How to use Pinterest…seems pretty straightforward: you look, you love, you do! But it’s not always that easy, and Pinterest has some great features that will make your room, party, or dream home pin-perfect! In this post, I’m going to give you eight suggestions for how to use Pinterest to its full potential.
1. Practice Makes Perfect
Don’t you wonder why everything on Pinterest looks perfect? Because the photographers tirelessly arranged every detail to make a great photo! In real life, you have to make sure that it will work before the big day. I found this out for my wedding centerpieces (shown above). Once we got everything together, we realized that flowers float, so we had to figure out how to sink them without any unsightly equipment (Floral Putty, if you were curious). So try it early and don’t regret it later!
2. Get a Second Opinion
Just because you saw one great tutorial online doesn’t mean there aren’t others out there! Found a great napkin fold tutorial for your dinner party? Dig around on that website for some other tutorials, or search the Pinterest board where you found it—there’s always more to see!
3. You Can’t Do It All
Sometimes we want to do everything, not realizing that, though they are all great ideas individually, combining a lot of great things can get overwhelming and sometimes even tacky. Make sure that you’re accounting for everything together at once. The beauty of Pinterest is that you can look at a lot of photos and get a feel for what you want. It’s a great tool for sparking the imagination—just make sure you imagine everything together.
4. Can You Keep a Secret?
Create a secret board! This is a great tool for a few reasons:
- So that your party/room/wedding is a smashing success and they never saw it coming!
- So that no one takes your ideas! There’s nothing worse than showing up to a party where someone is doing the same thing that you were going to do next week.
You can create a secret board at the bottom of your home page (where all your boards are). Simply click on “Create a Secret Board” and follow the prompts.
5. Invite Pinners
Planning a wedding shower? Gender reveal? Invite your mom, sister, or best friend to pin on your secret board. Two sets of eyes are much better for filtering the world of Pinterest!
You can add pinners by clicking on “Edit Board” and adding names where it says, “Who can pin?” As shown above, I’m adding my pin-savvy sister to my “Party Time” board!
6. Be a Follower
It seems obvious, but we get so excited to see more pins that we forget to subscribe to other people’s boards! Make sure after you pin to wait for the prompt to follow the original pinner’s board! And don’t just follow—look! They probably already did all the work for you on their board!
7. Get the Pin Button
You can install the Pin button in a second and never lose your favorites again! It’s so much better than a bookmark! Install the Pin button and pin from any website that you want. Once you’ve installed it, it will appear at the top of your web browser. When you find something you love, click the button and follow the prompts. It’s a great way to collect your favorites from all over the Internet to share with friends!
8. Take a Break
Here comes my most important tip: get off of Pinterest. There comes a time (usually around 2AM) when you realize that you have wasted hours pinning things instead of actually doing any of them! Not only can Pinterest be a time-sucker, but it can be a joy-sucker, too. Be sure to limit how much time you spend on Pinterest or it could (and most likely will) result in what my husband calls “pin envy”…the perfect house, the perfect party, the perfect hair—it can get to you. So, make sure to take a step back, channel your own creativity and beauty, and enjoy your life—it’s better than anything they could pin online!
So, there you have it! Pin away my friends! I hope these 8 tips helped you on your way to the perfect pinspired whatever-it-is. What other tips have you found helpful? How have you successfully (or not-so-successfully) used Pinterest for inspiration or organizing your ideas? I would love to hear how you’ve used Pinterest below in the Comments section. And, of course, I’d love to follow you on Pinterest!