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Getting Started on Pinterest – Part 1

By May 17, 2019October 2nd, 2019Interests, Knowledge & Tips

Pinterest is a great tool for organising & communicating your ideas for your renovation. It can also be a great way to get inspiration – used with a little caution! Some very beautiful designs online are not possible or legal in the UK – so read our post on Pinterest Pipe Dream vs Regulation Reality before getting started.

If you are ready to dive in but not sure how to get started, here’s our 2-part guide to getting started on pinterest, starting with Part 1: Setting up your account and saving pins.

Step 1: Set up your account

Sign up to Pinterest with your email, Facebook or Google profile

Go to www.pinterest.co.uk

You can sign up using Facebook or Google+, or create an account with your email address. If you use your email address, you will receive an email from Pinterest with a link to click on to validate your address.

You will be asked to create a username. This must be unique, but can be changed later.

This pinterest name will create the URL of your profile page, e.g. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/APMLondon/

Step 2: Create a board

The items you pin will be organised into ‘boards’ (essentially, a folder of images). Pinterest will not let you pin without a board, so that is the first step. You will be invited to create a board during sign up. You can create new boards and re-organise your pins later, so the easiest way to start is to create one board for your whole project e.g. My Home Renovation.

Create a new Pinterest board from the ‘boards’ tab of your profile page

To add boards after sign-up you can:

  • Go to the home page (click on the Pinterest logo on the top left)
  • Click ‘Create Pin’
  • Select ‘Choose a Board’ from the bottom of the box
  • Select ‘Create Board’
  • Fill in the name and click ‘Create’
  • You will be invited to add collaborators. This is optional.

Or

  • Click on your Profile in the top menu
  • Select ‘Boards’ in the ribbon below your profile details
  • Click ‘Create board’
  • Fill in the name and click ‘Create’

Step 3: Populate your board

There are three main ways to add pins to a board:

You can browse for pictures in Pinterest. This is good for inspiration/ identifying your style direction, but less good for choosing specifics. Many of the items are not available to buy (or not in the UK) and may not comply with UK regulations.

You can upload pictures or save them from a URL from within the Pinterest website. This is useful where you already have items identified you want to save.

You can add pictures while you browse elsewhere using the ‘Pin it’ button.

Pinning items – from Pinterest

There’s masses of content on Pinterest you can add to your board. Search for items you are interested in by using the search bar at the top.

Click on an item you would like to pin. Select your board from the drop-down menu on the top right and click Save.

If you scroll down, you will see suggestions based on your pin. Once you have a few items on your board, more suggestions will appear at the bottom of your board.  Warning – this is fun but a total worm-hole in terms of time used!
Pinning items – using the Pinterest button

If you prefer to save items while you browse, you may like the Pinterest Browser Button, which you can download and add to your browser. You can access this here: https://about.pinterest.com/en/browser-button or by searching for Pinterest Browser Button. The installation instructions vary by browser.

In Safari, the button sits in your favourites menu. When you are on a page with pictures you want to save, click ‘pin it’ and the pictures you can pin will appear in a window.

The Pinterest browser button makes it easy to pin directly from websites

Pinning item – uploading & saving from websites

You can also add items from elsewhere. Click the ‘Create a pin’ button – found on the homepage and in the ‘Pins’ section of your profile.

From this window you can either upload your own photo, or enter the URL of a page with images you want to save.

If you use a URL, a new window will appear with pictures from that site for you to choose from.

Unless you are using your board for marketing, the information you fill in is not important. Just add any notes that are useful to you, or messages to your Interior Designer (e.g. I like this sofa but not the colour).

Onwards to Part 2!

Whether you are just starting out or have boards full of dream home images, we can help you bring your renovation ideas into reality – get in touch!

Use the description to tell your interior designer what you like about the image.

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