Craft an Inspiration Board for Your Home Remodel

For most people, gone are the days when we would pin magazine clippings and catalog pics to a corkboard or stash them in a manila folder.

Now we use our computers, tablets, or phones to search and sift through the internet for inspiration. This is especially true when we try to reimagine our old kitchen, basement, or bathroom. We want to see what our old room could be. Seeing the potential is the start of a transformation.

But how do you collect all those inspiring images? How do you create a dream board, inspiration board, or vision board? Inquiring homeowners want to know.

Here’s how to use COCOON’s favorite inspirational resources—Houzz, Instagram, and Pinterest—to create inspiration boards and to help you see the potential in your home.

(Here’s just one quick head’s up: If you’re not already on these apps, you need to create an account or sign in with Facebook or Google.)

Houzz

Since 2008, homeowners have looked to Houzz for inspiration. With millions of searchable home photos from every continent—except Antarctica, of course—Houzz overflows with home ideas. Once you’ve found your favorites, you can even use Houzz to connect with remodeling pros and purchase home goods. But first things first, here’s how to collect all that home eye candy on Houzz.

Search

On the Houzz app, you have the ability to search photos. When you’re browsing on your phone or tablet, tap the photo button on the top left, which you can find on your home screen.

You can view a range of rooms in the most popular photos, or you can filter by room. Once you’ve chosen a room, you can filter by style, size, color, types of materials, and much more.

While these filters help you narrow down the look you want, you can also narrow photos by location and budget. The US is broken up into major metro areas. Budget is only roughly estimated by dollar signs. Designs on dime are $, while splurges are $$$$. Mid-range designs are denoted by $$ or $$$.

Save

You can get caught up admiring the handiwork of architects and designers, but if you want to stop dreaming and start doing, you should start collecting your favorites. To do that, click or tap the Save button on any picture. You can save it to an existing Idea Book or create a new one.

Organize

Think of each Idea Book as a folder. Each Idea Book is a collection of images. For smaller projects, like a mudroom, you may just need one folder. For larger projects, like a basement or kitchen, you may want to sort your photos into smaller categories. For example, you can have Idea Books for certain design selections, such as lighting or floors.

Don’t have time for several Idea Books? Don’t worry. Having some ideas, regardless of how many you have or how you organize them, still puts you ahead of the curve once you start your remodeling project.

Once you have ideas, you’ll want to share them with friends and eventually designers, who can help tailor your look. Sharing your Idea Books is easy. From your mobile device, tap the heart icon on the bottom of your screen. Select the Idea Book you want to share and click on the Invite button to enter emails.

Follow

While you can’t follow a particular person or business on the Houzz app, you can follow Houzz on Twitter and Facebook , as well as on the Houzz Blog. Houzz provides ideas and advice for a variety of projects with both articles and a Discussions forum on the site. Got a question for professionals or other homeowners? You can ask it directly in their Discussions forum.

Why it’s great: Houzz is dedicated to all things home. When you’re looking for home remodeling inspiration, you won’t get distracted by pictures of cute puppies or workout tips. You can just focus on your home.

Instagram

According to Hootsuite, 1 billion people use Instagram each month. With that many users, including home remodelers and homeowners, you can find plenty of inspirational images to get your creative juices flowing. (Check out some of COCOON’s favorite Instagrammers.)