should Skip Accent Tiles Altogether
When should you Rip out Brand New Tile
Which Backsplash goes with Granite?
Need help with your colours, download my eBook, It’s All in the Undertones.
If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in, contact me.
To make sure the undertones in your home are right, get some large samples!
Enjoyed your Pinterest boards and pinned a few. I wonder if you’ve discovered htt://polyvore.com
yet. It’s tons of fun putting together the styles you like. Not a fashionista too much myself but use the site to also make art….like i need another few hours in my days….but it really is a cool site.
I LOVE pinterest! The best thing is that now I don’t have to file inspiration photos etc on my own hard drive and then forget the source. It was soooooooo annoying! LOVE your boards BTW. 🙂
http://pinterest.com/npetschauer/
……………… & I have a ‘crush’ folder: Johnny Depp. Thought that it was a …..little……. pathetic until I saw how many other ‘grown up’ women have it too. lol! 🙂
Hi Maria,
How do you see copyright issues coming into play with Pinterest? I haven’t started my boards because this seems to be up in the air. Even if you show the source, legally I think there is a real grey area here.
I have that same concern. I’m a photographer and artist and have just recently (yesterday) been asked about my source for a design I used. I was able to support it but just the fact that someone called me on it was terrifying. Who wants to go to court????? Who can afford it?????
A group of teens sitting around my kitchen table clued me in to a new fun computer tool. It’s called Tumbler (or Tumbled – an experienced parent knows not to distrupt the flow of talk when teens are speaking in front of her). It’s similiar to Pinterest but the pics start to flow together. Just a fun way to show your style.
I use it all the time. I was constantly losing inspiration images out in cyberspace. Now they are on Pinterest, along with recipes, flowers, travel photos. LOVE IT!! I’ve been following your boards for a while now – especially like your fashion boards.
Good morning, Maria. Pinterest is sooo much nicer/lovelier/easier than just googling images. All the ugly stuff and advertising is already edited out for you! It’s a beautiful place to be, and a great way for me to corral my design ideas for myself and for my clients.
xoxo
Kristie
Pinterest certainly has made my blogging easier and it allows me to extend outside of decorating into other areas of interest. I’ve developed several boards for clients and friends and my daughter and I share all sorts of information via Pinterest. My bubble has been burst somewhat over the last several weeks with all the buzz about copyright issues especially when you pin art/photography (your own or others). Just wondering if anyone else is concerned about this.
Oh yes, the whole photography community is concerned! Many of us post our photos on blogs and photo sites (Flickr, Picasa)
I’m a little worried about the ethics of Pinterest, since I am an amateur photographer.
Here’s one story about Pinterest and copyright, just so people can make up their own minds:
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-02-28/tech/31106641_1_repinning-copyright-entire-image
I too, read an article about the copyright issues just yesterday. There’s actually a Pin on Pinterest that says “Pinterest please change your terms or I’m leaving” that links you to it. I’ve tried to be more careful and look back to the blog to see if they have a Pinterest symbol. If so, and it’s their work I’m pinning, I cannot see where there would be an issue.
I discovered Pinterest through you, Maria, and fell in love with it immediately! I was happily pinning away until I read the Linked in article from a lawyer who investigated the copyright issues. The Terms of Use says: “THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SITE, APPLICATION, SERVICES AND SITE CONTENT REMAINS WITH YOU.” Pinterest places all blame and potential legal fees on its users. Basically, if a photographer sues you for pinning an image illegally on Pinterest, the user must not only pay for his or her lawyer, they must also pay for Pinterest’s lawyer. In addition, the defendant must pay all charges against him or herself, along with all of Pinterest’s charges.
Basically, if a photographer sues you for pinning an image illegally on Pinterest, the user must not only pay for his or her lawyer, they must also pay for Pinterest’s lawyer. In addition, the defendant must pay all charges against him or herself, along with all of Pinterest’s charges.
That’s pretty scary stuff, so I stopped pinning… until I found a faucet I liked soooo much, I just had to pin it. I’m not sure whether I’ll continue pinning or not. It’s a great concept and makes my life much easier, but I don’t know if it’s worth the risk.
Still undecided…
Kathleen
Really makes you wonder just who is making out here??? NO ONE takes responsibility and NO ONE is allowing their work to be shown?? Just where will this go I wonder.
