Renovation Caution: Watch Out for the ‘Pinterest Home’

Renovation Caution: Watch Out for the ‘Pinterest Home’

Social media has definitely changed the way people design their homes. It opened up a lot of possibilities. When before, all-white is already the best color scheme at any room, for whatever home style it is, now you have a thousand ideas on how to pull off the yellow-blue combo, the pastels, or the ombres. On the flip side though, there’s the caution of interior designers: you can’t have too much of a good thing. It’s okay to use Pinterest boards and Instagram profiles as inspirations for your next makeover project, but you should know when to stop the excessive pinning and scrolling.

A Design (Not) for Your Home

One of the oft-overlooked mistakes people make when they do a renovation is designing for someone else’s home. They are so obsessed with what they see on the Internet that they create not their own personal space, but another person’s. They get these all-white everything palette for the entire house, pale hardwood floors for the bedroom, textured, art-devoid walls in the living room, and dome-like structures at the hallway, the ‘perfect’ minimalist expression, but in the end, realize the space doesn’t feel like it’s theirs. Because truth be told, it’s Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s.

The problem with the Pinterest home doesn’t begin there, though. Before you even replicate in real life what you pinned online, you would meet a lot of setbacks. You’d realize that those whitewashed hardwood floors can break the bank because they would have to be exported from this or that country. Or that the arches in the corridors aren’t possible because you have a narrow space. All of this creates a deep pit of frustration for avid Pinterest home decorators. When you’re in the middle of a stressful remodel, you know for sure that this is the last thing you need.

This doesn’t mean throwing away all those pretty ideas you got from social media though. What this means is learning to filter, compromise, and get out of the social media rabbit hole.

The Right Interiors

bedroom interior

The ‘Pinterest home’ isn’t the kind of home you want. The right interiors is the one that doesn’t depend on hot trends or celebrity’s faves. It’s anchored on basic design principles. For instance, in the choice of colors, rather than the popular combos, take into consideration the mood of hues. Generally, warm tones energize, while cool tones soothe. So you want to have the former in living rooms and kitchens, while the latter on bedrooms and bathrooms.

At the same time, embrace the uniqueness of your home when designing. Do you have big windows? Let them be your focal point. You got a closed floor plan? Use low-backed furniture to elongate sight lines. Make do with what you have — and this includes the flaws and imperfections. For instance, if there’s a column or a wall, a supporting structure, in the middle of your basement that you just couldn’t take out, then plan your layout around it. Experts in basement finishing and Utah-based designers say that furniture should be arranged in such a way that it won’t be an obstruction in people’s pathways. Maybe, you can also attach some floating shelves in it and turn that structure into a mini gallery.

Are you planning a makeover project for your home? Tame your late-night Pinterest scrolling. Instead of hot trends, go back to the basics of design. Rather than copying stuff, accept the uniqueness of your space. All the best!

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