From Pins to Possibility: How to Turn Your Pinterest Board into a Real Room

If you’re looking for room makeover ideas using Pinterest and need a little interior design coaching, let me be your guide!

Discover how to turn your Pinterest inspiration into a real room redesign. This post walks you through organizing your boards, identifying your style, and using what you already own—plus expert design coaching tips and a peek behind the curtain on a room makeover transformation (traditional southern coziness with a little English cottage thrown in! Yes, please!)

Stop Pinning, Start Styling: Bring Your Pinterest Home to Life

Who here loves Pinterest? No hot takes, no political rants- just pretty interiors, cute crafts and tons of recipes at my fingertips. It’s great, really, until it’s not… 

We all have the “what’s for dinner” board with 835 delicious meals but we eat the same 7 suppers on repeat. These awesome new recipes are neglected along with 197 workouts and 152 genius organizing solutions we pin for later… except later never comes and now we are digital idea hoarders. It takes one to know one- but you’re safe with me! (and I won’t even ask how many tabs you have open on your browser.) Today, I want to help you actually take action and apply these great ideas especially when it comes to the inspiration you’re pinning for your home. 

Organize Your Pinterest Boards by Rooms

First a little Pinterest primer- if you have all your home décor inspo piled into one board, let’s organize a bit shall we? Make separate boards for your family room, your kitchen, the bedroom, laundry room- niche it down as specifically as you can. Trust me it will help us play detective in just a little bit. Try to pin whole rooms- not just links to products- although that can be helpful too. (Hint: you can make a separate board within a board to corral just those product links. Look for the + sign at the bottom of your board to add a section to it)

In order to discover what all your inspiring pictures are telling you, we want to see full pictures of rooms as a whole. Never mind if you don’t have the exact color walls or style of home shown in the pin- oftentimes it’s a feeling we’re getting from the picture that is just as informative as realizing we saved 12 blue velvet sofas..! If Instagram is more your treasure trove of interior ideas you can save and organize posts there too, just FYI. All we need is a collection of images to work with.

Look for Common Threads in Your Pins

Now when you look at your room pins as a whole, what do you see? What colors stand out? Shapes? Furniture styles and combinations? Arrangements? What clues do you see that inform how you feel about contrast or openness of space? All of this is helpful information to give you a strategy and direction to go with in your space. If you’re a do it yourself kind of gal and want to dive deep into detective mode- grab my interior identity guide through the button below:

Here’s a board from a recent project with pins reflecting the owner’s desire for a cozy southern feeling living room with a little bit of traditional English cottage mixed in. 

Even without a lot of pins it was clear they were drawn to an overall light and airy space with pops of blue and white, light colored upholstery and paint, minimal patterns, plants, symmetry, mostly straight lines on the casegoods with some turned legs and contrast in wood tones.

The Red Dot on the Map: You Are Here

Now that we know what the dream is and where we’re headed – It’s time to take stock of where we are. What do we already own that’s already speaking to the feel and look we desire? 

In this room, there was already some blue and white in pillows and a lamp. Light colored upholstered furniture and walls, a few plants and mixed wood tones in place. This room was off to a good start hitting a lot of the items on target boards already.

Next comes the space plan- getting the flow, seating and storage pieces right makes it easier to layer in the rest of the design puzzle pieces. Drafting out the space and taking notes from the owner, here’s what we had…

In her words: too many chairs and an off center tv wall because of wanting the sofa equally spaced between the windows and the tv centered on the sofa. Confirmation of her affinity for symmetry which is a key element in the overall traditional style she had pinned on her board. 

The Bergère chairs at the end of the room were lovely but not practical in accommodating a family who wanted to chill and watch movies here in the evenings (this is real life, ya’ll). Maintaining an open path of travel was also important as this room had a flow of traffic between the dining room and the foyer.

Room Redesign Tips: Shop Your Home Before You Shop Online

So with those things in mind along with making the tv wall feel more intentional, breaking up the chair parade and bringing in elements of her Pinterest board, here’s where we landed with the layout:

By switching the sides of the barrel chair and arm chair with the ottoman it allows for one of the Bergère chairs to move over to the tv wall. The other Bergère chair tucks nicely into the corner by the dining room with a lamp for a cozy reading corner. The tall bookcase seems more fitted for the bump out and the secretary desk moves to the opposite wall. 

Shopping the house for a small console table and mirror to place in the corner leading out the the foyer behind the Bergère chair adds more interest to the tv wall and mimics some of the vignettes on the Pinterest boards with a sconce and blue and white ceramic stool as a side table. 

And because I know that can be hard to imagine from a 2D floor plan, here’s what that all looks like in 3D:

Neutral drapes, rattan shades and a rug soften the space and a pair of potted trees (faux or real depending on your level of green thumb) flanking the windows provides more symmetry. The stacked artwork previously in the bump out relocates to the Bergère chair vignette on the tv wall or above the sofa. 

Sometimes all you need is a fresh set of eyes to help you incorporate an existing piece and it’s my jam to point you in the right direction of what to look for. 

Bring This Look Home

A few things to shop for in your own house, or at your favorite antique vendor or retailer if you’re wanting to add a little English cottage or southern flair to your space:

• Block print, small florals, ticking, muted stripes on fabrics like pillow covers or chair upholstery
• Blue and white ceramic ginger jars, pots or garden stools turned tables
• Turned legs with straight lined bodies on tables or cabinets in medium and darker toned woods 
• Countryside, landscape, floral and horse themed artwork
• Copper, brass or black accents
• Sconces (corded or battery operated) and wall mounted candelabras
• Plants, fresh flowers or potted trees
• Baskets & stoneware

This style lends itself well to antique mall shopping and by adding one or two well loved vintage finds it can really bring soul and charm to a room. 

When I do redesigns like this for my clients, it’s amazing that with a little detective work and strategy laid out they often find a lot of the extra pieces to complete their look just by shopping their house, garage or attic. We often collect things we love but don’t always know how or where to use them to achieve the look we want.

Your inspiration photos don’t have to languish hidden away because you think you don’t have the right home or budget- they’re the first clue to getting the style and coziness factor in your home that you want. Look for the similarities across the pictures, the overall feel, the application of textures and prints- bold or reserved- and the saturation of color. See where you are already on that path in your space and have fun on your hunt!

Click here to see the most recent Pinterest Inspired makeover in my own home.

Grab an Interior Design Coach

For those times when it’s hard to see the forest for the trees, that’s when it’s helpful to have an outside pair of eyes-  which is what you get when you work with a creative design companion like me! Like a Pinterest board palm reader, I look at all your inspiration and distill it into applicable information to guide your decisions and get the home of your dreams without moving. If you want to schedule your own one room virtual redesign and get a personalized plan on how to visualize, style and arrange your space, visit the Design Services page or click here.