I agree, it’s not worth the risk. As a photographer and artist I don’t want Pinterest just throwing away their responsibility either. If it’s a court issue then the traditional court procedures and payments should be in effect. Just what is Pinterest trying to pull here?? They have no problem putting up their site but don’t take any responsibility for it. Nice.
I’m glad Margaret brought up the copyright issue, and it is a real issue. I also hope that “pinners” are crediting the pictures they are pinning. The credit part is a huge issue for artists.
I just read that Linked in article yesterday too, and am undecided on what to do. Pinterest is hands down my favorite site EVER- I adore it. And it’s been so helpful to me and my clients – I can just pull up one of my boards on my iPhone and show an idea in an instant!
However, intense legal issues aren’t worth any of that…! I believe I’m crediting sources, but with Re-Pinning I think it’s sometimes hard to tell.
I don’t want to have to delete my boards like the lawyer who wrote the article did! I love them too much!
I have yet to check out pintrest. Mostly because I’m such a luddite I don’t really get how it works. I am also not a designer with a business and although I dream of a home and a renovation that is rather far off. Still, perhaps I should play with it anyhow. Thanks for the great post.
Houzz.com is a wonderful inspiration source with thousands and thousands of quality pictures! The photos have the source imbedded directly onto them and you are not allowed to cut and paste – you create idea books that live on their site. I know Maria has a nice profile over there 🙂 I’m in the midst of creating my now.
While I like Pintrest, I don’t love it. I don’t actually find you get that many images when you do a search (or maybe I’m doing something wrong). I get as many or more when I use Google. I also like that with Google you can keep going page after page and even press on one and ask for pictures similar to that one. Pintrest give you one long page and that is it. I find it hard to believe there aren’t more out there when I search something fairly general.
I do like that the source gets pinned with the picture though, alhtough I do find I often have to work hard to find the original source (and sometimes can’t). I’ve also had trouble removing pictures that get put on the wrong board or moving pictures from one board to another. I finally had to delete one board because I couldn’t get rid of a picture and it was annoying me, so I just started over.
I have to say I’ve never thought to use it for fashion, or travel, … or even hunky movie stars. I only have boards for decorating and crafts. Maybe I need to expand my horizons.
Was just getting into it when I became aware oc the copyright liability. Too scary for me tight now. Everyone remember Napster? It’s a bummer but I’m holding off for now. I’ve got enough to worry about! 🙂
I absolutely love Pinterest and was made aware through Maria, but was also wondering about copyright issues. Just recently I thought about putting up photos and artwork of my own but hesitated because I would want to have my work credited, but I know how difficult it is sometimes to find the source when I’m adding images of other people’s work to my boards.
you are the reason I painted our ugly, huge tile on our backsplash. {Annie Sloan Chalk paint + her wax.} Complete with wide dark grout lines. {groan} Even my husband didn’t like the tile.I couldn’t take it anymore. Then it was paired with cherry cabinets. I started painting those too. BTW our house came with this kitchen.
We plan to build eventually and your site is bookmarked. {I follow you too–love that!}
xo
kara
As a graphic designer, I’m always sensitive to the copyright issue, both regarding my work and fear that I’m inadvertently taking from someone else. It’s such a complicated issue.
That said, our design guild recently had a copyright lawyer as a guest speaker. She said copying and pasting ANYTHING from the internet is violating copyright unless you have permission. Written permission is advised. Also, because the Fair Use law is so ambiguous, when you assume you’re okay because you’re “criticizing it, commenting on it, reporting on it, teaching about it, or conducting research (as the article mentions),” you’re playing with fire. If you in way monetarily profit by copy and pasting, and most designers do profit, it could be argued that you’re violating copyright laws.
Please send me an invite!
Pinterest is a creative’s nightmare. Pinterest’s website coding strips all the metadata from a photo you pin there, which is the embedded data that identifies the photographer, copyright holder and original source. If you read the fine print of their agreement, it even allows them to sell that photo if they choose! As a website owner that displays original photos from garden designers and photographers, I publish with a Creative Commons ‘Type 3’ use (ie sharing that’s attributed, non-commercial, no derivatives) but I will put ‘no pin’ code on my website so that I can protect their work from Pinterest.